As our economy approaches full employment, small businesses can struggle to attract and keep good staff for their growth, as they compete with larger companies and multinationals for talent. That’s according to the Fingal Local Enterprise Office, which has recognised that the needs of small businesses are changing with continued economic growth.
Focusing on the importance of the need to attract good staff, some 80 small businesses from around Fingal gathered this morning for a unique breakfast networking seminar at Dublin Airport, to learn how they can best compete for the right staff for their business.
An impressive panel of experts and distinguished entrepreneurs from various backgrounds gave delegates a series of helpful and practical tips on how a small business can make itself attractive as a place to work. The line-up included:
- Bernard Brogan, Senior Dublin Footballer; serial entrepreneur and Director of Legacy Sports Consultants and Peptalk
- Michael Dawson, Managing Director at One4All
- Alan Hickey, Commercial Director, WeBringg
- Ann McGee, Managing Director, MIAS Pharma
- Annmarie Browne, Talent Acquisition, Wachsman Ireland
Opening the Business breakfast, the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. Anthony Lavin, emphasised the importance of meeting the changing skills needs for business, stating “It is positive that we are continuing to see growth across many different sectors and the availability of job opportunities in Fingal is to be welcomed. However, this success brings new challenges for our employers as they compete for talent. It is very important for our small businesses to position themselves so that they can compete for the skills mix that they need for their continued growth.”
Paul Reid, Chief Executive Officer of Fingal County Council, highlighted the importance of this topic to businesses and public sector organisations. He also gave an insight into how the Council is working with state agencies to enable local employers to meet their staffing needs: “As our economy moves closer to full employment, all employers are facing challenges in the recruitment and retention of staff. At Fingal County Council we are conscious of the need for businesses to fill their future staffing and skills needs. To that end, a new Fingal Skills Strategy has been developed by Fingal County Council. We believe the adoption of a strategic approach to ensuring the provision of the right balance of skills is in the long term interests of our economy and our citizens”.
The master of ceremonies for the morning seminar was Siobhan Kinsella, Operations Director of the Noel Recruitment Group and President of Chambers Ireland. She provided her personal observations in finding the best talent for your business needs. Two other keynote speakers also imparted extremely valuable advice to those present:
Dr. Mary Collins, Senior Executive Development Specialist with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Institute of Leadership gave key insights in understanding and managing the different generational talent pools in today’s workforce.
Noel Davidson, Director of Training at the Entrepreneurs Academy, gave practical advice on how to best leverage social media to recruit the right talent.
The event was closed by Head of Enterprise in Fingal, Oisin Geoghegan, who observed: “Small businesses are creating great employment opportunities locally. However, small businesses can feel that they are losing out because they don’t have the deep pockets to offer a competitive package to appeal to qualified staff. Some of the learnings this morning show our small businesses that they can adopt clever methods and techniques to make their business a great place to work, to create a work environment where talented individuals want to join and to stay.”