ICT industry welcomes careers site

16-04-2008

by Ciara O'Brien

ICT industry leaders have welcomed the launch of a new careers portal aimed at post-primary students and called for increased support for guidance counsellors.

Aimed at students in second and third level institutions, parents, guardians and guidance counsellors, Careersportal.ie provides up to date and relevant information on careers across a range of industries, including high-tech and engineering sectors.

High-tech lobby group ICT Ireland said it was difficult for guidance counsellors, students and parents to keep up with the changes in work and careers, but that this new website would go some way towards providing assistance.

Director of ICT Ireland Kathryn Raleigh pointed out that the portal included not only high-tech careers but many different types of careers. However, she told ENN that it was helpful to have extra resources to help guide students towards careers in ICT and engineering.

"It will give students as much information as possible to help them make an informed decision on the career they want to take," she said.

The portal was developed by Durrow Communications, and ICT Ireland is planning to provide labour market and careers information for the high-tech sector.

The site also includes a "Career Exploration" toolbox to help visitors to find the most suitable career, employment sector and educational courses available; a profile of the 30 most prominent employment sectors; an occupational database with more than 500 occupations profiled; and information on various organisations.

As it welcomed the careers portal, the lobby group also urged the Government to significantly increase support and resources for guidance counsellors.

"Ireland's future relies on today's generation of young people. In becoming a leading knowledge-based economy, we need to ensure that our young people make the right career choices, which will ultimately lead each of them to a happy and fulfilled life," Raleigh said in a statement.

The ICT sector in Ireland currently employs 83,000 people in Ireland, but there have been fears in recent years that the Irish economy will suffer a skills gap in years to come if more students can't be enticed into studying high-tech subjects at second and third level.

A number of initiatives have been launched to try to solve the looming skills shortage, including websites aimed at children, medtech careers sites and new schemes to help fund the early careers of doctoral and masters researchers in the science, engineering and technology sectors. Raleigh said that although previous initiatives had not failed, there was still work to be done.

"It needs to start at primary school level," she told ENN. "There's a lot happening in primary school, but in second level the exam focus can mean that level of interest tails off."

"There's some done, a lot more to do," she concluded.