JobsFair.ie

There is a huge demand for professionals with experience in Customer Service, Finance, Order Management and Sales to work in multilingual roles

Samantha Rathling, Managing Director of Expect Talent in Cork set up her recruitment business in 2005, when she relocated to Ireland from the Netherlands. Samantha, originally from the UK, has expertise and knowledge of the multilingual recruitment sector, having worked for a specialist recruitment agency focused on candidates with languages, in Amsterdam.

Since setting up the business here in Ireland, Expect Talent has developed a reputation for responsiveness to candidates, excellence in service and a strategy totally focused on quality for her clients. Samantha has a mission to change people's opinions of the recruitment industry and this is what drives Expect Talent's unique approach to recruitment.

Now with a rapidly growing team, an impressive nationwide client list, and a growing fan base within companies and candidates alike, Samantha and the Expect team are helping the best talent from across Ireland, the UK and Europe to find permanent positions in both large and small companies.

When asked to comment on the current jobs market in Ireland, Samantha told JobsFair.ie that "The multilingual sector continues to thrive in Ireland; there is still a huge demand for talented professionals with experience in Customer Service, Finance, Order Management and Sales to work in multilingual roles for Irish based companies. In all cases fluency in English is essential but in many cases our clients are now demanding tri-lingual skills to offer the organisation more flexibility across different markets".

The diverse range of multinational clients here in Ireland still offers massive opportunity to those people living in Ireland from across Europe. At least 40 per cent of applications coming into Expect Talent are currently from candidates with languages. The massive challenge for companies recruiting in this sector still remains in the area of staff retention and keeping attrition to a minimum.

Samantha comments "More than ever it is not just about the recruitment of excellent people into key positions, it is also about having solid retention strategies to keep your best talent within the organisation. When recruiting in the multilingual sector it is always important to assess the candidate in relation to their commitment to both the job and Ireland itself, exploring their drive and willingness to build a career here in Ireland."

Staff turnover is a significant issue in both cost and time for businesses and this is a common problem experienced across Call Centres, Shared Service Centres and European Headquarters of large multinationals here in Ireland. Multilingual candidates offer a significant edge to clients, and this is not just applicable to the corporate sector, the SME sector is also an area in which languages are becoming more prominent.

Multilingual jobs exist across the country, mainly in key cities and salaries are often competitive, in some cases companies offer an increased base salary specifically for candidates with additional languages. For candidates applying to these kind of roles it is important that their CV is tailor made for the Irish market, which may be significantly different from their home country format. Expect provide specialist advice in this area and are often dealing with candidates who are looking to move to Ireland or have already made plans to come here.