The number of Irish applicants for jobs with the EU has been so low lately as to cause the European Personnel Selection Office, the EU’s recruitment body, to specifically try to recruit more Irish. As the Minister of State of European Affairs Lucinda Creighton said, “I am very concerned and it is something I have raised with all Government departments.”
She continued, “Having those contacts is very important. If you have someone there that’s from your own country you can pick up the phone and have a chat. You can’t tell them what to do but you can talk to them.”
Only 1200 Irish graduates applied for EU jobs between 2010 and 2012. This is in comparison to the 2000 from Finland, 2400 from Slovakia, 8600 from Greece and close to 11000 from Belgium.
Ms. Creighton regularly visits universities to encourage students to apply for jobs with the EU in Brussels. David Bearfield, director of the office said, “It’s not something that’s going to go up dramatically overnight. What we’ve got to try and build is awareness that we have some fantastic career opportunities for people.”
