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gateway to europe

Ireland Gateway To Europe 2016 – A Week in Review

gateway to europe

Ireland Gateway To Europe (IGTE) returned to Boston for the third time in five years, hosting 11 events over 4 days from April 19th-22nd 2016.

 

Co-founded by Sigmar Recruitment in 2012, IGTE is a not-for-profit collective of 26 Irish service providers who promote Ireland to a US business audience. We were once again delighted to have broadcaster George Hook travel over with Newstalk to broadcast live from our events.

 

A Week In Review – Highlights From The Boston Trip:

Posted by Jamie Harnett, Associate Director Marketing & People Engagement on 7 December 2017

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Monica Lewinsky Announced as Keynote Speaker for Talent Summit 2019

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Social activist, global public speaker and contributing editor to Vanity Fair, Monica Lewinsky has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at Talent Summit 2019, for which tickets are now available for purchase. In recent years, Monica has been at the forefront of leading global societal change around the “culture of humiliation”. At the heart of Monica’s personal story and what she advocates for is more human compassion and personal resilience, unique human traits and actions that are fundamental to leading change in transformative times. Talent Summit will take place on Wednesday 27th of February 2019 at the Convention Centre Dublin. Talent Summit has grown to become recognised as one of the most respected and largest HR conferences in Europe. With over 20 global thought leaders contributing and speaking, this summit is aimed at business owners, corporate executives, HR leaders and those with a professional interest in shaping the workforce of tomorrow. Talent Summit was founded by Sigmar Recruitment and is proudly supported by EY Ireland. Welcoming the announcement, Robert Mac Giolla Phádraig, founder of Talent Summit commented: “With the talent agenda ranking as the number one priority for business leaders around the globe, we need to reimagine how we create better workplaces and working lives in an increasingly complex world of work. At its core, Talent Summit is a humanics conference focused on people and our interaction with technology. The workforce is augmenting, becoming more digital, diverse, global and automation-savvy which presents major opportunities for HR leaders to influence how their organisations invest in people in parallel with technology to attract, organise, develop and drive the performance of their people. This year’s theme is “The Talent Revolution; Leading Change” where we will unlock global thought leadership on how HR leaders can lead desired change to develop their workforces.” “We are delighted to partner with Talent Summit again this year. In an environment characterised by disruption and uncertainty, rapid technological development and fast-paced economic growth, successfully leading organisational transformation remains critical. Having culture change and employee experience at the forefront of transformation will be central to achieving sustained success. In addition, to support continued growth, businesses in Ireland need innovative workforce-planning strategies in place to attract the best talent in the market, and to retain and up-skill their existing workforce, equipping them with the skills and expertise needed for the future. The world of work is changing, and a changing working world needs a new approach, with focused and strategic leadership. The calibre of speakers at Talent Summit this year is second to none, and we’re honoured to be part of such an inspiring international line-up. The event promises to be full of stimulating discussion and we’re looking forward to meeting colleagues from Ireland and around the world,” Niamh O’Beirne, Partner, People Advisory Services at EY Ireland, added. The central theme of Talent Summit this year is The Talent Revolution: Leading Change. Key topics covered on the day will include: The New Talent Supply Chain: Buy, Build, Borrow or Bots Unlocking Performance through Engagement. Leadership in the Digital age Leading Organizational Transformation & Cultural Preservation Future of Learning, Development and re-skilling Keynotes from over 20 national and international expert speakers will be given on talent; attraction, development, leadership, performance and transformation strategies. There will be real life case studies from successful global and local brands, as well as panel discussions and audience Q&A. Tickets for Talent Summit are now available for purchase. Please see www.talentsummit.ie
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7 Ways to Increase Engagement in Your Company

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Changing the way that employees understand and interact with culture can significantly increase engagement in the workplace. We’ve listed 7 ways to increase engagement among employees through cultural realignment: 1. Talk About Culture Management need to communicate the culture of the company to all stakeholders in order for everyone else to understand what the company believes in. Buy-in from management is essential. 2. Energise Existing Jobs Offer job rotation, job sharing and combine tasks so that staff are not doing the same thing every day. Introducing a new task which will improve abilities or push employees to learn new skills will motivate staff to improve in their role. Forming self-directed teams can help employees feel like they are in control of their jobs and have a say in the company. 3. Hire for Fit When hiring for new staff it is important that companies don’t just hire people with the right skills, without judging if they will fit in with the company culture. An introverted project manager can be detrimental to an IT project so knowing your culture and the culture of the job role you are advertising is paramount. If outsourcing the hiring process to a recruitment company, it is important that the company understands the culture that you are portraying. In a climate where new recruits are hard to keep and are constantly changing jobs for a better company fit, knowing both the culture of the company and the role can save a company time and money 4. Leverage Manager/Employee Relationship Employee satisfaction relies quite closely on the affiliation they have with their manager. Frequent praise and recognition will empower employees to keep up the good work but if managers are too busy to take notice of their team or to spend time talking with them this bond will turn stale, leading to eroded trust and confidence on both sides of the relationship. Taking the time to schedule meetings with team members and keeping note of the work that your team is doing will leverage this relationship allowing a confiding and open connection. 5. Upward Mentoring Mentoring does not always have to be downward. For employees that have been in the company for a longer period of time and understand the inner working of the company they can provide valuable insight that managers may not have thought of before. Fresh eyes can alert companies to newer technologies and more efficient ways of doing jobs so do not discount something until you have tried it 6. Job Referral Bounties Offering rewards for employees finding and placing workers in your company that suit your culture can prove a successful recruitment strategy. Presenting long-term bounties are even better as employees are motivated to help others progress through impromptu coaching and team working. 7. Measure Improvements Send out surveys every two to three months to measure key performance indicators to see if the culture is changing for the better and if people are becoming more engaged. Measuring the profit and productivity levels in the company overtime can also highlight how successful the project is. Conducting six monthly reviews where employee satisfaction rates are measured and bench-marked can show if some employees are lacking culture fit. Having a programme in place to help these employees find their feet can further increase engagement in the company as you are showing staff that you value them.
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A look back at 2018 at Sigmar Recruitment

A look back at 2018 at Sigmar Recruitment

What a fantastic year 2018 was for Sigmar Recruitment. We achieved a lot and had some fun along the way. Here's a look back at our year.. January In January we brought all our staff from our Dublin, Cork, Galway and Tralee offices together for our annual company meeting. It was great to get everyone together to discuss company developments and psych ourselves up for the year ahead. February February was a really exciting month for us in Sigmar. Firstly, we were announced as one of the Best Medium Workplaces at the Great Place to Work Awards. Followed by the news of our strategic partnership with French staffing giant Groupe Adéquat. And finally, we held Ireland’s largest HR conference, Talent Summit in Dublin’s Convention Centre. Talent Summit has grown year on year with over 650 HR leaders in attendance, showcasing the latest thinking on talent topics from around the world. We were honoured to have the most viewed TEDTalk speaker of all time, Sir Ken Robinson headline the event. March We can’t speak about March without mentioning the snow. The whole country came to a standstill and we were compelled to close our offices.That didn't stop our Galway team from achievening their best month ever (since opening in 2005). After the snow storm passed we had a couple a nights of celebration as we were announced as winner of the HR Supplier of the Year award and Deloitte Best Managed Company award. April April was another busy month. We hosted our Gateway to Europe events in Boston and Washington to provide practical information for US corporates who are interested in establishing operations in Ireland and the EU. We also held a pub quiz in aid of our charity partner Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. May In May a brave group of Sigmar staff, including our CEO, Adie McGennis took part in the Malin 2 Mizen cycle for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. They cycled the entire length of Ireland on behalf of the charity - a phenomenal achievement! Talent Summit Cork also took place in May in the Clayton Hotel, Cork. June In June we held our second regional Talent Summit in Galway in the g Hotel. A group of Sigmar ladies took part in the VHI Women’s Mini Marathon on behalf of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. July We held our Summer BBQ in Opium, Dublin. All our offices came together to enjoy the good weather and some tasty BBQ food and beers. August In August we announced our new “European Talent Hub” Sigmar IT International in Tralee, Co Kerry. We launched the office offering 50 jobs to candidates from “all backgrounds” regardless of experience and education, to fill the positions. September "40 Kilometres, 48,000 steps, hamstring gone, shin splints, hips need replacement! Just over 6 and a half hours!!............totally worth it!!" - Tom Deane. Tom Deane once again pushed himself to his physical limits in the name of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland taking part in the Head 2 Head walk from Howth to Bray! October In October the Boston College Ireland Business Council hosted their Global Leadership Symposium in City Hall in Dublin. This exclusive event welcomed 150 leaders from the Irish business, political community as well as a c-level delegation travelling over from Boston. November The 12th annual National Recruitment Federation Awards took place in the Shelbourne Hotel on Friday November 30th. Sigmar were delighted to attend and to come away with not one but two awards on the night, Best in Practice Technical, IT & Telecoms and NRF Cert RP Graduate of the Year: Julie Valentine. December We finished off the year with a bang, sending 88 of our staff to Belgium to enjoy two nights in the beautful Bruges and our Tralee IT International team were treated to two nights in Alicante. For those who couldn’t attend either were given a lunch in Dublin and Cork. Celebrations all around! ​​
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Sigmar COO, Frank Farrelly elected as President of the NRF for a Third Term

Sigmar COO, Frank Farrelly elected as President of the NRF for a Third Term

Congratulations to our COO, Frank Farrelly, who has been elected President of the National Recruitment Federation (NRF) for a third term. Frank is co-founder of Sigmar Recruitment and is listed in the Staffing Industry Analysts Top 100 Most Influential Staffing Leaders in Europe.​ On being reappointed for the position of President of the NRF Frank commented, “I am delighted to be taking up the mantle of NRF President for a third year. It is an honour to work with CEO Geraldine King and her team as well as the 3 committees whose immense efforts have contributed to so much success. The last 2 years has been a great journey on a range of topics such as education, standards, policy, membership, Garda Vetting, Data Protection, and the WEC conference to name but a few. As an industry our members do great work for candidates and clients across the country. Recruitment continues to evolve and will continue to do so as ‘work’ changes more rapidly than ever before. For 2019 the NRF will continue to raise our standards, be innovative and provide real value to our members. We plan to do this through improving education and through increasing our contribution to the skills and recruitment agenda.” ​Previous to Frank’s 2 years as President he has 7 years as a committee member, Treasurer and Secretary for the National Recruitment Federation in Ireland, before being elected Vice President in 2014. He was part of the team that lobbied Government on the Agency Workers Act, Zero Hours Contracts and ‘If & When’ contracts. He leads the team that lobbies the government on employment legislation, recruitment matters and GDPR, and was instrumental in helping the NRF secure an Apprenticeship in Recruitment practice on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications in 2018.