"Talent Attraction into the ICT Sector"
Working4Talent (W4T) is an EU project under the INTERREG IVC Programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The objective of the project is to improve the effectiveness of regional policies in areas of innovation and the knowledge based economy. In particular, the project is examining what policies or initiatives can be developed to make regions attractive as locations in which to live and work for high knowledge individuals – Talent.
The project is led by the San Sebastian City Council in Spain and project partners come from: Ireland (CIT) , Norway, Italy (2) , Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Romania and Lithuania.
The first phase of the project completed in 2013 undertook innovation audits in each of the ten partner regions, culminating with a composite report providing an overview of all regions and identifying what are the best practices which are suitable for transfer and adoption in partner regions.
The second phase of the projects will involve the production of a detailed report covering best practices and the blueprints for their transfer.The Cork region is particularly interested in what policies can make Cork more attractive as a location for choice for talented and highly qualified individuals to live and work. This goal is reflected by the Make IT in Cork Initiative recently taken regional IT companies.
The ten international partners will hold a project steering committee meeting in Cork on the 24th and 25th. February 2014. As part of the steering committee event, IT@Cork in association with the Cork Institute of Technology, will host an afternoon seminar on the 25th. February at the Seminar Room, Nimbus Centre, Rubicon Incubation Centre, where partners will be briefed on job opportunities for talents in Cork , together with private/public sector initiative such as Make IT in Cork to promote the area to internationally mobile talented persons.
Speaker Profiles:
John Dennehy
John Dennehy leads a number of recruitment software and marketing initiatives including Make IT in Cork and Make IT in Ireland. Both campaigns were set up to attract tech talent to the regions and help resolve the skills gap.
He also leads Zartis.com, a recruitment software tool used by small to medium sized companies globally. He has worked in online software and content for almost 20 years.
Joe Hendry, VMware Cork
Joe Hendry has been with VMware Cork for just under 4 years now. His first role with the organisation was that of building out a team of 12 Recruiting Sourcers that support recruiting efforts across all of EMEA. He then moved onto a Global Staffing Operations Leadership role responsible for all staffing operations in APAC, EMEA and the US. This included Training and Development, Technology, Tools and Process initiatives impacting 220 recruitment professionals globally.
In January 2014 Joe moved into the role of Cork Staffing site lead where he is responsible for managing a team of 16 recruiters who support all locations across EMEA and some of the US – from Cork which is seen as a Global Centre of Excellence. Prior to VMware Joe has also held in house recruiting roles for organisations such as Toyota, Corus (British Steel), The Hartford and State Street and holds a Masters in HRM.
