Dunshaughlin woman spearheads major Australian jobs drive

Profile by Paul Neilan Updated: Wednesday, 12th October, 2011 4:52pm

Dunshaughlin native Shona McDonagh is managing director at Osborne, which is looking for 500 workers to go to Australia.

A Dunshaughlin woman is overseeing a massive recruitment drive for Irish workers willing to emigrate.

Shona McDonagh is the managing director of Osborne Recruitment, which is in the process of filling 500 construction, engineering, technical and trade positions in Western Australia.

"In late 2010, we opened our international recruitment division for our clients in Western Australia looking for Irish workers," she said.

"To date, we've sent around 100 workers to positions in Australia and, between now and 2017, Western Australia alone is looking for around 150,000 workers.

"What happens is that the Australian client comes to us asking for Irish workers, and we try to find the right candidates for those positions, someone who fits the bill. We try to support the candidates in terms of visas, arrange interviews via Skype - you don't have to go to Australia just for an interview," she added.

"We're seeing two kinds of people applying, those who need to pay their bills and those who just want a change of lifestyle and see a better future out there," said the former Loreto student.

"There's a more permanent visa these days that the Western Australian government is pushing and, in some cases, the turnaround time is as quick as three weeks.

"We're getting applications all the time. At a recent expo in the RDS, we met with 900 candidates in a single day who all wanted information and wanted to go," added Ms McDonagh.

With emigration historically a unfortunately Irish phenomenon, has Osbourne been accused of aiding emigration?

"Not yet, we're trying to help people who can't get work in Ireland, remember. They have to do something so I don't think we're aiding a brain drain when we meet with people, talk to their wives and partners and try to get them, in some cases both, earning again.

"We're opening up an office in Perth early next year so people will have an Irish representative over there and, over time, we'll staff up that office.

"It's 27 hours away and people have to consider giving up, in many ways, life connections so it's a huge decision," said the Osborne MD, a travel and tourism graduate.

The recession took an estimated 160,000 jobs from the broader construction industry and her home county has not escaped its bite, with some 12,350 currently on the live register in this county.

"We've had a couple of jobs in Meath, office support, sometimes insurance, there's a PA job in Navan that we are having difficulty filling but it doesn't seem buoyant in Meath, or Louth (where she now lives), at the moment," she adds.

"I don't get back home enough with all the expos but I try to get back as often as I can, but when there's 8,000 people at a recruitment expo in a day, then the demand is obviously out there.

"If people are interested, the first thing to do is, obviously, send in the CV. Make sure that it is very clear. For example, have you worked on a plant or a site? What size was the project? What equipment can you operate, Scania, JCB, CAT, for example - just make sure it's very clearly laid out.

"All our interviews are via Skype, which can be at home or with us and, in some cases, the turnaround from first contact to getting on that plane could be as quick as six weeks," Ms McDonagh added.

"It's a huge decision, but if you have the right skills, we can bridge that gap," she said.