IT crucial for recovery in recession
By Carol Hayes
The middle of a recession may not seem like the most obvious time to launch a recruitment firm, but Cathal Grogan believes his new firm can change recruitment practices in the IT sector.Grogan, the managing director of Verify Recruitment, decided to focus on IT because he sees it as crucial to the future growth of the economy.
‘‘It is one of the few sectors of the economy that is still expanding, and it is the engine that will drive the country out of the recession. For this to be achieved, we need to have experienced individuals with a track record of success in establishing, growing and expanding cutting-edge companies,” he said.
Grogan believes that traditional recruitment companies do not have the skills to deal with the changing requirements of employers in the IT sector.
To solve that problem, Verify has appointed a panel of executives who will advise the firm in sourcing, assessing and reviewing candidates before they are referred for a client’s vacancy.
The panel includes people from the financial services, telecommunications, retail and software sectors, according to Grogan. Verify will also specialise only in filling positions that for candidates with more than ten years’ professional experience.
‘‘The panel will review candidates from their own area of expertise, in order to verify the skills and experience of everyone we recommend and ensure they are the exact fit for our clients.
‘‘Expert skills can only be assessed by those who are experts themselves,” said Grogan.
Grogan studied biotechnology at Dublin City University, qualifying in 1990. However, he soon realised that he did not want to spend his career in a lab coat, so he looked at other sectors.
‘‘At that time, a lot of the IT consulting houses were offering graduate training schemes, whereby they offered positions to graduates from a diverse range of disciplines and gave them training on their IT technologies and methodologies. I joined EDS and went to work for them initially in Britain,” said Grogan.
He spent nine years with the company, working for them in England, Scotland, Germany and Ireland in a variety of roles, including engineering and project management.
He then moved to dotcom firm Enba, which was planning to launch Europe’s first internet bank.
‘‘Participating in the dotcom boom was an experience that couldn’t be bought,” according to Grogan. ‘‘I remember sitting in management meetings as the latest valuation was announced – €100 million, €300 million, €1 billion. It was a rollercoaster.”
However, Enba collapsed after the dotcom bubble burst.
Grogan moved on to Dublin software firm Point Information Systems, running its product management and marketing team. When Point was acquired by an American technology firm S1, Grogan’s next move was to AIB, where he worked on the bank’s phone banking business.
He remained with the bank until the middle of last year, when he set about creating Verify.
It works with people seeking jobs and companies that are hiring. The firm is focused on the Dublin area but plans to offer its services across the rest of the country next year.
‘‘We have worked with leading payment providers, e-commerce companies, global financial services organisations, large shared service centres and enterprise software vendors,” said Grogan.
‘‘Our typical client company is one that is either about to embark on a complex business initiative or is facing a particular complex technology. We also get approached when the role is confidential. There are a lot of unadvertised positions out there.”
