'Irish grads are attracted to glossy multinationals, but they should look at local companies'

IRISH GRADUATES SHOULD give more consideration to joining indigenous companies rather than immediately gravitating towards large multinationals, according to one of the country’s top academics.

Finian Buckley, a professor for organisational psychology who works in the area of HR management at DCU Business School, also said that many Irish small businesses can offer graduates experiences that multinationals cannot, as their smaller size can give workers opportunities outside their normal roles.

Speaking to Fora at PwC’s 2016 Business Forum, Buckley said that smaller Irish businesses are often overlooked by new graduates.

“Graduates line up for companies like Google, but when SMEs offer opportunities, graduates are less inclined to do them,” he said. “Graduates seem to be attracted by the glossier larger organisations offerings, maybe wrongly.

“Irish SMEs are frustrated. They want to grow, they want staff with languages and qualifications but they find it difficult to attract them away from large employers.

“If you are an Irish company with 60 employees and you are taking your first step into the Dutch market, you are in a growth phase and you can’t project an exact future, but if you are Google or PayPal, you have offices all over the world and can offer trainees to spend time in several different countries. It is difficult to compete with.”

DCU professor Finian Buckley

Experience

Buckley acknowledged that pragmatism is likely a choice for many graduates who may be looking for experience before moving elsewhere.

However, he added that SMEs can often offer graduates the chance to work in areas that they may previously have had no interest in.

“It is a risky move taking a job. You could call it naivete (on the part of graduates) or you could call it mitigating their risk. If you get 18 months on your CV working at Google, it makes you more attractive to traditional organisations,” he said.

Google's Dublin headquarters

“In SMEs if you come in as an accountant you will probably play a series of different roles that would fill out your CV faster. In SMEs if there is something different that is needed and you put your hand up, you could be doing marketing in the Baltics.”

He added: “The Googles and PayPals go out of their way to sell their image, they want first-choice of the clever graduates. Irish SMEs should be getting into universities and selling their wares and handing out opportunities.

“Graduates say that they are not looking for a job for life, that they are looking for experience and a certain lifestyle. SMEs can probably offer more than multinationals with defined structures in their organisations.”