IDA Investment Highlights

- A total of 125 foreign direct investments won
- New companies investing in Ireland for the first time up 11% on 2008
- Investments in Research, Development & Innovation (RD&I) in excess of €500m
- 49% of investments were RD&I
- 69% of investments from existing companies
- Over 4,500 new jobs were created in 2009
- Exports from IDA client companies increased to €110bn

Companies who have announced jobs include……..
Trend Micro
Gala Inc
Alps Electric
Gerson Lehrman Group
Computershare (CGS)
Intel Ireland Ltd.
Hewlett Packard Ireland Ltd.
PayPal Europe Services Limited Helsinn Holding S.A.,
Big Fish Games, Inc
CIRS
Cerner Corporation

www.careermentors.ie , Mairead Griffin, Career Coach & Outplacement Specialist, Phone 01-2160880

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Company Figures
More than 350 million active users
50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
More than 35 million users update their status each day
More than 55 million status updates posted each day
More than 2.5 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
More than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
More than 3.5 million events created each month
More than 1.6 million active Pages on Facebook
More than 700,000 local businesses have active Pages on Facebook Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

Averages
Average User Figures Average user has 130 friends on the site
Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
Average user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month
Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
Average user becomes a fan of 2 Pages each month
Average user is invited to 3 events per month
Average user is a member of 12 groups

http://www.careermentors.ie  Mairead Griffin, Career Coach & Outplacement Specialist

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What do I do if I cannot afford my mortgage repayments?
The most important thing is that you’re open and honest with your bank before you get to the point of financial despair. It is critical that you protect your future credit rating as much as possible. You should speak to your lender before your bills mount up. Before approaching your bank read the Irish Mortgage Federations Code of Practice on Mortgage Arrears on the http://www.ibf.ie website. Ensure you have all the facts and entitlements in advance of meeting your bank

Option 1
Request a payment holiday whereby you will not have to make any repayments of capital or interest. This is what you should ask for first.
 

Option 2
Ask to be moved to interest only until you are back on your financial feet

Option 3
The Mortgage Interest Supplement. provides short term support to help you pay your mortgage interest repayments. You will only get assistance with the interest portion of your mortgage repayments.

What is the process?

To apply, fill in a Mortgage Interest Supplement Form . Part of the form will need to be filled in by your lending agency. You will also need to fill in another form called the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Form – this form is used to gather additional details relevant to your application for Mortgage Interest Supplement. The Community Welfare Officer or local Citizens Information Service will help you complete these forms

When you apply for Mortgage Interest Supplement the Community Welfare Officer will assess your means. This will show the Community Welfare Officer how much of the mortgage interest you can pay. A means test examines all your sources of income. However, some income is not taken into account in the calculation of your means. You may qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if your income is below a certain amount and you meet the other conditions. Check out http://www.welfare.ie for more details

http://www.careermentors.ie, Mairead Griffin, Career Coach & Outplacement Specialist

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• Tailor the Letter to the Role, Person and Organisation you are targeting. Make this organization feel unique. It shows you’ve done your research.
• Keep it simple and concise. Do not over complicate it
• Do not start every sentence with “I”. Play around with your sentences to make them more impactful Using “I” too much, makes it appear like a list!
• Make your opening sentence impactful and unique
• Keep it to 2-3 main paragraphs.
• Look at the job description and pick out the key words the employer is looking for from the person. Build these into your cover letter. Use a thesaurus to find ways of re-phrasing their adjectives
• Make sure there are no grammatical or spelling errors on your Cover Letter. Proof-read it at least twice.
• Make sure the Cover Letter outlines what the employer is looking for.
• Sell yourself as this is your opportunity to do so.
• Finish the Cover Letter with a note thanking them for their time and indicating that you will follow up in the coming days to clarify any questions. Leave the ball in your court rather than playing the waiting game.

http://www.careermentors.ie , Career Coaching & Outplacement Services

Todays market is particularly challenging for solicitors with the recently qualified faced the decision of how to move forward in their careers. Many are chosing to return to college, others moving abroad, whilst others are using their transferable skills to find alternative employment. It is worth contacting the law society to get more advice. They have a career specialist who has specifically been employed to work with recently qualifieds.

Enclosed are some uselful links, recommended agencies in both Ireland and the UK and lists of the main law firms in Ireland in the UK

http://www.careermentors.ie , Career Coaching & Outplacement Specialists

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