David Cochrane

I’ve been unemployed for almost seven months now. It’s been a very tough market to find work in. What’s especially tough is the job application process.

You can spend hours updating and tweaking your CV, and then spend a good amount of time writing a killer cover letter to specifically nail the job advert on the head. Then when you submit your CV, you begin to play the waiting game.

If you’re using IrishJobs, you’ll tend to get an auto-responder thanking you for your application, with an assurance that someone will be right back to you ….. it’s the one promise that more often than not of late is broken.

So you play the waiting game, hoping that a recruiter (be it HR or an agency) will see your CV and coversheet and see that you’d make a good fit and get back to you – but more often than not you’ll hear nothing back. Now I understand that agencies (and recruiters) are being swamped with applications, a friend who recently started a job was told there had been over 250 applicants for her job.

I’ve worked in the digital arena for over seven years now, and my first proper job was with Monster.ie when I would work with recruitment agencies and HR departments of some of the biggest national and multinational companies based here in Ireland. This was at a time of almost full-employment, and companies were finding it increasingly tough to find candidates. So I’d work with them on writing good job-ad copy and using the CV database to find people in employment and lure them somewhere (usually) better. It was a jobseeker’s market then and they needed to work hard to get the people they wanted, but not anymore.

There have been a few recent incidents that have seriously undermined my impression of how recruiters (be it direct, or agency) are behaving in this market:

• I’ve applied for jobs and simply heard nothing, no response at all. Most recently a great company advertised a great job (and I knew the person making the hire), emails have been ignored, DMs too, a phone call (via reception) has even been fobbed off. One of my referees for the job is even a good friend of his. But nothing.
• I’ve applied for jobs where a response a few days later has said due to the number of applicants they’ve not proceeding with my application. That’s fine, if others are more qualified that’s just common sense, but then day after day after day they’re refreshing the job ad on IrishJobs. In one case I got a rejection from a firm saying they’d found other candidates, only to get a call from a recruitment agency a month later because the client said they couldn’t find anyone good. Being told there are others better than you is fine (it seriously is) but being lied to, well that’s quite something else.
• And then, finally and most commonly, you apply for a job and simply hear nothing back, you speak to the recruiter and they’ve no idea who you are, and make it pretty obvious if they’ve not gotten back to you that you must be no good.

My most recent employer was a controversial one, and in many cases I’m sure it’s prevented me from getting past screening level. It got to the case late last year that I wrote a killer cover letter almost apologising for the controversial employer, the reply was exceptionally honest saying I’d not be hired as they genuinely had other more qualified candidates, but they did make one thing clear in their reply, that I should never apologise for being successful at work I’d done, regardless of who it was.

I’m seriously reluctant to name and shame those jobs I’ve applied for and gotten no response – that’d be unprofessional (and probably do my job-hunting prospects more damage!), but whilst it’s become a recruiter’s market, agencies and firms hiring are starting to forget that it’s not just pieces of paper with previous experience listed on it, some people are spending time, energy and enthusiasm to ensure they’re selling themselves well.

At a time like this, with so many people looking for work, it’s clear there’s a huge amount of competition for the few vacant jobs that actually exist (and in particular there are a few firms that are being very specific in what they’re looking for – it’s their market at the moment, and it’s their right to be picky). But the very least they can do in this market is have the decency of replying to applicants. More often than not however, most recruiters are simply hitting the “delete” key and doing little else.

Rather odd Irish Antiwar Lisbon poster – though if Ireland was a battleship (that would be *so*cool) these fellas would have been fired out the torpedo tubes ages ago.

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The Coir posters are easy to Parody. When the “Milked Dry” Coir poster when up on lamp-posts and I needed to come up with a full-page ad for Village Magazine – it was easy to come up with, a bit of a no-brainer.

The Coir Poster

Coir Milked Dry Poster

….. and the full-page ad for Politics.ie in Village Magazine

It’s very easy to Parody the Coir posters, and many of them are doing the rounds, including this one…

Coir Parody Poster

But I opened the Evening Herald earlier to find an op-ed by Minster for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin and I had to double-take

Coir parody poster used by Evening Herald as legit

Lo-and behold, the Evening Herald had reproduced the “Dutch” Coir parody ad, but they thought it was legitimate.

Close-up of Micheal Martin op-ed - with Coir parody poster reproduced as legitimate.

I spoke to the Evening Herald news-desk this afternoon and they were shocked that the Coir image they used was actually a Parody and couldn’t explain how they used it instead of a legitimate one.

Funny, yes, but also a lesson in that Coir posters are so easy to parody, it’s difficult to tell which posters belong to them, and which are a piss-take.

The Irish Independent this morning reports that the Green Party are spending just €5,000 on their Yes to Lisbon campaign.

This is simply pathetic.

Each of their parliamentary party members are being paid by the state, if they wanted a Yes to Lisbon they could easily achieve it.

Even if they donated the maximum €6,348.69 to the Green Party this year, they could easily donate the same amount again.

Simply, all they’d need to do is setup a separate Greens for Lisbon organisation with SIPO, donate €6,349.69 each and that would have a fund of at least €38,092.14.

They assembled their membership and got the required 66% support to enable the party to campaign for a Yes vote. It’s time for the part to put their money where their mouths are.

Vote Moo!!!

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There’s one thing that the Yes side don’t appear to want to campaign on, the one single issue, that I really believe will turn this campaign around for them. The fact that voting No last time actually did some good.

It’s pretty much the only difference between Lisbon 1 and Lisbon 2. The fact that every country gets to keep a commissioner.

This isn’t just a victory for Ireland, it’s a victory for every member-state, as they will all get this right. It was something which caused me trouble under Nice (remember David Byrne having to address the issue, by saying we’d keep our commissioner for hundreds of years…) and it made for some great posters in Lisbon 1.

“Keep Our Commissioner – Vote No”

And people did, and as a result every member-state retains their commissioner (or retains their right to nominate their commissioner, let’s not start a debate on whether commissioners represent member-states, they don’t – but they do come from specific member-states and thus have a more representative viewpoint – and in a time when the EU spends a huge amount of money on advertising and polling on attitudes to the EU, you’d hope they might know those attitudes at the top table.

So job done, victory gained for everyone, and it baffles me why this single difference between Lisbon 1 and 2 isn’t being acknowledged or used by the Yes side.

So the one poster that’s missing?

“Keep Our Commissioner – Vote Yes”

Because under the Nice treaty the number of commissioners is capped, and as the EU has grown substantially since Nice was passed, the number of commissioners is up for renewal, and it will rotate. The voters were asked to Vote No to keep their commissioner, they did, and now they should be asked to vote Yes for the same reason. They were listened to, they got a better deal. It’s obvious. Micheal Martin repeatedly talking about comprehensive polling and guarantees is fine, but it’s muddled and slightly incoherent. In this day and age of communications, being simple, clear and coherent is key. And even then, the one thing that’s changed solidly (that the No side cannot possibly contest), and it’s being ignored by everyone on the Yes side.

Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore will sense the wind, they’ll see people are annoyed over Nama, and an 83% dissatisfaction rating is pretty dissatisfied (from today’s TNS/MRBI poll in the Irish Times). So why wouldn’t the people take it out on the Government? Any suggestion Lisbon 2 is a referendum on Cowen and/or the government means the treaty is dead. Simple as. The Yes side needs to change the narrative on why people are voting on this referendum for a second time, and that needs to be because they got what they wanted by voting No first time around.

The people who voted Yes in June of last year will vote Yes again, those people are covered – though getting a few more of them out to campaign can’t do any harm!

One friend of mine told me earlier this week of an idea for canvassing, ask people if they’ll vote Yes, and if they will, ask them to be proactive in bringing about a Yes vote, put a sticker on their car for example (a plain sticker saying “I’m voting Yes” – the yes side need to demonstrate the fact they are in the majority, not just in D4.

One view is that you can change the minds of No voters by telling them that their views and concerns have been addressed. But how about telling them the truth? That their vote mattered, that it was important, and that it made a difference, it means that every member-state, including Ireland gets to keep their commissioner. What can be more pro-European than making sure every member-state has a seat at the top table?

The only reason I can see that this isn’t being used is arrogance, most of the yes side last time are still on the pitch (just wearing different colours) – and the one thing they don’t want to do is acknowledge that a better deal was done. They want to be right last time for the same reasons they believe they’re right now. But that’s failing to acknowledge the majority of voters in the most obvious way. The legality (or need) for the guarantees can take up the space available (after Nama) to discuss Lisbon – or the Yes side can focus on the one specific and rather obvious one, the C word. The Yes side last time said Ireland couldn’t have an automatic right to a commissioner every five years, they said it was impossible. It was done, and that is the singular most compelling reason to vote Yes, the failure to acknowledge and campaign on this will be the failing of Lisbon 2, but hopefully not Lisbon 3.

…… are there three referendums on the one day???

The Sunday Business Post today has an editorial in favour of Lisbon 2.

We are firmly in support of a Yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum.

This is a rather obvious position for the paper to take, and one which nobody should be either surprised nor shocked at. In any dealings with the Sunday Business Post (with the exception of one journalist) the Sunday Business Post, whilst editorially in favour of Lisbon has always been fair and decent in any dealings.

However, the newspaper leads on NAMA, spends many many pages discussing Nama, and their much longer (and leading) editorial talks about Nama. Almost as an afterthought, the smaller second editorial on Lisbon points out

The public is well able to seperate the issues.

But the newspaper (and every other) gives significant amount of attention to Nama and has done so for the past few weeks. There has been little meaningful coverage of Lisbon.

Yes (as the Post points out), there has been a long summer break and in the absense of any meaningful media activity (on any subject) by the Government – the media (and opposition) have taken interest in Nama and the ongoing disputes between Fine Gaelers (Garret Fitzgerald criticising Fine Gael’s position on Nama as reported in today’s Sunday Tribune) and economists (again, Garret has a swipe at them). There has been almost little or no debate or discussion about Lisbon.

The public may not in fact be able to seperate the issues, and many of them may not see why they should have to. The referendum in 32 days is the only likely opportunity for the public to pass judgement on Nama itself, and they may give the answer to a question the Government isn’t even asking them.

If the Government, and the Yes side care enough about Lisbon, then it needs to be discussed more, and if papers like The Sunday Business Post care about a Yes vote, rather than spending all of their time talking about Nama, giving proper solid coverage of the second campaign is vital.

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Uh oh!

The opposition parties won’t be able  to help themselves when it comes to criticising the Government for any reason, this will include criticism over their efforts for Lisbon.

Labour’s release earlier today is quite telling, that they can’t help but send out a press release having a go at the Government over Lisbon.

“It is time the coalition Government of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party showed some leadership and started to campaign for a ‘Yes’ vote in the forthcoming Lisbon Treaty. They seem to be more intent on pussyfooting around the Referendum than engaging in an honest campaign for a ‘Yes’ vote”, said Deputy Joe Costello addressing a Labour Party campaign meeting today.

“The Green Party leadership is overly anxious to prevent an internal party decision on the Draft NAMA proposals until after the Lisbon Referendum on the 2nd October, while the Taoiseach appears unsure as to whether to publish the Commission on Taxation’s Report before the Lisbon Referendum.

“It is only a short while ago since the Government was reluctant to publish the NAMA proposals at all before the same Referendum.

“This coalition Government has become indecisive and panicky.  The two components in it are watching their backs, watching each other and watching each other’s back benchers.  It is not a pretty political sight.

“The Lisbon Referendum was lost last year because of the lack of Government leadership – the Greens failed to get a mandate to campaign and Fianna Fáil just failed to campaign.

“On this occasion the Greens have a mandate and Fianna Fáil cannot afford a second failure.  So why don’t they just get on with it and start campaigning for a ‘Yes’ vote?

“By trying to kick other major political issues to touch until after the Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, the coalition partners are only attracting suspicions as to what their motives might be, and thus creating a negative context for the Referendum.

“For those of us who believe that the Lisbon Treaty is about enhanced democratisation, increased accountability and the effective functioning of the enlarged European Union it doesn’t matter when NAMA or the Report of the Commission on Taxation come along.

“The Lisbon Referendum is crucially important in its own right for the future of Ireland and the future of Europe and it should not be juggled with politically by Fianna Fáil and the Greens.”

Labour’s campaign for Lisbon apparently begins with their press conference on Monday (where I’m sure they’ll show off some campaign posters, which one hopes will be a bit better than their effort last time, where their campaign appeared to be more about using the relaxation in the litter laws during the 30 days before the referendum date to promote local candidate posters.

It may very well be the case that it could be easier for Lisbon to be passed if Fianna Fail isn’t involved in the Lisbon 2 campaign, lest their involvement turn the referendum on Lisbon 2 to be a referendum on them.

It doesn’t help that in the press release Labour mention in the same breath both Nama and the Commission for Taxation, two issues which I’m absolutely certain are more important in the eyes of voters (especially the ones which need to be converted from the No side to the Yes side).

It’s hypocrisy for Labour to send out a press release like this, doing exactly what they are accusing Fianna Fail of.

creating a negative context for the Referendum

Either way, the in-fighting has kicked off, and is the kind of thing likely to damage efforts on the  Yes side to speak with one single coherent voice.