Resources · Job search
Where to look, and how to run a search
Most people search too widely and apply too quickly. This page lists the places worth your time in Ireland, what each one is actually good for, and the handful of habits that separate a search that works from one that drifts.
Where the jobs are
The general boards carry most of the advertised market. They overlap, so pick two you check properly rather than six you skim.
One of the longest running Irish boards, strong on permanent office, finance and technical roles.
When to use it: Set up a saved search with alerts and let it do the looking for you.
Broad coverage across retail, hospitality, construction, transport and healthcare.
When to use it: Good for roles that are advertised locally rather than nationally.
Aggregates listings from company sites and other boards, so it is the widest net.
When to use it: Use it to spot employers you had not thought of, then apply on their own site where you can.
Advertised roles plus the people attached to them.
When to use it: When you want to see who the hiring manager is before you write the letter.
Public and semi-state
Public competitions run to their own timetable and their own forms. They reward preparation more than speed.
The central recruitment service for the civil service and much of the wider public service.
When to use it: Register early, because competitions open and close on fixed dates.
County and city councils advertise their own competitions alongside the national ones.
When to use it: When you want to stay in your own county.
Health service roles, clinical and non-clinical.
When to use it: For health and social care, including administrative grades.
Teaching and school support vacancies across primary, post-primary and further education.
When to use it: During the main recruitment season, and for maternity and fixed-term cover year round.
Going direct
A good share of hiring never reaches a job board. Going direct puts you in front of the employer before the queue forms.
Most employers of any size advertise on their own site first.
When to use it: Draw up a list of twenty employers you would work for and check them fortnightly.
A short letter to a named person, with your CV, asking to be considered for upcoming work.
When to use it: In smaller organisations and trades, where hiring happens when the need appears.
Specialist consultants who work sector by sector and often hold unadvertised roles.
When to use it: Pick two in your field, meet them properly, and keep in touch monthly.
Local and supported routes
Free, publicly funded help with searching, training and getting back to work. There is no downside to using it.
The public employment service: case officers, job vacancies and access to training supports.
When to use it: If you are out of work, this is the first call, whatever your level.
One-to-one help with searching, applications and confidence, delivered locally.
When to use it: When you want a person beside you rather than a website.
Short courses, apprenticeships and reskilling, often free or heavily subsidised.
When to use it: When a gap in a qualification is what is holding applications back.
Free and subsidised higher education courses aimed at people changing direction.
When to use it: For a change of sector that needs a recognised qualification.
Running your search
The sites are the easy part. What decides the outcome is how you work them.
Keep a search log
One sheet, one line per application: employer, role, date sent, closing date, who you sent it to, and what happened. When a call comes three weeks later you will know exactly what they read.
Fewer, better applications
Five tailored applications will beat thirty recycled ones. If you are sending the same document twice, you are not applying, you are posting.
Give it working hours
Treat the search as a job with a start and a finish. Two focused hours in the morning beats a whole day of scrolling.
Know when to change approach
Fifteen applications with no interview is not bad luck, it is feedback about the document. Twenty interviews with no offer is feedback about the interview. Change the thing the evidence points at.