Exports are predicted to continue rising, enough to drive employment. The skills gap in the IT sector will gain more headlines in 2012 as companies scour the globe for the technical skills to develop and support products and services from Irish hubs. We’ll see demand for professional, technical and skilled staff with a non-English native European language to support operations across EMEA region.

The area of professional services is also recovering. The Big Four are hiring in higher volumes and starting to worry again about how to attract and retain the best and brightest, rather than worry about how many they might need to let go.

I expect to see a positive shift in employment in construction. Commercial agents are hiring sales staff and architects admit to being busier than last year.

Other trends we can expect to see in 2012 are the increasing popularity of conversion courses. Such courses can provide a route back to employment.

As the competition for technology skills heats up, rates and salaries rise and securing permanent staff gets difficult, employers will start to think about in training. Employers will upskill their own people or partner with firms like Skillsnet to ‘grow their own’.

The outlook for the jobs market has improved. Whilst job losses continue, hiring activity is better than at any time in the past two and a half years. It is only a matter of time before the lines on those graphs cross and we see a return to employment growth. Led by multinationals, I expect to see that growth return in the latter half of 2012.