The Irish Farmers Journal and open eir Agri Careers Fair made headlines last week because the numbers looked good – nobody could deny that 1,120 jobs made for a great news story and when word got out that we had to shut the doors on several occasions because the crowd was so big, the national media, and in turn everybody else, looked up.

Justin McCarthy said in his editorial in this paper last week that farming had been forgotten in the election campaign. We hope the Agri Careers Fair helped prove that agriculture is crucial to rebuilding the economy and that many people are turning to this industry in their quest to find employment.

It was a day when secondary school children were running around, television cameras were trying to find the best angle and those deadly serious about their job hunt were in suits, top button closed and secured with a tie, as they tried to ensure their CV didn’t get crumpled as they moved through the crowds.

There were many well-known figures in attendance, including Dublin footballer Ciarán Kilkenny (who was manning the Careers Challenge Sports Wall) and RTÉ’s George Lee.

Job opportunities

While the vast majority of roles at the fair were in Ireland – and generally rural Ireland – there were some interesting vacancies abroad too. Fyffes is looking for a financial controller in St Petersburg in Russia, while Kepak is looking for an operations/sales manager in Ghana.

After the Department of Agriculture and Teagasc, the stand with the most jobs on the day was ABP with 153 roles to fill. Event partner open eir launched its apprentice recruitment programme at the fair, which will be taking on 50 apprentice technicians.

Real business was done at the event. One meat processor said it received 2,000 expressions of interest from people who want to work across a range of roles in the business, while another company said it received details of approximately 500 graduates who are interested in its graduate programme.

The focal point of the event was the main stage, which provided a platform for those who have already built careers in the industry to impart nuggets of wisdom and inspiration which will resonate with people long after the fair.

The Irish Farmers Journal’s Eoin Lowry, who was managing director of a fertiliser company at the age of 28, advised attendees to go for that cup of coffee: “You never know where it might lead you.”

Michael King from Innopharma Labs said that “going to small or medium size companies can be more beneficial than larger companies at the start of a career. In big blue-chip companies, roles can sometimes be very narrow. If you’re with a smaller company, you’ll get experience in all parts of the business.”

We learned some interesting facts from the main stage too. All the engineer graduates taken on in Massey Ferguson last year were Irish, while European Movement Ireland’s Ruth McCourt noted that European institutions need experts in every single field because they make decisions for every field.

We were given an insight into why a farming background prepares people so well for a career in the industry as Dairymaster’s John Daly explained that things were always breaking when he was growing up on a farm so he was “always exposed to it and intrigued by it and how machines work”.

Tillage farmer Julian Hughes told the crowd about his career ups and downs, included the time he lost every carrot he had because of frost, while Ciarán Sweeney of Fyffes relayed his experience of working on a 2,500-acre pineapple farm in Costa Rica.

The main stage was a bit of fun too. Feilim Mac An Iomaire gave insights into the positive and negative feedback he received online after he spent €2,000 on a billboard which begged the nation’s employers to save him from emigration. He said he received so much media attention after the billboard went up that he was more popular than Niall Horan in Coppers, while the most hurtful comment he received online was when he was accused of wearing fake tan.

The stars of the show were the Woulfe brothers. These are five brothers who all work in the agricultural industry (from eldest Jim Woulfe, who is CEO of Dairygold, to youngest David, who is farming at home) and they revealed what they believe to be the secret to their success: their mother, five aunts and grandmother were all teachers!

We’ll be back

The Agri Careers Fair was a great day for the agriculture industry as a whole. There was a wide mix of people, a wide range of ages, and a fantastic atmosphere in the RDS.

When individual players came together under the one roof, it was very easy to see the huge number of tangible roles in the sector. Employers could see what their roles meant to attendees and the contribution they were making to the rural economy and attendees could see the huge amount of opportunities available to them.

This is what made for a great atmosphere in the Industries Hall and who wouldn’t want to revisit that? We’ll be back.