Find a Job
164 available

Brightwater Blog

Get expert advice, up-to-date market knowledge and lots more!

How great is Cork to live and work in?

23 Feb 2016

Tom Wilkinson

The Cork market for job seekers is very exciting at the moment – it might be the sense of community and the resilience of the people who have pushed through and successfully come out the other end after the recession.

Welcome to Cork – Everyone here knows it’s the real capital, but does the rest of the world?

It seems they’re catching on! In 2014, the Huffington Post listed Cork City in first position in their list of Overlooked European Cities (in great company, such as Helsinki, Porto and Budapest) read the full article here. That was 2 years ago though, and since then word has spread that Cork really is the place to be and that’s not just for the visitors.

The Cork market for job seekers is very exciting at the moment – it might be the sense of community and the resilience of the people who have pushed through and successfully come out the other end after the recession. Aspira and MSD have announced their plans to expand recently and there’s sure to be more to come.

Along with a thriving homegrown scene of tech, tourism and more, large companies have established themselves in Cork to take advantage of the skilled talent pools available to them. This makes for a great mix with both exciting startups and innovative established companies providing great opportunities here.
Here’s a sample of the news of growth in Cork in the last 6 months alone:

  • Apple – with 1000 jobs on the way, adding to its existing 4,000 strong workforce cement this iconic brands position as the leading private employer in Cork.
  • Tyco – A big win announced late last year was the news that Tyco, Multinational fire and security company was making a welcome return to Rebel county as they elected Cork over Switzerland as its global HQ and employment in Ireland up to 700.
  • VMWare – Celebrating 10 years in Ballincollig, plans were announced in August to grow staff in the next few years.
  • Musgrave Group – A home grown success, with 1,045 independent retail stores across Ireland.
  • Amazon – The world’s largest online retailer announced plans to expand across Europe. Currently 800 people are employed at their local operations hub, in addition to their workforce in Dublin.

After a year of construction, One Albert Quay, the newest addition to the our skyline, will house Tyco’s Global HQ in addition to financial services giant PWC, Investec banking, engineering, design and consultancy firm Arup, and internet security firm Malwarebytes.

There’s also the added bonus of a very proactive business associations and support communities in Cork, Brightwater Director, and as Director of the Brightwater Cork office, I’m always impressed by both Cork Chamber and the IDA & Enterprise Ireland to promote the greater Munster region as a great place to do business. 
Thanks to organisations such as these, we will continue to be marketed as a go-to destination for enterprise.

Check out our openings near you now!

We’ve got excellent opportunities for you to flourish in some of the country’s best companies. For further information, please contact me: [email protected] / 021 422 1000.

Tom Wilkinson, Commercial Director, Brightwater Cork
Connect with Tom on Linkedin