Dairy sector hunting for employees

Various players in the dairy industry have cited employment growth in 2017 as production increased significantly in Ireland and prices have improved since 2016.

This year saw 500 new jobs across four dairy companies who responded to the survey. An additional 568 replacement jobs were also filled.

Kerry

2017 has seen Kerry continuing its strong employment form from 2016.

In total, the processor took on 260 new hires this year, along with 520 replacement roles. This included 51 graduate positions, up from 45 last year.

Glanbia

Glanbia continues to have a strong focus on developing its graduate programme, with another 65 graduates taken on by the processor in 2017.

Sixty-five roles were also added in 2016 across a number of sectors such as supply chain, marketing, food and nutritional science. In total, 152 positions were filled in Glanbia in 2017 including the aforementioned graduates.

Eighty-seven of these were a mixture of newly created roles and replacement positions. The processor currently employs 6,200 people worldwide.

Aurivo

Eighty-one new employees started with Aurivo in 2017. Of these, 15 were newly created, while eight student placement roles were filled by the northwest processor. These roles included quality systems co-ordinator, retail assistants and dairy operatives.

Aurivo has also taken on three graduates from Mayo, Sligo and Longford, highlighting its dedication to employment in the west.

Employing 650 people across its 41 sites, Aurivo expects 30 more jobs to be created in 2018.

Dairygold

The Munster-based processor took on 40 new staff in its co-op as well as 11 new graduate positions this year.

Dairygold now employs 1,204 across Ireland, UK, Germany, Spain and China and is expecting to hire 16 graduates for 2018 across nine different functional areas.

In Ireland, the company is currently looking to hire employees in quality control roles, production jobs and in internal audit.

Ornua

Ornua has increased employment again in 2017, having done so last year. Eight new employees were hired in 2017, along with 42 in replacement positions. It also took on numerous graduates this year.

Graduate name: David Dunne

Agri food company: Glanbia – Glanbia Ireland (Glanbia Agribusiness)

Title: Agribusiness branch associate

Started: September 2017

I joined the graduate programme with Glanbia in September 2017. My reason for choosing Glanbia was my desire to be part of an organisation with a global footprint, who are committed to being one of the world’s top-performing nutrition companies seeking to deliver better nutrition for every step of life’s journey.

I enjoy the prospect of playing my part in ensuring Glanbia continues to deliver within this evolving industry

I graduated from food and business management in UCD this September. The working lifestyle is certainly different from college, but they do have similarities.

In terms of goals, in college you are focused on assignments, while in the working world you have to hit your targets.

I definitely think the group projects we did in college helped with the transition to the graduate programme in terms of communications skills and teamwork. It is great to be able to bring these qualities I learned in college to Glanbia.

In terms of the work I do, it is really enjoyable. It is a varied role, from helping customers to being involved in exciting and innovative projects across the business. I have also enjoyed meeting graduates and colleagues from various disciplines and look forward to working with them on future projects.

For the future, I hope to develop and progress my career within Glanbia, taking on more responsibility.

The current environment in which the agricultural industry operates in is one of constant change, with challenges for all organisations operating within the industry.

I enjoy the prospect of playing my part in ensuring Glanbia continues to deliver within this evolving industry.

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Agri companies ramp up employment