We’re potentially into a very sensitive time just now for Midlands families. Watching our costs going up and up, we’re all in the same boat. Hoping against hope that the increase in fuel costs is somehow only a temporary situation. Hoping that it will get sorted out soon and it’ll all be grand in the end. But what about if this turns out to be a more long-term problem? How long can your current commuting arrangements withstand that big question of overall viability? And this is even before these cost increases filter down into food and other costs.
On a positive note, and potentially the silver lining, at Midlandjobs we are certainly aware that there are some very good local employers with very interesting job opportunities which commuters may never have even considered up to now. So is this now finally that time to start thinking about working locally? We believe it is.
For at least the past 20 years, there’s been the phenomenon of new residents to the Midlands, who buy or rent accommodation in the region, who move to live here, but they continue to work in the city. For such people, their attention is drawn solely towards what happens in the Dublin area, and the Midlands becomes just somewhere they go each night to sleep. Which is how it stays for them, without their looking around the area and asking or thinking about the sorts of local opportunities they might now have on their doorstep.
So for those people, Midlandjobs.ie can represent a window into a world of work which may not have even occurred to them. And to some extent, for good reason. There have been periods when career opportunities in our region, were limited. But this situation has been changing now for some time and it continues to change. To be fair, and while some might say it still has some way to go, this change has largely been helped by local and national government policy now drawing in more interesting companies attracted by the proximity of the Midlands to facilities such as Dublin Airport. As well as stronger support for local companies and innovators, provided by the LEO’s, Enterprise Ireland and the ETB’s.
The upside therefore, is that were this fuel cost crisis to have occurred even 10 years ago, there would have been precious little possibility of any alternative employment in the Midlands for stranded commuters, stuck in endless M50 traffic watching the dollar signs clocking off their fuel gauges. But now there are serious local alternatives. And as those fuel costs increase, the alternatives are becoming more viable by the day. In our view, we are fortunate to now at least have the potential of that safety net of a more progressive Midlands economy which simply was nowhere near as positive prior to say 2015.
In a nutshell, Midlandjobs.ie is here to help job-seekers for when the fuel cost situation does start to linger making their current city-based jobs unviable. As a first step, we would encourage potential candidates to register for our job alerts. This will at least let you know when a new vacancy of potential interest to you, has been newly added to our system. To sign up – please click here.