Watch what you say on line. Your next job could depend on it.

An article by Tim Difford in thenextweb.com reports on a survey by Microsoft which not only confirms that HR recruitment professionals look online to gather information about prospective candidates, but also quantifies the extent to which this practice now prevails. Specific findings indicate that:

• 43% of European recruitment professionals routinely analyse prospective candidates’ online reputations before deciding whether to select them for interview.

• Content drawn from search engines, personal blogs, and social networking sites are all liable to be scrutinised in the process.

• Across Europe 23% of recruiters have gone as far as rejecting candidates based on their online reputation. This hides considerable country to country differences, ranging from 41% in the UK, to 16% in Germany and 14% in France.

• Germany, however, incorporates online data into its candidate assessments in 59% of cases, with lower figures recorded elsewhere across the continent.

• In the USA 70% of HR professionals admit to rejecting clients based solely on their web-presence.

• The most common reasons for candidates being rejected relate to “inappropriate comments or text written” by the applicant or “unsuitable photos or videos”.

• In Britain only 9% of people consider their online reputation to be a significant factor when applying for jobs, which, in all the circumstances is a surprisingly low figure.

There is only one conclusion one can draw from all of this: Watch what you say online – your next job could depend on it!

New Business in Ballycroy

On Saturday last I was in Ballycroy, which is more or less half way between Achill and Belmullet in West Mayo, and went to the visitor centre at the Ballycroy National Park. 

Visitor Centre at Ballycroy National Park

Although the National Park itself has been in existence since 1998, it never had a visitor centre until now. The National Park is huge, and to create it over 11,000 hectares of land has been taken into public ownership. It is made up of bog and mountain in the main, and includes most of the Nephin Beg Mountains.  These have been described as “the loneliest place in Ireland” by Robert Lloyd Praeger. In The Way That I Went (1937), he had this to say:

“Indeed the Nephin Beg range of mountains is I think the very loneliest place in this country, for the hills themselves are encircled by this vast area of trackless bog.,…….I confess I find such a place not lonely or depressing but inspiriting. You are thrown at the same time back upon yourself and forward against the mystery and majesty of nature.”

The Nephin Begs are probably our last remaining uninhabited and unspoilt wilderness and comprise, for the most part mountains interspersed with blanket bog. Through them flow several important salmon and trout rivers – including the Owenduff and the Tarsaghaunmore River.

The Nephin Beg Mountains viewed from Ballycroy

The unspoilt nature of the area is assured in the long term because most of it has been designated as either Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), or Special Protection Areas (SPA). Taking a wider and longer term perspective such restrictions have very obvious major benefits, but their short term effect has been to limit economic activity locally because these designations have placed major restrictions on how land in the area is farmed. Now, however, with the building of the Visitor Centre the area has got a major boost because the centre is giving valuable local employment and will hopefully become a focal point to encourage visitors to the area.

One of the more unique features of the National Park is that there are no roads through it, so Shanks Mare is the one and only option!  While there are no roads in the Nephin Begs it does contain one of the most interesting pathways in Ireland – the Bangor Trail.  The Bangor Trail itself has a long history and may date back to 16th century. The trail was used as the main route for people and livestock before the introduction of modern roads between the Bangor Erris region and Newport. Emigrants travelling from Bangor Erris to Westport would also have used this trail. It is a long walk – 26 kilometres officially – but there is every possibility that you could walk its entire length and not meet a single soul! The next photograph shows the boardwalk in the bog near the Visitor Centre, but be warned – there are no boardwalks on the Bangor Trail!

Boardwalk in the bog: at Ballycroy Visitor Centre, Co. Mayo

For Ballycroy the development of the visitor centre represents a major economic boost, and has brought jobs to an area that badly needs them. It will bring people into the area.  Many will come back because of the uniqueness of the location and I expect that a few will also return for the smoked salmon salad on offer.  At €5.50 for a full platter I have not seen better value for money, or better quality on offer anywhere since St. Patrick climbed the Reek!