Derry Journal: Less than 300 jobs in NW

As much as I poke fun at the DJ (main in regards to Project Kevin (yes I did that on purpose)) there, once in a while, a story that just matters. Today they hit gold.

I used to put the figures up for Limavady, Coleraine and Derry and I might go back to that. It would be interesting to see when the figures were calculated, doing a quick freetext job search on the Job Centre website I got:
Limavady: 19
Londonderry/Derry: 93
Strabane: 11
Coleraine: 44

Coming in at a mildly worrying 167 jobs for the North West based on the major towns and cities.

It's all back to the numbers again, 2500 job losses since 2008 and a 60% increase in workload at the Derry job centre alone. Main attack seems to be pointed at Invest NI who are being asked where the investment is for the area.

My opinion is that it's all back around this demand cycle, the same sort of thing I was talking about with regards to Stream's position last week. You need spending to increase demand, increased demand leads to more services/production requirement which leads to job creation.

Currently it's a stagnated cycle, no one wants to make the first move just yet. Housing hasn't bottomed out just yet, got another year or so I'd say. So no one wants to really spend anything (if they have something to spend, lots of job losses = reduced spending).

Job creation will come in small startups, what can Invest NI do? Plough small amounts of investment over a greater number of people who really need it. The Start A Business Programme is there lying dormant and could just do with a crash machine nearby to get its heartbeat going again.

This time though up the money from a useless £400 to £1000 and people might take INI and themselves a little more seriously. If you can bootstrap something from nothing then go for it, start getting to Open Coffee Derry/Coleraine/Belfast meetings and make contacts, network do anything to get your name out.

The ultimate responsibility for job creation isn't really with government it's down to an individual, a group, a community or a town/city to actually do something. People will take note and people will come. In my honest opinion Invest NI have chased the big companies as they give more credibility to the press releases that are put out, but right now it's a level playing field and I think the small mobile intelligent units might actually pull through on this one, it's all down to the ability to change.

Good luck everyone, see you on the other side.

Open Coffee Coleraine.

The 38minutes group is for creatives, programmers and the like to network together. A lot of the Coleraine Campus folk seem to into gaming and social applications in a big way.

Could be worth a look, first meeting is on the 18th March. More info here.

Coleraine Jobs Fair

Limavady job seekers may be interested to know about the Coleraine Jobs Fair happening on Tuesday 24th Feb. Taking place at The Royal Court Hotel, Portrush from 5pm-9pm. For more information you can contact 028 7034 1006.

Potential Employers	Support Agencies
Southern Cross Healthcare	Department for Employment & Learning (DEL)
Rutledge Joblink	Careers Service
Armed Forces	Social Security Agency (SSA)
PSNI	Invest N.I
Riada Recruitment	Causeway Enterprise Agency
JJB Sports (??? Ed.)	Pathways/Steps
MPA Recruitment	EGSA (Educational Guidance Service for Adults)
Perfectseal Ltd	Elle Enterprises
Virgin Vie At Home	Inland Revenue
Creggan Country Park	Disability Advisory Service (DAS)
Trust Caring & Nursing Agency	Construction Industry Trading Board (CITB)
Territorial Army	Princes Trust
JC Recruitment	Ulster Supported Employment Limited (USEL)
Glen Caring Services	Construction Skills in NI
Bombardier Aerospace	Engineering Training Council
Cafre	Northern Regional College
NI Fire And Rescue Service	North West Regional College
NI Careers Service	North West Life Long Learning
NIHE
Northern Health & Social Care Trust
Infocentre (Court Service)
RAF
Royal Navy
Royal Marines
UUJ Student Recruitment Services

Hibernia award Project Kelvin to...........

Give you three guesses.... yup Glack.... no Derry!

I'm watching this one closely to see what the job impact/opportunties will be over the next three years. Let's hope for a wave of startups in the local area. To be honest they could setup in Derry, Coleraine or Limavady a few milliseconds here or there won't make a great deal of difference to most.

Project Kelvin: And the winner is?

Coleraine were originally awarded as the location for the site of Telehouse for the transatlantic cable, enabling high speed data communication from the States and Europe.

The Derry Journal didn't take it too well.

Then the business leaders didn't take it too well. One putting up money to start a legal case.

Then Martin got involved.

Perhaps starting with the article in The Times might be a better starting place.