From Ireland to Croatia and back again: how EURES helps big businesses fill international roles

EURES and its advisors have come to play an important role in this recruitment process – particularly for the Marriott’s Customer Engagement Centre in Cork, Ireland. “We currently service nine different language markets,” Aoife Lyons, a Recruitment Specialist at the Centre, explains. “We do, at times, need assistance to ensure those markets are serviced, especially due to the economic growth that Cork City has been experiencing over the last few years.”

“Our Reservations & Customer Specialist role is the one we primarily recruit externally for,” she adds. “It involves helping our guests with the reservation queries across a number of language markets.”

Hugh Rodgers, an advisor at EURES Ireland, has been helping Marriott International, Cork with their recruitment needs for over 10 years now. “We promote their positions widely on the EURES portal and we also have access to the national websites,” he says. “I also get great support through the network of EURES Advisors in countries like Croatia, Denmark and the Netherlands, who match and promote these positions in their own countries.”

One of these advisors is Martina Vidakovic from EURES Croatia, which has helped to match a number of talented Croatians with open positions at the Marriott’s Customer Engagement Centre over the years.

It was a chance meeting between her colleague and Hugh that sparked the collaboration between the two EURES offices. “My colleague Patricija met Hugh on a training course and mentioned that a lot of Croatian people speak German, as well as English,” Martina shares. “Hugh pointed out that Marriott International has a large German client base and as such it is a much sought after language skill. He invited her to visit them and see how great an employer the Marriott is. The rest is history.”

Martina believes that the fact that Croatia was the most recent country to join the EU has played a part in making the recruitment efforts so successful. “With the labour market opening up, we have many Croatian people who are interested in new experiences abroad.”

“Croatians love Ireland,” she adds, “and there are many cultural similarities between Irish and Croatian people. It is one of the countries they [Croatians] often choose for their new beginnings.”

The feedback from those who have made the journey to Ireland has been unanimously positive. “They forget about us quickly because they have such a great time working at Marriott,” Martina laughs. “All the feedback we’ve received so far confirms that they are satisfied and well taken care of!”

The experience of the Marriott’s Customer Engagement Centre is a great example of the benefits that EURES can bring to companies across Europe.

“I think that EURES has the potential to be a great support to companies that are recruiting internationally,” Hugh says. “It has a huge reach across all countries and a very good support network. It also has the tools to provide both assistance and information, and can offer a very comprehensive package to employers.”

And as a representative of one of those companies, what’s Aoife’s perspective? “EURES is helpful, informative, timely and always a pleasure to deal with!” she enthuses. “It offers us a lot of support with our recruitment needs.”

Related links:

EURES Ireland

EURES Croatia

Marriott International Customer Engagement Centres

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