HIRELAND HAS MOVED.....

you can find us at www.hireland.wordpress.com

The power of #SMEcommunity:

With the economy the way it is, we as businesses need all the support and help we can get.  It is crucial to keep a clear head and stand together with our fellow brethren.  We are recently seeing a growing trend of Irish business people banding together to support one another. 

A group of Irish business people have set up online support for small businesses via Twitter called #SMEcommunity.  This group has grown from 2 tweeters to more than 750 in three months.  The #SMEcommunity is comprised of a variety of companies ranging from artisan food markets to metal prefabricators.  A tweet by business mentor Vincent Bryne captures the essence of this group: “This business journey isn't meant to be a solo effort - getting help is as much a part of it as the good stuff. So ask! #SMEcommunity”.  This community has set up 12 informal meetings around Ireland and has set up a second round to meet Mayo members last week.  This provides businesses with great opportunities to share ideas and network themselves to new prospects. 

SMEs are the driving force that’s going to pick up Irelands economy.  We are the backbone that holds the weight of Ireland’s burden on our shoulders.   The SME community has taken a big hit with the recession.  In 2007-2010, the SME sector lost more than 128,000 jobs.  This represents about 15% of the total workforce.  The European Commission notes that SMEs account for more than 99% of all EU businesses, two-thirds of private sector jobs, and contribute to more than half of the value-added. 

SMEs are the voices that matter and the people we should be helping the most.  It is amazing to see efforts being made like the Twitter #SMEcommunity.  This is giving people a fighting chance.  Anyone is allowed to join the events hosted by this community and chime in on any of the conversations going on.  The best part about it is it’s free!  There is hope for Ireland.  If we continue to support each other and help in any way, we can bring Ireland back to a glorified nation.  It only takes one to make a difference.  

I’ll end by quoting Debbie Harper of Foxford-based Tus Nua Designs: "The growth of the #SMEcommunity has been so phenomenal — it is all about people giving each other hands-on practical help and advice. Knowing there are other business people rooting for your success gives a feeling of unity and strength in numbers,

Imagine this....

Take a moment and contemplate the following:

Imagine Ireland after the recession. What that will mean for you, your family, your friends. .....Because it is going to happen.

Now imagine a spirit of enterprise and innovation in Ireland after the recession. It won't be  a very dynamic space if  thousands of peoples skills have become obsolete, if skills and talents have been soaked up abroad, if there are thousands of people who have given up hope and face a life sentence on the dole ques.

We have to start seeing beyond the dip and preparing for our recovery. That means investing instead of cutting your most valuable assets- the people who make your enterprise what it is.

For anyone stuck in the dip have a look at this.....

The silver bullet

At the recent Global Economic Forum held at Dublin Castle, President Clinton told us that there is no single initiative that will solve our problems but instead, “There are dozens and dozens of things we need to do and those things need to be worked out by people like you working together and exploring options and seeing how to do them.”

He was right. There is no single silver bullet. We need lots of ideas around which lots of people can collaborate and create a momentum powerful enough to start moving the growth needle in the right direction.

One such idea is The Irish Sun newspaper’s  initiative ‘Get Ireland Working’ and another earlier in the year was TV3’s ‘Every Job Counts’.  ‘Local Heros’ from RTE is another which will be launching the coming weeks. All of these initiatives  need to be applauded. They are examples of organisations walking the talk, doing something to tackle the scourge of unemployment facing  familes and communities all over Ireland. 

In these challenging times we need to be thinking about how can we leverage the opportunity the media industry represents to rally, spread and galavanise support around  the dozens of  ideas that will shape the recovery President Clinton was talking about.

Take Hireland for example. In order to to succeed it needs to spark a wave of imaginative thinking and practical action that tackles unemployment on a massive scale. That means people in living rooms, offices, pubs, clubs  and organsiations thinking, talking and acting differently to create job opportunities  themselves or to shake out ideas about how other people they know could create a job for someone. With the help of the media industry Hireland can reach and motivate  all those people to take action and report back on the results.

Hireland is one of the ideas President Clinton was talking about last week in Dublin and we have a very special silver bullet of our own – a media industry  who are willing to give this movement wings.

Crowdsourcing Expertise.

Hireland is where it is today because a band of extraordinary individuals answered “yes’ to an ordinary question - Can you meet up for a coffee? We have an idea we want to pick your brains about?

Over these coffees respected individuals from the media, marketing, business and creative communities have been utterly generous and collaborative with their thoughts, opinions and ideas around how Hireland will advance - indeed many have become ongoing members of the team contributing expertise, time and resources to mobilize this movement.

The pioneering spirit and gob smacking generosity of these shining lights who got behind us from the get go means Hireland is set to get kind of launch it deserves. Thanks to these individuals Hireland has a media and creative campaign, website, tv production, radio production and public relations machine in development.

To put a number on these pro bono pledges would round off at an impressive figure in any mans language… To put a value tag on the input, expertise and different perspectives that have shaped and continue to shape the course Hireland is taking….priceless.

So here’s to all those conversations that happen over a coffee and the generosity of spirit inherent in people. To all of you who said yes, what can I do to help? Thank you, we are so happy you are on board.  To those who haven’t had that request for a coffee yet - keep your phones at the ready.

Extraordinary Generosity For Extraordinary Times.

The speed and indiscriminate nature of this recession has crushed the spirit of so many of Irish people who up to relatively recently (myself included) were earning good livings, running profitable businesses, employing people, bringing home a comfortable salary to support loved ones. "How can everything have been pulled so quickly from under our feet?" is a sentiment that hangs heavy in the air.

And then, I put my Hireland hat on and look to the goodwill, positivity and generosity this people powered movement of ours has received, and one word just about sums it all up - overwhelming.

People and organizations who have been battening down the hatches to weather the storm as best they can have given and continue to pledge in significant  ways to ensure Hireland gets the start it deserves - free airtime pledged from the Irish radio and tv industry, free outdoor and newspaper space from the Irish  print industry not to mention the hundreds hours of time that has been given to this project from professionals top in their game who have been working on this initiative before  and after their day jobs start and finish.

If the old saying no good deed goes unrewarded is true there is a barrel of good karma coming the way of so many Irish businesses and professionals who have been willing us forward since we started this journey last February. 

Hireland Abroad

Hireland is still pushing forward! While it has only been in motion for a couple of weeks, we have just released our newest video. If you haven't seen it, check it out! 

We would like to thank all the people who helped make the video as it highlights the major aspects of Hireland; organization, inspiration, stimulation, and fun!

We would especially like to thank Sara Faulkner, the editor from Windmill Lane who gave us her free time and made the video look amazing. Richard Kendrick was our professional cameraman who we could not have done without. Lastly, Gary Moore, the producer of Red Rage Productions who supplied us with the equipment we 

needed.

Now the question remains, what is next for Hireland? Well, Hireland really has no limit. We have already garnered support from outside the group. Recently we have been mentioned on Social Media Ireland's Facebook page and as said previously, Stanley Rapp from the United States, a well regarded marketing expert, has been interested in starting another division of Hireland in the United States.

With the support that we have from countries such as England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sri Lanka, there is no doubt that the international support can also spark movements for change there as well. While Ireland is Hireland's main focus, the inspiration that Hireland can create is able to work anywhere. There is no doubt that Hireland will remain an amazing case study that countries like Spain (with an unemployment rate of 20.6%) and South Africa (with an unemployment rate of 25.3%) can look at to start their own chapters.

If our American students return home and continue to work with Hireland, possibly even creating a chapter there, the possibilities of Hireland's concept becoming a worldwide movement for the willing being worked by those who care about their fellow countrymen will pervade. Though it starts small, projects like Hireland roll like a snowball. People abroad, do not become discouraged. Hireland is a program which will get people employed and governments back on the ball.  

Irish and American Students: A Fitting Union

            As has been previously mentioned, but perhaps not stressed enough, one of the underlying themes of the Hireland campaign is the cooperation of Irish and American students. Early on in the project, the American students came to the realization that they would need a great amount of help to accomplish their goals. Soon after, a connection was forged with several Irish students from the Dublin Institute of Technology who came to meet with the American group and became involved in the project. They graciously took time out of their busy schedules to be a part of the campaign, and this actually changed the direction of the campaign altogether. The group began considering ways to stress the Irish-American interaction.

            The main idea that came out of our early meetings was the cooperation of the fighting Irish spirit and hope with American ingenuity and empathy. There really could be no better combination for Hireland and we hope it translates into success. It is always helpful to be able to ask the Irish students, “Will this be accepted positively by the Irish people?” They are more in tune with the Irish public and that lends to a Hireland campaign tailored to Ireland, without too much of an American stamp on it. The contributions from both sides are truly invaluable.

            Perhaps it was the Hireland campaign itself that brought the students together, but we could also point to historical ties between the United States and Ireland. Whenever emigration becomes a concern in Ireland, America seems to be a frequent destination. It’s also no secret that Irish-Americans have an undying pride in their heritage. Thousands of Americans take trips to Ireland every year to learn more about their background or just for a bit of craic with distant relatives. Many of the businesses at the forefront of the Celtic Tiger economy were American. There is a general sense of empathy between the two countries and in the past few months, politicians in both countries have given hope to the others for more prosperous times.

Irish people are more than welcoming to the Irish-American connection and that became very clear when we Americans arrived in Dublin. In fact, I think many of the Champlain Dublin students would tell you that the best part of Ireland is the people. The Irish students are excited to be a part of Hireland and the Americans are thrilled to have them aboard. We are all excited to see where the next few weeks lead us and look for more help from any corner of the world.

Social Media in Hireland

     Social media is increasingly becoming more and more of a necessity when trying to market any organization, product, or idea.  By the means of Twitter, Facebook, and blogging, we have created a way to reach a very diverse amount of people around the world in a short amount of time.  

        Hireland has been using Facebook as its primary mode of gaining attention and support from all over.  In just a few weeks we were able to gather over 1000 supporters who have been giving us feedback and positive outlooks on our movement.  It is interesting how the free and simple act of creating a Facebook for an organization has trumped any other type of media outlet at the moment.  In the past it would take a long time and cost a lot  of money for organizations to spread the word  of a new movement via the radio or television.  Today social networking has allowed us to send the page around to numerous amounts of people fairly effortlessly.

        Social media in some ways is better than word of mouth because it spreads  awareness through views of the page. You do not run the risk that the information about your organization is going to be altered by going around from person to person.  However, word of mouth and Facebook work together fascinatingly.  In Hireland, we have created our page with all of our information, and also have spread the word to acquaintances to check out our page and give support.  

       The functions on Facebook have allowed us to gain supporters by inviting people to like the page, and creating events that encourage people to get onboard with supporting us.

     The use of social media has very much helped Hireland in the way that we are able to spread the movement around the world with ease. We are gaining supporters from many different places Ireland, England, Germany, United States, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, and more.  Since there are so many people and organizations linked on to Facebook it has become a convenient way to make partners.  In our case, Stanley Rapp, a well regarded marketing guru in the U.S is interested in starting up another division of Hireland.  He is interested in working with our team of students to do the same thing in the U.S.

      Since our group can only meet once a week, Facebook has been a crucial device to keep all of us Irish and American students staying in touch with one another in the interest of the development of Hireland.  Social media has allowed Hireland to become what it is, and will most definitely play a large part in the future of the movement.

Hireland Viral Video

Ideas have been developing amongst team Hireland for a viral video to spread the word about our campaign. We've made two rough edits and are working with a professional, Richard Kendrick, to film a new video today!

Check out our two rough edits that show the smiling faces behind Hireland here.

Keep tabs on our blog and Facebook to see when our new professionally filmed and edited viral video will be released! :)

Hireland

Humble Beginnings:

The best ideas begin around a kitchen table with friends, and so it was with Hireland. We are a small group of American students studying in Dublin for the semester who are all taking a Social and Nonprofit Marketing class. We knew at the beginning that we would be working on some sort of practical project, but we had no idea what that would be. Our fabulous professor, Lucy, bounded into class that fateful Thursday morning with, if possible, even more energy than usual, brimming with the excitement of a new idea. Her thought was brilliant in its simplicity. People are unemployed everywhere, in the U.S., Ireland, and around the globe. We’re all hurting, we’re all frustrated, we’re all united by these truths. So why don’t we do something about it? And there it was, the seed that grew into our movement.

The Idea:

What if businesses pledged to hire one person on the dole for up to a year? What if people on unemployment could get their confidence back, and get back on their feet? What if we could then go to the government to show them what we’ve done, and charge them with the task of making it financially feasible for the business-employee relationship to last after the set amount of time was up? The possibilities began to materialize, and goals began to form. At the end of the day we had our vision: get 5% of Ireland’s unemployed population (or 15,000 people) off the live register in our first year. The movement has snowballed from there.

Where We Have Come, Where We Are Going:

Since that first day, we have teamed up with a group of Irish students living in Dublin to create a student movement that blends the Irish fighting spirit with the American ‘can do’ attitude to form a unique movement for positive change. We have received pledges of support in either donated time, equipment, advice, or other forms of help from numerous businesses and persons. We have gotten people talking through our Facebook page, Twitter account, and soon to be this blog and our up-and-coming website at www.Hireland.ie.  Where it will it all lead? None of us know. But we are definitely excited to find out.