Sales and Customer Service Occupations

Key points for selected Sales and Customer Service Occupations

• There were approximately 208,000 persons employed in sales and customer services occupations, accounting for 11.5% of Ireland‘s workforce
• Just over three fifths of total employment was in the wholesale and retail sector
• The largest occupation was sales assistants, with 122,000 persons employed
• Between 2007 and 2011, overall employment in the selected occupations declined by 2.2% on average annually ― resulting in approximately 19,000 net job losses; while the absolute decline in employment was relatively modest for some occupations, it was significant for sales assistants ― with 16,800 job losses; at the same time, the largest increase in employment was recorded for sales accounts and business development managers ― with 3,900 jobs created
• Between 2010 and 2011, overall employment in the selected occupations increased by 1.7%; the number of jobs created exceeded the number of job losses, resulting in a net 3,500 additional jobs; the largest number of jobs was created for sales accounts and business development managers and sales assistants, while the largest number of job losses was for business sales executives
• The age profile of the workforce of sales assistants was one of the youngest economy-wide ― approximately one third of those employed was aged 15-24; in contrast, the workforce of estate agents and related occupations was the most mature among the selected occupations, with one quarter of those employed aged 55 and over
• The gender distribution of the workforce varied by occupation: at least 60% of the overall workforce of both sales assistants and customer service occupation was female; just over 70% of the workforce of both advertising, marketing and sales directors; and business sales executives was male, while the workforce of buyers and procurement officers, marketing associate professionals and sales supervisors was almost gender balanced
• Over one half of the overall workforce of sales assistants worked part-time ― over twice the share for the national average

Shortage Indicators

Shortages of the following sales and customer service support skills have been identified:

• contact centres roles for candidates fluent (mostly at native proficiency level) in one or more European languages (e.g. German, Italian, French and Nordic)); the demand was often for language skills combined with relevant product knowledge
• online marketing and sales roles (across a variety of sectors, e.g. IT, gaming)
• senior technical and specialised sales representatives, often in a business-to-business (B2B) capacity (e.g. IT, telecommunications, gaming, FMCG94).

The strong demand for sales and customer support skills is illustrated in job announcements by IDA client companies and in the media (e.g. Paypal, Eishtec, HCL Technologies, etc.).