Prosperity. Happiness Works.

Roseanne Smith has been a recruitment consultant here in Prosperity since July 2011.

Prosperity is a recruitment agency specialising in the recruitment of online and digital professionals.
Job description: This is my first role as a recruiter and I love it. It’s a very social role but still requires that I keep right up to date on everything online which is a big passion for me.
Likes: I love meeting the people who are making digital happen in Ireland and beyond. I love the fact that social media is an integral part of my role and that Prosperity walks the digital walk.
Career ladder: I’ve had a pretty unusual career to date but the one thing that featured throughout was digital. Even back when I was designing sets I was creating interactive sets. I have worked in television in the TG4 newsroom and as Hector’s researcher on Amú san Áis among other programmes. I have worked on online, community and cultural projects in the Irish language voluntary sector and most recently held the position of membership manager with the Irish Internet Association.
Qualifications: I have a degree in Drama Studies & Modern Irish, a MSc in Multimedia Systems and a MSc in Social Research Skills.
Working hours: I work 9 to 5.30 although with three kids, a blog and a serious crochet habit it’s more like every waking minute is work.
Breaktime: Since we moved into the city centre I desperately try not to go shopping at lunchtime although there has been some serious browsing around the Grafton street area… Christmas is coming!
Social media credentials: I am without a doubt a social media addict. There is an app for everything I do. I have an app to help with my running, my crochet, I read on my Kindle app on my iPad, I play online games and watch TV on my iOS devices. I blog at http://www.oneofthesedays.ie, tweet at www.twitter.com/enormous or you can ‘LinkIn’ with me at www.linkedin.com/in/roseannesmith. You can also read my monthly tech column on www.beo.ie.
News sources: I love my Zite and Flipboard iPad apps which allow me to pull content from all my networks, favourite sites and my reader. Zite in particular allows me to show my preference by keyword, author and site. Twitter and Facebook are also great sources of news for me. Another new kid on the block is the ShowYou app which pulls video content from YouTube, Vimeo but also pulls the video content shared on my networks. I’ll never miss a cat talking again!
Onsite or offsite: I’m based in the office but regularly get out and about to meet clients. My Quickoffice iPad app coupled with Google Docs and Dropbox allows me to capture notes and quickly share with colleagues or re-use when promoting clients to candidates. I also love Evernote for capturing all kinds of notes, lists, pics and audio on the fly but the new Reminders feature on iOS is quickly getting a lot of love from me.
Digital strategy/vision: It’s not unusual for us in Happinessworks HQ to wonder how on earth people recruited before email or mobile phones. The ubiquity of smartphones, especially in our niche area, allows us to keep candidates informed of great opportunities. More and more of our work will be affected by this change in use and therefore our content will adapt to this. As I use Twitter to keep abreast of news and views I know other users will tune into my stream during the times that they are seeking a new role too so I will continue to grow and rely on my social networks. I’m also aware that there is a fear that Twitter is forcing all messages to become 140 characters but more and more I see clients recruiting content specialists who are also responsible for social media. This shows an understanding for a need for substance behind the social.
I love Mondays because: I know that somewhere somebody has the buzz of starting a new job and I helped get them there

With a target of 2,500 new jobs in three years the games industry looks like one for people planning their career prepare for, if Government plans succeed.

One of the six areas where action is required according to The Games Sector in Ireland: An Action Plan for Growth report is in enhancing skills and experience. Short term needs and building a continuous feed-stock of creative, technological and commercial capabilities need to be addressed, it says.
Martin Shanahan, Chief Executive, Forfás commented that the potential for this sector is immense with potential job gains of 2,500 by end 2014 across a range of activities including games servicing and development. “Games can also be a catalyst for growth in a host of other related activities in the digital economy including social networks, search engines, animation, film and video and e-learning.  Success for Ireland in the games sector, however, is not a given and will require a step-change in policy and decisive action.”
The pace of change within the digital economy demands a more agile and responsive approach to meet its future needs, he added.

The Innovation Dublin festival may have been on a week at this stage, but there’s still a few weeks to go in the festival programme if you want to put some innovation into your day.

Unlike many other festivals, Innovation Dublin offers employees a valid reason to get permission from the boss to nip out of the office for a few hours.
This afternoon for example a free mobile marketing and m-commerce mini-conference takes place in DCU as part of the festival. Next week, also in DCU is When Search and Social Collide 2011 which includes Gillian Muessig, founding president of SEOmoz as a speaker. Mobile computing & smartphones: what is all the fuss about? at Institute of Art Design & Technology discusses will also highlight the additional skills that are required by application designers and developers in order to create successful mobile applications.

The TED Talks comes to Dublin also in the form of the TEDx series: TEDX Tallaght 2011: Design-Thinking Made Visual.

The keynotes and programme for the first IxDA (Interaction Design Association) annual conference to be held outside North America – Dublin to be precise – have just been announced.

Interaction12, which will be held in The Convention Centre Dublin in February 2012, launched its programme in mid October in advance of the early bird cut off date of 31 October 2011. The programme offers a rich mix of workshops, presentations and speakers.
Workshops include: Tap is the New Click: A hands-on (fingers-on?) workshop for designing for touchscreens and tablets; Mobile Prototyping Essentials; Design with Intent: understanding users and influencing behaviour.
Presentation titles include: How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer; The Craft of UX: The need for apprenticeships and practice; Designing the Mobile Wallet Experience; Aristotle’s Storytelling Framework for the Web; Real Users Don’t Do Tasks: Rethinking user research for the social Web; I Hate Process. I Love Process. Why Designers are Divided About Process and What to Do About It.

Quarter Four/Q4 it seems is very much awards season for the web and digital industry.
On 3 October, the Nokia Digital Media Awards 2012 opened for entries. On 22 October, the Irish Web Awards took place and there’s TheAppys on 3 November. However, 10 November sees the turn of the oldest of the bunch – the eircom Spiders Awards.

The eircom Spiders Awards which have a long history – they’re now in their 15th year with eircom the title sponsors since 2004. The judging panel includes leaders from industry, commerce, media and academia and their shortlist is now available to view on the eircom Spiders website.
Though we can’t list all shortlisted in the 20 categories we can tell you that Prosperity.ie has been shortlisted in the Listings category for Irish classified websites/portals that provide users with a user-friendly and content-rich experience for finding jobs, property, motors, dates or other products and services.