By Tom
And yet the 10 years have flown.
We've done a lot of growing up - the company, the team and me.
We've done a lot of good things (and some pretty stupid ones) as we have learned along the way. At the heart of any company is a core team and I am very proud of what our team has achieved to date.
We've also had plenty of help from TCH and TCM, our parent and sister companies. In particular the guys in TCM have played a major part in the development of the site and we owe much credit to them for all that has been achieved. We've been asking a lot of them in 2009 as the site has seen a lot of new developments including the introduction of online buying for recruiters as well as a change to our advertising options, the feedback has been excellent, customers love the ease of use and the flexibility, not to mention the great response that they have received.
Things have been tough in 2009, but the team has adapted to each challenge levelled at them in the past and I know will continue to do so. Recruiters are generally quieter at the moment, but this wouldn't be the first time - I remember the aftermath of 9/11 when things took a major dive in 2002, only to come back even stronger by 2004.
To our jobseekers I give some encouragement - we know it is difficult finding interviews at the moment, however there are jobs out there and currently recruiters are placing about 350 vacancies on the site each day.
There is nobody more surprised than me to be still here after 10 years, but not for any negative reason - my original plan was to set up RecruitIreland.com in the second half of 1999 and maybe hand it on after two years - so much for plans.
Speaking of plans, we planned a sailing trip during the summer of 09 but unfortunately the Irish weather didn't want to participate. The wind refused to moderate so we had to make do with the pub instead, surprisingly Diarmuid and Ronan weren't too put out by this.
Thanks for the first 10 years to all - and here's to the next 10!