Major North Ireland recruiting firms Parity and Envision recently partnered to create the Graduate Export Development Programme, given the shorthand moniker E2. This new export program will provide export marketing companies throughout North Ireland with several waves of qualified graduates interested in the field of export marketing. Parity is one of the largest recruiting firms in North Ireland and specializes in recruiting and training information technology professionals straight out of university. Envision provides sales, marketing, and management consultancy to companies large and small throughout North Ireland.



The E2 program will bring in several groups of graduates over the next year without regard to their individual degrees. Envision and Parity are looking for hard working, intelligent, and creative graduates who have a variety of degree programs under their belts. The E2 program begins with training in the business skills and professional tools needed for success in the export marketing profession. One of the motivating forces for the two agencies to come together in this collaboration is the lack of sufficient business skills possessed by new graduates. Both agencies sent out a call for graduate applications for the E2 program in October 2006. However, graduates interested in export marketing should consider applying with for the development program. There will be more training groups in January, March, and June 2007.

Training for the export marketing industry takes place in two phases. Recruiters and trainers with Parity facilitate the recruitment, matching, and placement of export marketing applicants with appropriate companies in North Ireland. Any graduate of a university in North Ireland can apply for the E2 program but only the best and brightest make it through to the training program. Before their first day of work, graduates are given an overview of the export marketing profession and sessions on professional tools necessary in the industry. The E2 program is meant to provide export marketing firms with highly trained and talented graduates ready to contribute from day one.

The E2 program will provide benefits to both companies and employees in North Ireland. This program, which promises a lucrative and rewarding career for its participants, acts as a great incentive for graduates of North Ireland to stay and contribute to local economies. Over 10,000 graduates at the University of Ulster and Queens University alone means that E2 may be one of the most highly competitive graduate recruiting programs in the region. Companies are receiving the benefit of a highly skilled work force that desires a long career in export marketing, which will help increase profits.