Sales, Marketing and Customer Service
Sales, Marketing & Customer Service Occupations
Overall employment levels in this occupational group between 2022 and 2023 remained almost unchanged, with elevated levels of inflation and reduced consumer demand during this period likely to have been contributing factors, particularly for those employed in the wholesale and retail sector. The Central Bank forecasts an increased level of consumer spending in 2024 as real income improves which should have a positive effect on sales roles in the short-term at least. Although the wholesale and retail sector accounted for the highest share of employment in these occupations (driven by the high volume of sales assistants employed in this group), issues with sourcing certain sales roles, as identified in the employment permits data, appear to relate to other sectors such as the ICT sector, which accounts for a far smaller share of employment. Sales skills feature strongly in Enterprise Ireland’s Spotlight on Skills data spanning a range of skills from marketing, communication, negotiation, solving customers' problems and product/technical knowledge.