Just to help focus you I have tried to source an interesting collection of graduation speakers from various colleges around America such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale and NYU as well as many others. Alot of these speeches are as interesting, humorous, poignant and relevant to any student who is graduating from college in Ireland and includes speeches by Steve Jobs, Bill Cosby, cancer sufferer Randy Pausch, Oprah Winfrey, Lisa Kudrow, J.K. Rowling, Bill Clinton, Tom Hanks, Bono and others. Enjoy and congratulations.

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Uploaded by StanfordUniversity on Mar 7, 2008

Bill Cosby's Keynote Speech

Uploaded by CarnegieMellonU on Apr 27, 2009

Randy Pausch Inspires Graduates

Uploaded by CarnegieMellonU on May 19, 2008

Don't Be An Individual - A Graduation Speech

Uploaded by Nickkocher on Aug 12, 2007

Oprah Winfrey's 2008 Stanford Commencement Address

Uploaded by StanfordUniversity on Jun 15, 2008

The Best Graduation Speech EVER!

Uploaded by cjarnesen on Jun 7, 2008

Lisa Kudrow Commencement Address 2010

Uploaded by Vassar on Jun 4, 2010

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement

Uploaded by HarvardMagazine on Sep 15, 2011

Clinton's Commencement Speech - NYU 2011

Uploaded by amek3333 on May 18, 2011

Tom Hanks Addresses the Yale Class of 2011

Uploaded by YaleUniversity on May 22, 2011

Bono Delivers Penn's Commencement Address

Uploaded by CREATIVEVIDE0 on Apr 22, 2011

Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) Lyrics

Uploaded by TheAnimeGirl15 on Nov 8, 2008

Looking for a career in Ireland but don't know where to start? Maybe you are not sure where there is growth or which industry sector shows potential for a career. The jobs industry is evolving rapidly in Ireland. Industries are having to keep up with lightning fast advances in communication technology.

The videos included in this post may help give you insight into where industries are growing, not shrinking. The information included in the videos below might also help you to steer and guide your career and education paths a little better.

Here is a video I made for this blog to highlight to students, parents of students and those unsure of where there has been growth. There has been significant development in 2011 in the online video games industry, I.T. , the explosion of social media with companies such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn locating here and the potential of cloud computing to keep Ireland sustainable.

Ireland 2012 - A Gamechanger

Directed and edited by Marcus Howard, Communications lecturer in O'Fiaich College and owner of http://irish21stcenturystudents.blogspot.com

Uploaded by irish21ststudent on 9 Mar 2012

Here is also a video link to a video about why Ireland is becoming the Internet Capital of Europe

According to the Irish Examiner, Paul Breslin CEO of Popcap Games has highlighted that with the right tax incentives, Ireland could become the digital capital of Europe,

According to the video "Ireland By The Numbers" below, uploaded by IBEC Information, 8 of the top ten global technological firms and 10 of the top 25 medical devices firms are located in Ireland. Enough beef is produced in Ireland to feed 30 million Europeans making it the largest exporter of beef in Europe. 1 in every 5 hamburgers served in McDonald's in Europe is Irish beef. Also according to the video, total US investment in Ireland is greater than into the combined investment into Russia, China, Brazil and India. Also 10 of the world's top selling prescription drugs are made in Ireland, who are considered to be one of the leading countries in medical technology. Ireland is also the world's largest net exporter of pharmaceuticals.

Ireland by the numbers

Uploaded by IBECInformation on Nov 1, 2010

In the video "It's Happening Here" below, uploaded by Enterprise Ireland, there has been a significant growth in the software industry. Software has become one of Ireland's fastest growing industries and there are many vacancies available in over 600 software companies. There is a skills shortage in the technology sector with some tech companies hiring employees from outside the EU.

It's Happening Here

Uploaded by EnterpriseIrelandTV on Aug 2, 2011

According to the video "Why the Irish will always be the business" below, uploaded by IBEC Information, Ireland has Europe's youngest workforce and has also experienced the EU's highest rate of population growth. Ireland also boasts some of the world's most employable graduates. According to the video we have a very high percentage of population with third level education, as well as at PHD level and Ireland also has a very high rate of entrepreneurial activity within the EU. The Sligo IT Team were also the 1st European winners of the 2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup , beating more than 350,000 students from 183 different countries. According to the IMD Competitiveness Yearbook 2010, Ireland is more flexible than US, Japanese and European employees when managing new challenges.

Why the Irish will always be the business

Uploaded by IBECInformation on Oct 11, 2011

According to the video "Believe it or not, there was some good news in 2010!" below, uploaded by InvestIreland, companies such as LinkedIn, EA Games, AMPAC, Otter Box, Enercon, United Technologies Research Center, Warner Chilcott, Riot Games, Webrppt and Straker have located here in 2010. Paypal also announced over 1,000 jobs for Dundalk in 2012. More good news has come to Ireland with the arrival of Elli Lilly for the pharmaceutical sector. Companies such as Google, eBay, Dell, Hertz, Hewlett Packard, Kelloggs, Yves Rocher, Lufthansa Technik, AOL, Allianz, Hollister, Covidien, Merit Medical, GALA and Lumension Security have considerably expanded their companies in Ireland. Research and Development success was found by companies such as Intel, IBM, Analog Devices, Lumension, SpencerStuart, United Technologies Research Center, Valeo, Synchronoss, PAS and Covidien. Investment for research and development for 2010 was estimated to be €500 million and almost 11,000 new jobs were created.

Believe it or not, there was some good news in 2010!

Uploaded by InvestIreland on Jan 7, 2011

Some statistics about the growth in the medical technology sector can be seen in the video below

Ireland - medical technology - by the numbers

Uploaded by IBECInformation on 10 Nov 2011

According to the video "IDA Ireland 2011", uploaded by InvestIreland, companies such as Pinger, Delcath, Mycroft, Marketo, Commence, Glass Lewis, Engine Yard and Sangart are emerging. 9 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies are located in Ireland with 50% of the world's leading financial firms. 17 of the top 25 medical devices companies are also located here according to the video.

IDA Ireland 2011

Uploaded by InvestIreland on 9 Jan 2012

Social Media Career Potential in Ireland

Social media is changing how we communicate with companies and with each other. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, some of the biggest companies on the internet, have headquarters located in Ireland.

In the video "Social Media Stats Ireland - June 2011" below, uploaded by Socialtalent, the top 10 websites looked up in Ireland are Google Ireland, Google, Facebook, Youtube, Yahoo, wikipedia, Windows Live, Blogger, Linked In and Twitter. The only jobs site to appear in the top 100 at no.83 is http://www.jobs.ie/. This is of note as there are over 439, 200 people on the live register in Ireland. In Ireland there are over 1.94 million people on Facebook, which is 76% of the country's internet population. 700,000 of these Facebook users are between 17 and 22 which is 9 times the number of full-time students in Irish universities put together. LinkedIn has over 470,000 users in Ireland and is one of the most popular professional social media sites. According to the video, there is a massive shortage of IT, financial and accounting professionals while Google has stated that there is over 5 million searches in Ireland per month for the term "jobs". Surprisingly, for every 1000 searches for jobs, 0.4% are for IT jobs, 0.3% for financial jobs and 0.2% for accounting jobs. 600,000 smartphones are in use in Ireland in 2011, yet Google estimates by 2013, the sale of smartphones will overtake the sale of PC's and laptops. Irish people have downloaded over 10 million apps for their smartphones.

Social Media Stats Ireland - June 2011

Uploaded by socialtalent on 30 May 2011

According to the video "The Irish Consumer's Digital Behaviour Has Changed For Good | Video Infographic" below, uploaded by Cybercom Ireland, 48% of us in 2011 now have smartphones, which is a 380% increase on 2010. 50% of us have downloaded an app a fortnight and 65% of those were free apps. Apart from calls and texts, 42% use our phones to download music, 50% use them to view maps and 55% use them to check the weather while 61% of us play games on them. Over 600,000 of us use our phones everyday for Facebook.100,000 photos are uploaded in Ireland while 230,000 videos are also uploaded everyday. Broadband is now averaging 7Mps and 37% of us watch TV online nearly every day compared to 7% in 2010. The 3 most important platforms to engage Irish consumers are mobile, social and online TV.

The Irish Consumer's Digital Behaviour Has Changed For Good | Video Infographic

Uploaded by CybercomIreland on 31 Mar 2011

According to the video "Social Media in Ireland" below, uploaded by edelmanireland, 64% of young people aged 16-24, use the internet for social networking (Source: Eurostat). Facebook has had a 500% increase in Irish users since January 2009, Youtube has over 1.3 million regular Irish users and gets over 400 million views per month (Source: Content Is King Conference/Darragh Doyle). Linked In has approximately 420,000 Irish users and Twitter has approximately 180,000 Irish users (Source: Barry Hand), 30% of which use Twitter everyday (Source: Ibsos-MRBI). Facebook is used in Ireland by 79% to stay in contact with people they don't see everyday, 56% look at their friends photos, while 36% play games on it (Source: Amárach). With Linked In, 50% use it to stay in touch with their network, 49% use it to browse jobs and 10% use it to look for staff (Source: Amárach). Ireland's mobile penetration rate at the end of 2010 was 116%, with over 5 million mobile subscribers (Source: ComReg). 700,000 Irish users access the internet through their mobile (Source: Return2Sender/B&A). It has been estimated that over 1 million Irish adults own a smartphone in 2011, which has nearly doubled its figures since 2010. Over 8 million apps have been downloaded in Ireland and it has been estimated that there will be 180,000 iPads sold by the summer of 2011 (Source: Return2Sender/B&A). According to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2011, Irish opinion formers rate search engines as the most important information source about a company. The Irish Times website traffic grew 82% from 2010-11

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Social Media in Ireland

Uploaded by edelmanireland on 16 Mar 2011

Here is a 2010 video interview with Colm Long, Director of Online Operations of Facebook Ireland HQ discussing the future of it's operations and how they are looking to expand their HR for the European, Middle East and African continents (EMEA).Click the link Facebook in Ireland

Microsoft Ireland is also targeting the European, Middle East and African continents according to Paul Rellis, Managing Director of Microsoft Ireland in his 2010 video interview at the link Microsoft In Ireland.

Social media and Ireland. Important one to watch!

Uploaded by wwwSIDie on 21 Oct 2010

According to the video "Be In Business In Ireland" below, uploaded by EnterpriseIrelandTV, Frank Lynch, CEO of Enterprise Ireland has said that some of the greatest and most competitive products in the world have been made in Ireland. An example of these companies include Glanbia, Newbay, Daon, RCSI, Fexco, Kerry, taxback.com, CombiLift and Norkom Technologies.There are more Irish based directors in the UK than any other nationality and Irish goods and services are sold in every continent of the world. In 2010 consumers from over 140 countries bought goods and services from Ireland to the value of €150 billion. The value of Irish exports is greater than that of Australia or Brazil. According to the World Bank Competitiveness Report 2010, "Ireland is No.1 in Europe in terms of ease of starting a business".

Be In Business In Ireland

Uploaded by EnterpriseIrelandTV on 4 Mar 2011

Education In Ireland: The Future

So with all this demand for technology and Ireland becoming the digital capital of Europe, have we got our education system geared towards 21st century needs for Irish students? Is the education system up to speed with the demand for new skills for a future technological workforce to enable Ireland to become competitive in world markets?

On May 26th 2011, Intel held an open forum event detailing the skills needed in education for the future of Ireland's workforce held in the Science Gallery at Trinity College. It was a platform to give a multistakeholder perspective on the way education is going. It looked at business, teacher and student needs to equip Ireland's next generation with the necessary skills to remain competitive as a country and as a workforce.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was quoted as saying at the event "In the next decade with nano technology, robotics, genetics and the internet and biotech, these changes are coming rapidly and if we can't adapt our educational system to be able to deal with that and to ride those waves of change we have a problem and we do down the future in the sense of the capacity and future for our young people to actually compete and challenge internationally against their peers around the world".

Peter Hamilton of GM Intel Performance Learning Solutions stated that "we need an education policy that matches our national strategy to be a smart system".Jerome Morrisey, the Director at the National Center For Technology In Education said that "technology and it's integration into the everyday work of schooling is a major catalyst for change, for bringing about the kind of change which we all universally acknowledge are the needs of the future". Regina Moran, CEO of Fujitsu Ireland argued that "we need to have an unrealistic ambition for our education system and aim for the stars". She also stated how technology "is a huge step forward for disabled students in terms of access to education. It's in every aspect of our lives so why isn't it embedded in our schools?".. Tommy Walshe, President of the National Parents Council post primary mentioned that "when students walk into a classroom they power down because they are so used to technology".

Some warnings were also given about how our education system is meeting the challenges of the knowledge economy of the future.Tony Donahue of IBEC warned that "despite the individual examples of good practice that have been mentioned, I would argue that these have not been systemised and the sort of aspirations we have around Junior Cert reform, around a new entry system for 3rd Level, around CPD for teachers; they are fine aspirations but I think there is a major challenge in turning them into a reality".Tony Kelly, CEO of Demonware cited the 2011 Hope Livingston Review which mentioned that "only 5% of parents realised that Physics and Statistics were vital components for a career in a high-tech job, particuarly in the likes of video games and more worringly for me, only 15% of career guidance teachers were aware of that fact". Padraig O'Murchu of Intel quoted a UNESCO report "which says that basic education is no longer sufficient to solve the grand global challenges of food, water, security, energy provision, infrastructure and healthcare provision, for that Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths is required".

Transforming Education in Ireland - Intel Open Forum event

Uploaded by IntelIreland on 4 Jul 2011

Here is a report below by RTE's Laura Fletcher on the recruitment challenges facing computing employers as well as looking at job opportunities in Ireland. The report highlights how there needs to be more of an emphasis on Programming and includes interviews by representatives of DCU, IT Tallaght, Google Ireland and Paddy Power.

RTE Report on Computing Courses and Employment Opportunities in Ireland, 23/04/2009

Uploaded by computingTLF on 24 Apr 2009

Tourism in 2011 in Ireland has been getting some interesting reviews. According to the video below by failte Ireland, Frommers Guide 2011 has voted Ireland "Favourite holiday destination" in the world. Dublin has been awarded the UNESCO City of Literature (the 4rth city ever in the world). Ireland has also topped the Lonely Planet list of world's friendliest countries and Cork has been voted one of top ten cities in the world. Lonely Planet also voted Irish bars to be best in the world. According to the World Bank, Ireland is one of the top ten places to do business. Tourism generated €5 billion for the Irish economy and Ireland hosted the European Surfing championship in 2011. Walks in Ireland were voted the best in the world by National Geographic. Guide de Routarde has said that the Irish dining experience is as good, if not better than anywhere else in the world. IAGTO also voted Ireland as the top "European Golf Destination of the year 2011" hosting the 2011 Solheim Cup. Ireland is also a top tourism destination for Chinese visitors. Nightlife has been voted in the top ten in the world by Trip Advisor. Bill Clinton has stated that "Ireland is one of the best brands in the world. You have to build it and nurture it".

Failte Ireland Tourism 2011

Uploaded by Meetinireland on 27 Jan 2011

The Global Irish Economic Forum of 2011 saw a gathering of Enda Kenny, Bill Clinton, former President Mary McAleese, John McColgan, Bono, Gabriel Byrne, Denis Cumins, Michael Noonan, John Hartnett, Helen Lambert, Eamon gilmore, Dara O'Briain and Colm Tóibín and many others who discussed the future for the global Irish and the challenges which face Ireland.

Gallery: Global Irish Economic Forum 2011

Uploaded by rte on 9 Oct 2011

A jobs recruitment initiative has been set up by IDA Ireland and Connect Ireland to attract international investment into Ireland. The Government announced it to be part of the "Succeed in Ireland" campaign by IDA Ireland in March 2012 which is part of the government's Action Plan For Jobs. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that the initiative has the possibility to incentivise people around the owrld, including the Irish around the world to be Ireland's "eyes and ears"on the global stage as well as delivering new jobs and investment.

Connect Ireland Who do you know?

Uploaded by ConnectIrelandCom on 6 Mar 2012

A promotional video by Martin Sheen, Bill Clinton and Saoirse Ronan can be seen at this link

600 of America's best companies have located to Ireland as can be seen from the video below

AmCham.mp4

Uploaded by ConnectIrelandCom on 7 Mar 2012

Monday, 17 November 2014

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Frances Rocks Speech iNote 2014 The Desire To Inspire

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Graduation Speeches

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Ireland 2016 The European Rising Part 3 is now online.

Thursday, 25 October 2012

Dundalk's O'Fiaich College Youtube channel online

O'Fiaich Open Day 2010

Published on 22 Oct 2012 by ofiaich1

O'Fiaich Graduation Night 2011