Lyons is in Boston under a US government visa that allows Irish applicants to pursue work in their field for a year. After a long and frustrating search, he finally found a position in human resources with Arbella Mutual Insurance Co., with the help of the Irish International Immigrant Center of Boston. The center is assisting 70 interns in the United States under the J-1 Intern Work and Travel visa, with another 100 or so expected to arrive in the next few months, said Megan Carroll, director of intern placement. The jobs are scattered in major cities, mostly on the East and West coasts.
While seemingly little different from Americans fresh out of college and struggling to find work, Lyons and the many other Irish youth who have been placed in internships at Boston companies have an employment perspective few in this country would want to experience. They grew up during the 15-year Irish economic boom and were not familiar with the hardship of previous generations.
“There is a slight sense of entitlement growing up in the boom,’’ Lyons said. “Everything we did came a lot easier for us. You were never found wanting for anything.’’
But then the Irish economy’s near-collapse in 2008 sent shock waves throughout its population, not least the graduates preparing to enter the workforce with expectations of easy fortune. The recession in Ireland is so deep that unemployment is above 14 percent and, by some estimates, the country is losing 1,000 workers a week to countries where jobs are easier to find.
But America is not the land of plenty it once appeared to immigrants from around the world. Many of the young Irish spent months searching for work; others still are.
“It’s tough in Ireland right now to get a job, especially in your field. But I’d say it’s equally as tough over here,’’ said Ian McGloughlin, a 24-year-old who studied property economics and finance at the Dublin Institute of Technology and gave up a good job at Coldwell Banker to search for something new in Boston. He now has a job as financial services representative for TD Bank’s Federal Street branch.
