Google boosts Irish workforce

Google is boosting its European workforce with the creation of another 500 jobs at its headquarters in Dublin.

The expansion was announced by Google and the Irish Government on Wednesday, and will swell the search giant's Dublin workforce to 1,300.

Most of the posts will be in the online sales and operations side of Google's business, working on its adwords and adsense products.

"Some of the people we hire will be skilled in sales and marketing, but we'll also be looking for technical skills," a Google spokesman told ZDNet UK on Thursday. "We don't pigeon-hole people by their qualifications — engineering and sales work very closely together."

There will also be new hires across software engineering, systems administration, HR and finance. Google is aiming to fill some of the new posts immediately, with the rest being filled over the next 18 months.

The new hires underline the rapid growth that Google is enjoying in the online advertising space. It is tipped to bring in £900m this year from the UK alone, which is more than Channel 4 will earn.

"There's a large opportunity out there for us and our competitors," the Google spokesman added.

The Dublin offices are Google's headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which means it deals with companies from Ireland to Russia, and from Iceland to Cape Town.