Berkley looks to grow its operations in Asia

Sunday Business Post - Recruitment Section - Jan 18 2009

Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by clicking here.

Irish-owned recruiter Berkley will open its first overseas office next month to counter the downturn in the recruitment market at home. The new office in Singapore would employ ten local staff to target businesses throughout Asia, said Fergal Brosnan, co-director, Berkley Recruitment Group.

Berkley recruits IT, pharmaceutical and sales & marketing candidates from bases in Dublin and Cork. Its decision to set up an office in Singapore is part of a wider overseas strategy, which will include two further bases in Hong Kong and Taiwan, said Brosnan. He said the decision to move into new markets was not a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to the downturn in the Irish market.

‘‘We did not see the Irish market going down and decide to take the first train out. However, about 18 months ago, we did feel that the growth in the economy was slowing and that, from a growth perspective, we should take this step,” said Brosnan. ‘‘We looked at our own client base, both multinational and Irish companies, to see where they were situated on an international level, and where their next steps might be. We also did a feasibility study looking at other locations, but the nucleus of all the Asian operations seemed to be in Singapore.”

Berkley’s co-director Steve Greenwood said the company was already working with a number of life-science companies with operations in Singapore, and other parts of Asia, including Eli Lily and Schering Plough.

‘‘There are nuances between Ireland and Singapore, but the overall life sciences industry, the companies and people involved, are pretty similar,” Greenwood said.

Brosnan said he planned to spend up to 80 per cent of his time at Berkley’s Singaporean office in the city’s Central Business District this year, to build up the firm’s business in the region.

‘‘It is not just a separate entity trading there on its own, it will be integrated into the Berkley family,” he said. ‘‘People from our Irish offices will work out there on various projects. The people from there will come to Ireland to get acquainted with our particular recruitment model.”

Greenwood said the company would also look at ways to encourage businesses in Singapore to set up operations in Ireland.

‘‘There are an awful lot of Asian companies who want to come to Europe, and would look at Ireland as a gateway to that,” he said. ‘‘We see as much business coming in this direction as going the other way.”

Established in 1993, Berkley has existing overseas alliances in London and Sydney. Brosnan said the company would continue to focus long term on the Irish market, despite current difficulties in the recruitment sector here. The company’s turnover last year was in the region of €5 million.

‘‘We are not as exposed to the downturn here as other recruitment companies,” said Brosnan. ‘‘Our base is solid and we have long-term relationships with our clients, and our market share in Ireland has grown throughout the last number of years.”