| |
 |
|
|
| |
| |
| Refer a friend |
| Please feel free to refer friends whom you feel might benefit from our services. |
|
 |
|
| CV drop |
| Send us your CV and let us know what you are looking for. |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| press |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Kerry
Consulting is regularly featured in the Singapore and international press. We have listed below some selected excerpts. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Straits Times
10 January 2012
Should make-up pay for ministers stay?
Retain policy but cut length to one term in office, panel suggests.
The prime minister should have the leeway to offer higher pay to top ministerial candidates from the private sector, the committee in charge of reviewing ministers' pay said last week.
Its recommendations included one to retain a little-known policy called "make-up pay". It lets the prime minister pay a potential up to 90 per cent of the difference between his new pay as a political appointment holder and his pay in the private sector – set at the average of his annual pay packet in the last three years.
The committee recommended one change. It called for the length of make-up pay to be cut from two terms in office to one term – around five years. After that, it said, the minister should be paid according to his pay grade.
The policy was introduced in 1989 but has never been used, according to the committee’s report.
Human resource experts and analysts were divided on whether make-up pay should be retained in its current form. Some told The Straits Times that make-up pay is a practical way of easing top earners' transition into politics, especially if they have existing financial commitments and must take a large pay cut.
"Ministerial candidates are human too," said Mr. Declan O'Sullivan, managing director of executive recruitment firm Kerry Consulting.
Provisions such as make-up pay help ensure that Singapore attracts the best to run the country, he said.
"It would be a lot easier and more politically expedient to abandon these provisions, but at what cost to the nation's development?" he added.
He is in favour of the committee's proposal to limit make-up pay to about five years, which is a "fair period" for the new minister to adjust his commitments.
Other experts said having a flexible wage system for top executives is also in line with private sector practice. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Irish Chamber of Commerce
14 September 2011
Achieving Win-Win Executive Recruitment
In the Irish Chamber’s latest "Case Study for Success", Declan O’Sullivan, founder of Kerry Consulting, attributes Kerry’s consistent award-winning performance to one key element – its people.
Click here to view entire article |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
The Business Times Weekend
12-13 March 2011
The Western expatriate's vanishing trick
A reason for more employers opting for local or Asian talent – who possess the expertise and connections needed to tap the growing markets of Asia.
Declan O'Sullivan, managing director of Kerry Consulting said in particular, the West-to-East movement of talent is increasingly transforming into a "Singapore-returnee" trend.
Mr. O'Sullivan also told BT that foreign professionals are much more frequently coming to Singapore to strike out on their own. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Economist
8 March 2011
Employment in Asian firms is booming—but for locals, not Western expats
BACK in the days when cushy jobs for foreigners were plentiful in Asia, Western expats used to get called FILTH—"failed in London, trying Hong Kong". Now, though, they may end up as FISHTAILS—"failed in Shanghai, trying again in London". This is because employers in Asia, despite strong demand for managers and professionals, increasingly choose to hire locals, not outsiders.
Overall, the jobs outlook is brighter the farther east you go: a recent survey by an employment consultancy found that companies in India, China and Taiwan expect to hire more than firms in other countries during the first half of 2011. Western companies in all sorts of industries are continuing to push into Asia’s high-growth economies. This week, for example, Tesco, Britain's largest retailer, announced a big expansion in China.
However, Joe Expat may not get much of a look-in. Graduates are flooding on to Asia’s job market from local universities, and Asians with degrees from Western ones are returning home. Since 2003 roughly 325,000 Chinese have returned after studying overseas—more than three times as many as in the entire two decades before—according to David Zweig of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, who is writing a book on the subject. The number of Chinese studying abroad and expected to return home afterwards continues to rise. Even Westerners with top-class MBAs are finding it tough. Andrew Stephen of the Singapore campus of INSEAD, a prestigious French business school, says he has seen good candidates being passed over by multinationals because they were not Asian.
Since there is no longer so much need for foreign workers, Asian governments are tightening their visa rules. In 2008 Singapore granted 156,900 work visas to foreigners and less than half that number of jobs went to residents. Now the numbers are roughly equal. "There isn’t an overwhelming need to import young and enthusiastic people any more," says Declan O'Sullivan, a director of Singapore-based Kerry Consulting.
It is not just a question of supply and demand, though. Big employers in Asia, especially those that have got burned in their past dealings with local governments, are putting a premium on local knowledge, language and connections. Recruiters say candidates with a demonstrable long-term commitment to a country, and ready-made guanxi (business and political relationships), get preference. The locals-first attitude to hiring extends up all the way to the most senior executive levels. Just as experience in Asia is coming to be seen as an essential career step in Western multinationals, the opportunities for recent graduates to gain such experience seem to be shrinking. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fortune
28 October 2010
Kerry Consulting comments on Private Banking Recruitment to Fortune
Click here to view article on Fortune website |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Press Release
14 August 2010
Governor of Central Bank of Ireland in Singapore
Click here to view press release |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
The Straits Times
14 August 2010
Double-dip recession 'unlikely'
Irish central banker points to Asia's strong rebound and euro zone growth
Asia's strong economic recovery and better-than-expected euro zone growth should help the world dodge a double-dip recession, according to Irish central bank governor Patrick Honohan.
But governments will also need to focus on consolidating reserves after extensive spending on stimulus measures taken to tackle the financial crisis, he said.
Professor Honahan, who is also a member of the European Central Bank governing council, was speaking yesterday at an event jointly hosted by the Irish Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Banks in Singapore at Marina Mandarin hotel.
Looking back at the crisis, he said while there was a sharp downturn, the recovery was "surprisingly faster" in many parts of the world, especially in Asia.
"So to some extent we may not have learnt enough to avoid a downturn, but we definitely have learnt enough in terms of monetary and economic policy response to make sure the downturn was as short-lived as possible." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Bloomberg
21 April 2010
Kerry Consulting comments on headhunting controversy to Bloomberg
Barclays Plc was sued in Singapore
for failing to pay Pagoda Partners Pte Ltd S$365,000 (US$266,000)
after Britain’s second-largest bank hired Timothy Last from
Merrill Lynch & Co. on the recruitment firm's recommendation.
Barclays was "unjustly enriched" by Pagoda after the
headhunter sent the bank Last's resume in January 2009 and
wasn't paid, according to documents filed with the Singapore
High Court. A pre-trial hearing was held on April 19.
Last, Barclays Capital's head of equity derivatives flow
sales for Asia, excluding Japan, was hired as a direct referral
after Pagoda failed to set up a meeting, Barclays’s lawyers from
Straits Law LLC said in the court filing. "There was never any
agreement for the engagement of" Pagoda, Barclays said.
"It would be very rare for a search firm to sue such a
large bank as it would sour the relationship," said Declan
O’Sullivan, director at Kerry Consulting in Singapore, a finance
industry recruitment firm.
"Big banking clients typically don't skimp on the fees
unless there was a misunderstanding and such matters are usually
settled out of court." Banks are hiring again as the specter of
the financial collapse dissipates, he said. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
23 January 2010
Singapore welcome for Irish entry in Clipper Race
Declan O’Sullivan of Kerry Consulting welcomed the crew of "Cork", the Irish entry in the 2009/2010 Clipper Race, on behalf of the Irish Chamber of Commerce, to Singapore on the 23rd of January. The crew, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Declan are pictured here at Keppel Bay Marina.
Click here to view photo |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Today
10 December 2009
Managing Expectations.
Bonuses may not be as good as you think
Are employers and employees going to end up on different wavelengths at the end of the year when it comes to bonus and salary expectations?
Employees will be noting the rosier hiring outlook now and a better-than-expected performance by some companies this year.
But with employers keeping an eye on the bottom line, increments and bonuses are not likely to match that optimism, say human resources consultants and recruiters.
High unemployment in the US and Europe are "real brakes on growth" in a bumpy 2010, as most expect, pointed out Kerry Consulting director Declan O'Sullivan.
"We're not going to see massive bonuses or increments, except only where there are highly localised and specialised needs," he said. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Tax Views Asia
November 2009
Negotiations in Asia.
Article written by Declan O'Sullivan, founder and director of Kerry Consulting
Conducting successful negotiations even in one's home country is a challenging task. Bearing in mind the cultural diversity within Asia Pacific, it is extraordinarily difficult for a regional business executive (irrespective of country of origin) to be effective across an area stretching from Japan to Singapore and encompassing Australia, China, India and a host of other culturally diverse nations.
Click here to view entire article |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Singapore Accountant
July/August 2009
Men or Women, Who Should Lead?
The June 4th CPA Singapore Powwow - organised by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS) - saw a strong turnout from women executives working in the financial sector, though the men didn't shy away either.
In all, 150 participants gathered to hear the panel of two men (including Declan O'Sullivan of Kerry Consulting) and two women, appropriately gender balanced, discuss the forum's topic: "The Shifting Power Balance - Is Gender the Issue?".
Other panel members included Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Singapore's first female Cabinet minister, Ms Saw Phaik Hwa, CEO of SMRT and Mr Gerald Ee, ICPAS vice-president. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Channel News Asia
10 June 2009
Singapore Business Tonight
Declan O'Sullivan, founder and director of Kerry Consulting, appeared on Channel News Asia's 'Singapore Business Tonight' programme - commenting on the state of the financial recruitment market in Singapore. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
The Straits Times
8 June 2009
Slow hiring at Big 4. Lower attrition rates among auditors so some may scale back hiring.
Ms Audrey Chan, associate director at finance recruitment firm Kerry Consulting, said hiring of fresh graduates on campus among accounting firms this year has not been cut back noticeably. Instead, the cost-saving measures tend to be taken at the level of more exprienced staff, she said.
"There is a general drive to contain costs wherever possible. Some firms are considering taking measures to manage their cost in the form of delay of promotions and salary increments," said Ms Chan.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Straits Times
5 June 2009
May the best man - or woman - take the lead
Declan O'Sullivan, founder and director of Kerry Consulting, was recently a panel member at a forum conducted by the Insitute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS). The topic was women in leadership positions, and was attended by more than 150 professionals in the finance industry. Other panel members included Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Singapore's first female Cabinet minister, Ms Saw Phaik Hwa, CEO of SMRT and Mr Gerald Ee, ICPAS vice-president.
Discussion points included representation (64 per cent of ICPAS members are women, but women hold only about 27 per cent of leadership positions), the factors that cause low representation, and quotas.
View the event ad which appeared in Straits Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Business Times
3 June 2009
Sailing trip to boost Singapore, Irish ties - with support from Kerry Consulting
Cultural, educational and business ties between Singapore and Ireland will get an unconventional boost from a new initiative, 'Crossing waters, crossing cultures', which will send four Temasek Polytechnic students to Ireland to participate in activities leading up to the departure of the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) from Galway, Ireland, on Saturday.
The initiative, launched by Singapore's Irish Business Association (IBA), together with Irish/Chinese Volvo Ocean Race team Green Dragon, and supported by the Embassy of Ireland in Singapore, will also see the students joining a one-week sail training voyage along the south-west Irish coast on a vessel operated by educational charity Ocean Youth Trust Ireland - with support from the embassy and Kerry Consulting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Irish Independent
May 2009
Kerry Consulting supports 'Let's Do It Global'
Kerry Consulting provides active support to the 'Let’s Do It Global' initiative to have 4 young Singaporeans travel to Ireland to participate in sailing activities surrounding the Volvo Ocean Race Galway stopover in June, 2009.
They then join a 1 week sail training experience on board a vessel operated by the Ocean Youth Trust Ireland, a charity dedicated to providing young people with the opportunity to experience Sail Training.
Throughout their journey the students will capture their experiences and impressions of Ireland through the media of photography and video which they will present to their school and to the extended Singapore-Irish business community on their return.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RTE Radio 1
May 2009
Social welfare versus jobs
Declan O'Sullivan of Kerry Consulting was a guest on 'The Business', on Ireland's leading radio station, RTE1, contrasting Singapore’s labour and unemployment policies with those of Ireland.
Click here to listen to the podcast |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Straits Times
15 May 2009
CPA Singapore Powwow. The Shifting Power Balance: Is Gender the Issue?
Declan O'Sullivan, founder of Kerry Consulting, will be speaking at this CPA-organised forum on 4 June 2009.
View the event ad which appeared in Straits Times |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Sunday Times
19 April 2009
Don't just drop off your resume; work closely with headhunters to map out your career path
If you want to make the most of a search firm when in need, get to know your recruitment consultant better - even before you have lost your current job.
"It is much like going to a family doctor. Someone who knows you and who you have been regularly seeing is in a better position to provide remedy when you're sick," said Mr Declan O'Sullivan, founder of Singapore-based executive recruitment firm Kerry Consulting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Straits Times
30 March 2009
Four signs your job is in danger. Recruitment firms give tips on how to save jobs.
Mr Declan O'Sullivan, founder and director of recruitment firm Kerry Consulting, suggests reaching out more to the people around you at work.
"Quite often, when people get stressed, they tend to curl up into a ball and hope the problem will go away, which is not useful," he says.
"A far better survival strategy would be to go out of your way and talk to people, be more outgoing, and engage your colleagues and business partners."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HRM Singapore
February 2009
HRM Awards 2009
Kerry Consulting sponsors "Best HR Manager" award, which was won by Ng Lee Keng, Manager of Talent Management, SMRT Corporation. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Business Times
February 2008
Good times roll for bank operations recruits
The key to better pay seems to be the right set of skills and experience relevant to what may be very specific client requirements like structured products or derivatives, for example.
"In general, I have seen pay coming in more on the high side in 2006-2007," said Emily Tan, a consultant at Kerry Consulting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Straits Times
April 2007
Employers cast nets abroad to fill jobs in hot sectors
Kerry Consulting's director Declan O'Sullivan said his headhunting firm now needs to shortlist more candidates for each job, because it is common for those shortlisted to receive other offers while the recruitment is in progress.
"Our workload per recruitment exercise has probably gone up 50 per cent - as compared to two years ago - simply to maintain our previous response standards," he said. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HRM Singapore
April 2007
HR solves the energy crisis
Treating individuals as energy sources is the key to success, observes Declan O'Sullivan, director, Kerry Consulting.
Recruitment, training and development, compensation and benefits... Virtually all HR efforts are aimed at increasing the energy output of the people in the organisation and hence the organisation itself.
In summary, every organisation's success or failure is influenced by its aggregate energy output. HR is the function which most directly influences the organisation's potential energy and actual energy. Put another way, HR, perhaps more than any other function, is the key to an organisation's success or failure. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Today
14 February 2007
Starting strong. An article on Singapore start-ups who venture overseas.
For financial and human resources recruitment firm Kerry Consulting, the majority of its clients are global multinationals requiring key professional personnel to be based in Singapore, South-East Asia, China or on occasion, as far afield as Iran.
Founded by director Declan O'Sullivan in January 2004, it provides recruitment services to banks and multinational corporations from its Suntec City headquarters. This sometimes involves "exporting" Singaporeans into overseas positions or "importing" non-residents into Singapore based roles.
About 30 per cent of Kerry Consulting's business falls into this "import/export" category. To date, it has maintained a 100-per-cent annual growth rate, sees a bright future for its services and is looking to add on to its existing headcount of 14 people this year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Straits Times
December 2006
Young super earners. A banner year for bankers and traders who will outearn many of their peers in other fields
Headhunter Declan O'Sullivan, from Kerry Consulting, explained that some bankers are highly paid because there are only a handful who can do the job well.
"Each of them is like a fighter pilot, you only need one really good guy flying the plane," he said, adding that each of them is often responsible for millions of dollars.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Sunday Times
12 February 2006
Headhunter Declan O'Sullivan explains why he has a passion for the "men of the forest". Article on individuals whose personal and work lives have been enriched through giving back to society.
Declan O'Sullivan is the director of financial headhunting firm Kerry Consulting by day and a self-proclaimed orang utan conservationist by night. His desire is to see more Singapore companies help save the 5,000 Sumatran orang utans that are estimated to be left in the Sumatran jungles.
What are you doing actively for this cause?
Raising awareness and encouraging others to sponsor orang utans. As a headhunter, I meet lots of multinational corporations that I harass for cash, but with limited results.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Business Times
7 December 2005
Headhunter who's fighting fit. Full page article on Declan O'Sullivan, founder of Kerry Consulting.
From a one-man outfit operating out of a serviced office in Centennial Towers, Kerry Consulting has become one of the bigger financial recruitment firms in Singapore.
Outside the corporate setting, Kerry Consulting has - thanks to its founder's interests - emerged in what would seem a rather unlikely place: on the list of sponsors of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, run by the Swiss-based PanEco Foundation, Frankfurt Zoological Society and Indonesian agencies.
"Basically, my view is that if we can't save this extremely high profile and generally 'lovable' species from extinction, then really there is little hope for all the other thousands of species, many of which have yet to be categorised but upon which our ecosystem nonetheless does depend. It's a local headline case, or at least it should be." |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|