Executive recruiter Ronan is in the hiring line

ACCREATE was founded by Ronan Colleran in 2001, before being acquired by Imprint Plc in 2005.

It became part of the Premier Group in May, 2008, an Irish-owned international recruitment offering now trading as Morgan McKinley. Accreate operates out of Dublin, Cork, London, Sydney, Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Amsterdam. Accreate has the highest assignment completion rate, 93%, in attracting senior-level executive professionals.

Their clients include PepsiCo, Merck, Barclays, Facebook, Paddy Power, Elan and FEXCO. “It is a two-tier economy in Ireland, at present, and in areas like Big Pharma, where a lot of consolidation is happening, we are still seeing much activity,” says Mr Colleran of the early outlook for 2013. “The boom in the technology areas continues, also, and Ireland has become a Silicon Valley prototype, and it is estimated that there are approximately 5,000 job vacancies in software, at present.” Much of the company’s activity centres around the needs of incoming multinationals.

“We are seeing a lot of activity from US companies coming into Ireland and using it as a gateway to set up EU-focused businesses, and Accreate is helping them with these strategies, and finding appropriate people where needed,” he says.

The second tier, around banking and SMEs, presents a different picture: “These sectors continue to be hammered in terms of activity levels, and the liquidation of IBRC, recently, is an example of this.”

Having worked as a chartered accountant with Arthur Anderson, in Dublin, prior to working in risk-management roles, with Ansett Airlines in Melbourne, and Australia Water Corporation in Sydney, Mr Colleran founded Accreate and has become an advisor to many high-profile organisations, at the senior level, over the years. Mr Colleran is also a former member of the Governing Authority of NUI Galway, and served on the University’s Audit and Human Resources Committee.

Despite the economic difficulties of recent years, Ireland is still viewed with favour overseas, he says: “Ireland is still viewed very favourably by ex-pats, or senior executives coming from abroad, primarily around its quality of life. When we bring top-level executives, from places like New York or London, to Ireland, initially for short stints, the responses are invariably around the quality of living and questions relating to better family environment.

“Access to good educational institutions, proximity to excellent leisure pursuits, like golf and water-sports, and the accessible size of our major cities, in terms of lifestyle and nearness to the country, are points that are always topping the list,” he says. Ireland also punches well above its weight in terms of career opportunity.

“There are significant career opportunities to be found here, at senior-executive level. Many of the companies that established here in the 1990s have built up very sizeable operations, and executives coming to Ireland have career options, either within the organisation itself or in others of a similar size also located here. Given that we now have a large number of Fortune 500 companies in Ireland, executives will come here for career development, regardless of the lifestyle advantages that are also available,” he says.

In tandem with career development and quality of life, incoming executives prioritise a country’s tax regime. “Senior executives looking at Ireland don’t look at their gross remuneration, but what their net will be and they will compare it to what they can get in other jurisdictions.

“Unfortunately, due to the demands of austerity, Ireland has become an expensive country for senior executives, and we have seen situations where some executives have been less inclined to come here due to this.”

Mr Colleran allows that the Government’s introduction of the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP), introduced in Finance Act 2012, which was designed to assist multinational and Irish companies in attracting key, high-salaried talent into Ireland by reducing their level of taxable income here by up to 30%, has helped alleviate this situation.

Irish executives abroad have a very good reputation, says Mr Colleran, due, in part, to the global footprint of major Irish multinationals.

“Irish executives are viewed very positively, as many of them have worked with companies which were in their infancy in the 1980s and now have grown to be global players — Kerry Group, Elan Corporation and CRH are examples. The international attitude to Irish executives is that they are deemed to be of very high quality, hard-working and very committed in terms of their career. Certainly, the clients of Accreate are very favourably disposed to Irish executives.”

The lead time for completion of an executive search is between three and five months, and particularly when a client is looking to do a global search. “Very often, these are very busy people who have little time to spare, and it does involve a lot of travel to sit down and eyeball them to determine if they are right for a client’s requirements,” he says.

The initial research period can run to ten weeks, with the subsequent meetings pushing the mission out to five months for completion.

While the title ‘headhunter’ is accepted in the commercial marketplace, Mr Colleran cautions that it can distract from the reality of the job. “The word does carry connotations that can be different to the reality,” he says. “My background is as a chartered accountant, which I eventually left to get involved in a more people-focused role, requiring more personal interaction. It is a very satisfying career in that one is always meeting very diverse and interesting people.” The company has 21 offices across Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, strategically placed at the heart of key financial centres, as well as regionally within countries, giving thorough coverage of all the markets in which they operate.

“At the start, what we do is help companies to check their own strategies, an area where we would add significant values through consultancy. The role involves having the appropriate market knowledge to find the right people and allow companies achieve their goals. It is a process that involves a great deal of research, networking and one-to-one interaction with senior executives,” Mr Colleran says. Such is the deep involvement of the process, many lifelong friendships accrue as a byproduct, he says. “You do form bonds with these executives whom you place in roles, that, in some cases, can last over the duration of an entire career.”

Name: Ronan Colleran

Occupation: Managing director, Accreate

Background: Accreate is a global executive search firm, specialising in senior level recruitment for multinationals, PLCs and public sector organisations. Headquartered in Dublin, they are part of the Morgan McKinley Group with over 500 specialists working in 25 offices across eight countries.