Korn Ferry hunts heads of its own in latest Irish push
KORN Ferry, one of the world’s largest headhunting firms, has poached staff from the executive ranks of Dublin-based Merc Partners as competitive pressures start to reshape Ireland’s top-end recruitment sector.
In the past few weeks, two of Merc’s employees have defected to Korn Ferry, bolstering the US-listed behemoth’s rapidly expanding Irish division.
News of the moves comes amid persistent speculation another global heavyweight, Heidrick & Struggles, is weighing an incursion into the| market.
Sources close to the Chicago-headquartered group told the Irish Independent the well-known headhunter and arch rival to Korn Ferry, is considering establishing a foothold in Dublin as the State’s full-throttle economy attracts a host of new players. However, a London-based spokesperson for Heidrick & Struggles insisted an expansion into Ireland is “not on our radar right now”.
Its entrance would follow in the wake of Korn Ferry, which has established an executive search division in Dublin from scratch, as well as top London City recruiter, Odgers Berndtson, which last year swooped on the Irish platform of UK recruiter, Amrop.
While many of these names remain relatively unknown in Ireland, internationally they dominate the sector and control access to the lion’s share of C-suite succession and leader-replacement searches for the world’s top corporations.
Local heavy-hitters in the sector are now in demand among these new firms.
As this newspaper reported recently, Korn Ferry is understood to have approached Merc’s Ruth Curran last year about its Irish expansion plans, with the discussions touching on a possible takeover of the leading Irish player.
The talks failed to progress. Korn Ferry has since bedded in a number of senior hires including David Burke, a headhunter who specialises in Life Sciences, who formerly worked at executive search firm Accreate, as well as Bob Casey, a former CEO and professional rugby player at London Irish RFC.
John Harty has also joined Korn Ferry’s headhunting arm. The group runs two other core global businesses: Futurestep, a global recruitment solutions division and Hay Group, an advisory arm.
Korn Ferry’s Irish head, Rob Wilder confirmed the appointments and said the US giant plans to grow its presence this year, taking its headcount to 35 people from 21. Mr Wilder declined to comment on competitors but in a statement said “when we revisited our strategy for the Irish market, we heard from our clients that they would welcome a global player with local presence; a disruptor coming into the market”.