Michael Page looks to Latin expansion
Michael Page International will open an office in Chile later this year and is considering a move into India as the company deepens and expands its global presence.
Speaking exclusively to Recruiter, Michael Page chief executive officer Steve Ingham said that the company was also looking at other locations for new offices.
“Our Asian business is growing in the high 80 percentages year on year, and so is our Latin American business, and this is where we’ve got the least competition,” Ingham said.
“That in itself is exciting, but on top of that, we’ve got to look at other countries within Asia, so we will certainly be expanding our operations in South East Asia particularly, such as Malaysia and the Philippines.”
Ingham predicted that Michael Page will have 400 people based in Latin America by the end of the year. Chile will be the fourth Latin American country where the firm will operate, joining Argentina, Brazil and Mexico as bases there.
When deciding to launch a Michael Page business in a particular location, Ingham said the first issue to decide was the best person to run the operation.
“We’re currently exploring India as an opportunity,” he said. “I’ve been there, I’ve met a lot of clients, and we’re in the process of announcing internally who will do that [run the Indian operation].
“There are competitors there and we could have, I suppose, made an acquisition - we’ve got the money - but it’s always about the person [to run the business there]. That way, I know that in five years time, I will have a Michael Page business in India, and I will have a Michael Page business in Chile or wherever.”
The company’s continuing international expansion means a variety of opportunities for its new recruits. “We now target linguists when we’re hiring people here,” he said. “In the last six months I’ve done two assessment centres in the UK for Mandarin speaking, bilingual, bi-cultural people to join us who either will go straight to Shanghai or Beijing, or will join us here for a period before we send them.”
Ingham went on to say that it was not a requirement for every Michael Page managing director to have worked abroad but significant opportunities could await those who did. “We reward risk takers,” he said, “and we do want people that will just pick up their homes and move to new countries.”
