Considering Kerry Group for a career

Kay Kevlihan reports

The Kerry Group employs 17,500 people throughout its manufacturing, sales and technical centres across Europe, North America, South America, Mexico/Central America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific. The Group offers global opportunities for graduates and valuable local employment opportunities in Ireland.

Graduates interested in a career with the Kerry Group should make contact with the company over the next few weeks as the group's graduate requirements will be defined by early April.

Kerry recruits up to 60 graduates internationally a year in a range of disciplines. The good news for Irish graduates is that two-thirds of Kerry's intake is from Ireland. With over 125 manufacturing plants in 15 countries and sales offices from Shanghai to South America, there is tremendous scope for movement within the group. Five thousand people are employed in the Republic and a further 800 in the North.

Recruitment procedure

Kerry's main recruitment method for graduates is through third-level presentations and direct application. This weekend there is also an opportunity to meet with human resources staff at the Kerry Group stand at Opportunities 2003, the career event at the RDS in Ballsbridge.

For those interested in a career with the Kerry Group, its website at www.kerrygroup.com provides an outline of the fascinating history of the group, comprehensive information about the company and the principal areas of recruitment. Contact information for each region of Ireland and for overseas operations is also on the website.

"Increasingly we have graduates from the United Kingdom and the Americas and more recently China, Mexico, Brazil and India, some of whom are here in Ireland at the moment,'' said Frank Hayes, director of corporate affairs. "We have a deliberate policy of including the development of people from international backgrounds.

Wide range needed

"We recruit graduates from third-level institutes across finance, IT, technical, including quality control, marketing, research and development, product development through to engineering, sales, market distribution, culminating in management itself,'' explained Frank Hayes.

The organisation has a cross-functional approach to management development. "If you show a strong aptitude for management, you can move quickly through the organisation and move into a general management position. We are not confined to particular disciplines and do not have a ‘boxed' approach to management development.''

There is great potential for mobility within the organisation, particularly in international developments. Frank Hayes says: "When we move into a new market we set up a representative office, so we need a range of skills for technical expertise, management and operational expertise to facilitate that.'' When the overseas operation is capable of being run by the local workforce the original personnel are redeployed in Ireland.

Third level graduates face a hurdle every year in getting started on the career ladder without a minimum of two year's experience. Some companies offer valuable work experience through temporary graduate recruitment programmes, after which there is no guarantee of a job with the company.

Kerry is different. "Kerry recruits graduates for particular positions,'' said Frank Hayes. "They are required functions within the central management functions, and in tandem with that our graduates can take a two-year in-house diploma in conjunction with the Irish Management Institute.''

The ideal candidate

What type of employee is Kerry looking for? Academic performance is important but perhaps even more important are personal qualities such as self motivation, ability to be a team worker and strong leadership skills. Language skills and fluency in a foreign language are also important.

Career progression

"Kerry is not a very hierarchical organisation,'' said Frank Hayes. "People who come to work at Kerry find it very open and challenging and find there are great opportunities being part of a fast growing organisation like Kerry.'' He stressed that the organisation has a "cross-functional''' approach to management development and that, if employees show a strong aptitude for management, they can move quickly through the organisation into general management positions.

Kerry's success story is legendary. They commenced operations from a greenfield site in Listowel, Co Kerry in 1972. As a private company with three shareholders: the state-owned Dairy Disposal Company, a federation of eight small farmer co-operatives in Kerry and the Erie Casein Company Inc from the US, they committed to invest approximately €200,000 to finance a €1 million dairy processing facility in Listowel, Co Kerry, for the manufacture of milk protein (casein) for export to the USA.

In 30 years the Kerry organisation has grown to become a highly successful public company, providing over 10,000 foods, food ingredients and flavour products through the group's international manufacturing facilities to a wide customer base in eighty countries. Launched as a public company in 1986, Kerry Group plc is listed on the Dublin and London stock markets and has a current market capitalisation of €2.6 billion. Within the last two years, the company has had up to 25 acquisitions, the most recent big Irish acquisition being Golden Vale.

Tralee for easy access

Working in Co Kerry has many advantages -- no more endless traffic jams and an airport just fifteen minutes drive from Tralee with access to any international flight via Aer Arann or Ryanair to the UK. "If we want to be in Bristol, Paris or Frankfurt we can leave Kerry, do a full day's work and be back here in the evening,'' said Frank Hayes. "As far as international scope is concerned, Kerry has developed in the east and west and their head office is strategically placed.''

Local jobs at Kerry

Competition from the ‘high-tech' sector over the last few years made it more difficult for Kerry to recruit locally but that situation has eased considerably with on-going local recruitment in their various operations countrywide for operators, sales and administrative staff.

"Kerry has demonstrated an on-going organic development within every business so each business has to grow each year. In every single operation there is an expansion programme going on at any given time, leading to opportunities,'' said Frank Hayes.

A number of organisations within the Kerry Group provide opportunities that would neatly tie in with people looking for seasonal employment, allowing time to work on family farms. Frank Hayes commented: "Living in local communities and availing of local employment opportunities has to be a plus in order to retain rural employment. From that point of view, our first recruitment drive is always local because people who are suitably employed locally will be content and will add value to the business.'

Current opportunities

The Kerry Group is currently recruiting in the following principal areas: administration, customer service, finance, human resources/personnel, information technology, marketing, production/operations, purchasing, quality assurance/technical services, research and development and sales.

See their website at www.kerrygroup.com/careers or call to their stand at Opportunities 2003 at the RDS

31 January - 3 February, Friday 10am - 7pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am - 6pm, Monday 10am - 4pm.