By Adam Cubito

SYDNEY: Recruitment specialist Aquent has promoted Asia Pacifc CEO Greg Savage to CEO of international operations, presiding over the group's burgeoning global network. Savage, who was regional CEO for four and half years, started his new role last week, becoming responsible for Aquent‚s Asia Pacific and European networks but not its North American operations. face=Arial>He will oversee a further eight markets in six different European countries, and will spend up to three months in Europe every year.

Savage said he was looking forward to observing the different markets and driving growth in the sluggish European sectors.

"What we have here is a unique opportunity for clients," he said. "We are a multi-national organisation but we are still very niche. So we can position ourselves to a client saying ŒYou used us in Hong Kong, we can do the same work for you from Singapore to Sydney'. "There are micro-economic issues with the European sectors though ˆ Asia is a very fast growing market whereas in Europe, countries such as Germany are effectively in recession ˆ so we will need to adjust to that." In his former role as regional CEO, Savage was responsible for steering growth in the market which saw revenue increase six-fold and office numbers grow from seven to 15 ˆ a pattern he wishes to repeat on an international level.

"What I would like to do is strategically approach things, change some of the structure to improve and hopefully replicate the success we‚ve had with our Asia Pacific operations," Savage said.