Ellwood Consulting joins Talentor to cover Singapore and Malaysia

Hi there! I’m originally from the North-West of England, near Blackpool. I studied Theology at university so I like to describe myself as one of the few ‘official’ ethical recruitment consultants! I’m a big Liverpool Football Club fan and I’ve now lived in Singapore for over 25 years. My wife is Malaysian and I have two teenage daughters with one about to start university.

Sure! I play tennis twice a week and 5 A-side football once a week and golf whenever I get the chance – but all badly! 
As a family, we enjoy our food and like going out for meals and we like to travel. Bali is our favourite location and we go there fairly frequently each year for long weekends and school holidays and try to go to Europe once a year to see my side of the family.

Like many others, I fell into recruitment by chance—but quickly fell in love with the job. What drew me in was the variety: no two days are ever the same, and you constantly meet people from all walks of life.
I really enjoyed my first role in recruitment, though the company itself wasn’t the perfect fit. Eventually, I had the exciting opportunity to move to Singapore with a UK-listed recruitment firm—and that move changed everything.

It was a combination of factors, but at its core, recruitment attracts people with an entrepreneurial mindset—and I was no exception. I had the good fortune of working for a publicly listed recruitment firm, where I helped build a strong brand and solid reputation.
Starting my own business had always been a personal goal, something I wanted to achieve before turning 40. The timing felt right, and it was a natural next step in my career journey.

Quality– the barrier to entry in recruitment is low so you can stand out from the competition by the quality of work you do for both, clients and candidates. This strengthens your reputation and fosters repeat business and candidate referrals.

Mid to senior-level white-collar professionals in permanent roles, primarily within corporate support functions such as Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, as well as in Management Consulting and Sales & Marketing.

Our clients can come from SME’s or MNC’s or within Financial Services, they could be NGO’s or Start-Ups, Consulting Firms and Fintechs.

Communication– in the world of recruitment we see a lot of organizations try and retain talent after they have resigned but by then it’s too late. Regular communication both in a formal and informal manner can head off a lot of frustrations or a sense of wellbeing with employees.

•  In Singapore these days it would be the cost as the Singapore dollar is quite strong against most major currencies and companies will perceive the salaries quite high for the experience they are “buying.” 
•  In Malaysia that even relatively junior candidates can be on 3 months’ notice and it’s not uncommon for the hiring company to “buy out” some of this notice period so they can start working with them sooner.

In Asia there is a big concept of “face” and not losing it in front of peers. Western cultures tend to be quite direct in the workplace, even in an open plan office or in meetings whereas in Asia, receiving perceived criticism in front of colleagues can be seen as quite derogatory so feedback needs to be constructive and any criticism should be done in a one on one situation never in front of others.

Having been in Asia for over 25 years now, it would probably be a culture shock for me to work back in Europe! I think having worked for this length of time with so many people from so many cultures across different markets in Asia, I’ve been very fortunate to experience what it’s like to work with people from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures which I hope has positively impacted on my day to day work with candidates, clients and colleagues.

The complexities of hiring local talent in those countries versus hiring foreign talent and what that means in terms of applying for and obtaining work permits for foreign talent and the labour laws that need to be adhered to, especially for local talent.

The ability to leverage the international network. The opportunity to bounce ideas and share best practices with owners of other businesses and to hear what is happening in their respective markets, their wins, and their challenges are some of the reasons that made me join Talentor.

Thank you Mark for this interview! We are looking forward to a successful collaboration and many shared successes ahead! For Talentor, this partnership means stronger service coverage in Southeast Asia. For our global clients, it offers access to top-tier talent in two key economies. And for our candidates, it means more opportunities to connect with organizations that value quality, culture fit, and long-term career development. Undoubtedly a great asset in our global network!

Mark was present in our latest Partner Meeting in Prague where he introduced Ellwood Consulting to the Talentor partners: