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| » April 2006 |
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| …when you’re looking for a pearl… |
| The World is Your Talent Oyster |
| By Bill Holland |
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With oceans of talent out there, it’s time to fish beyond the backyard barrel. Cast your net wide to catch the bounty, without letting the savvy ones in your home-spawned school get away. It may take a swim upstream and more management “mussel” to implement global HR practices, but don’t clam up now! The reality and necessity of international human capital management is here to stay. |
Gone are the days when only heavy hitting organizations could step up to the global market plate. Ease of travel and that “internet” thing have made it increasingly possible for smaller organizations to get off the bench and hit the business ball from home base to Helsinki. There is no doubt, however, that with a shrinking world comes a growing HR challenge. Typical challenges of attracting, retaining and developing talent are further confounded by cultural, linguistic, political, and other distinctions…not to mention all the paperwork! Multiculturalism on the home front has certainly paved the way for managing some of these issues. But penetrating foreign markets and transposing talent across borders and time zones is a whole other ball game.
So once your organization decides to board the global HR express, how do you ensure a smooth ride? The first and most significant factor is the acquisition of first class talent.
Let’s say your company is rapidly expanding its operations abroad. You need to find a superstar Senior Technology Director to oversee the international integration of a number of new tech initiatives. You also need a megastar International Marketing Manager to design and implement culturally relevant campaigns in your new target markets. Posting the job opportunities on domestic job boards and in the local papers have yielded a few interesting nuggets, but not the superstar and megastar you were hoping for. As sharp an HR manager as you are, you fell short of a full out international recruitment and relocation approach.
What gives?
Maybe it’s the cost, maybe the time. Maybe you just don’t know how to begin your global talent navigation. Indeed, developing a globally keen organization involves significant cost and time commitments, but expect no less if you want the best. As for where to begin, start by articulating your global vision. Then, develop an HR strategy to achieve it, followed by specific action plans to make it happen.
Perhaps your vision is to be a market leader in North America, Europe and Asia with sales of $350 million and a world class workforce of 1000 by 2010.
Your HR strategy to achieve this might involve:
- targeted recruitment of international talent
- relocation opportunities for existing talent
- company wide global awareness and integration initiatives
Specific action plans might include:
- hiring a global search firm to help you capture remote talent
- devising career trajectories for current employees who are open to relocation, and grooming them for work abroad
- providing regular internal communications such as e-newsletters with contributions from your international offices
You expect your superstar and megastar to play important roles in realizing your company’s vision. Not only do you have to find them, you have to make the opportunity worth their while. Remember, this is an investment in your company’s future, not a grudgingly paid utility bill. Compensation and peripherals should be fair to generous. With that in mind, prepare to hook some juicy bait, and reel ‘em in.
International Recruitment
In addition to having the appropriate tech background, your superstar Senior Technology Director should be familiar with specific European and/or Asian business attitudes and practices, and must be able to contend with the challenges of remote management. They should be multilingual, have international experience, and be willing to travel. Your wish list goes on. It’s a pretty tall order, but don’t despair, your gem does exist somewhere out there.
You may already have existing international connections to help you find what you’re looking for. If not, consider targeting international students from professional college or university programs. At the masters or executive level, they often have extensive experience on the way in, and are ripe for recruitment on the way out.
Another option is to leave it to the experts. Consider hiring a professional search firm such as wwwork!. With multilingual capabilities, expertise in a host of industries, and a world wide work network, wwwork! can help find your target. wwwork! is a partner of First HCM, a global human capital management company. FirstHCM is your single point of contact with a world of first-class human capital services offered by a select group of companies who specialize in key areas of human resource staffing, development, and consulting.
Meet your new superstar. Ash is originally from India, and speaks three languages. He lived in the United States for several years where he studied systems administration and managed an offshore tech support centre. He got his MBA from INSEAD, a diverse, multicultural and globally focused business school in France. Since graduating, Ash has steadily progressed his career in business technology management at leading international firms. He enjoys frequent business travel around Europe and Asia, but has been thinking about once again making North America his home base. In fact, he’ll be visiting friends and relatives in Toronto in a couple of weeks. Perfect timing for an interview!
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