Project Recruitment: Establishing a European Bank in Singapore

Launching a major bank expansion with quality local talent was stress-free with Hudson’s on-the-ground team in Asia.

CLIENT CHALLENGE

Originally a European bank, our $650 million client is now a respected financial institution worldwide.  As part of its rapid global expansion, the bank decided to establish an Asian business hub in Singapore. They needed a recruitment partner to provide an integrated solution for setting up its organization in Singapore, capable of supporting an aggressive growth strategy. 

Key challenges included:

• Building the bank’s employer brand, well known in Europe, in a new market with a low level of brand awareness
• Recruiting a large number of employees across multiple job functions quickly-in an increasingly skill-short market and in competition with established high profile banks
• Using effective attraction and selection methodologies to recruit employees aligned with the organization’s vision and culture
• Ensuring the same level of organizational capability and success in Singapore as in the bank’s other markets

HUDSON SOLUTION

The bank selected Hudson Recruitment Process Outsourcing for its ability to provide an end-to-end solution in markets around the world, from employment branding through selection methodologies to on-boarding for each of its business units.

Hudson recruited the bank’s sales group through an online and print media sourcing campaign, utilizing our assessment center methodology. Designed by Hudson’s organizational psychologists, this methodology incorporated a customized assessment process involving group and phone simulations, structured interviews and sophisticated personality and ability based psychometric instruments.

Management level and specialist roles across the Finance, Technology and Banking & Marketing practices were effectively delivered through a search and advertised selection methodology, leveraging Hudson's extensive local candidate database and industry networks.

THE RESULTS

The bank expansion was off to a successful start with their new Singapore organization, which consisted of 55 people within three months of engaging Hudson RPO.

Successes included:

• Sales group recruited within a four-week timeframe, with 97% acceptance of offers
• Quality of candidates hired ranking on average within 80th percentile of the equivalent industry norm group
• 95% of management and specialist level roles recruited within a four week timeframe
• 70% of recruitment direct from market, minimizing the use of third party vendors
• Launched attractive employer brand in local Singapore market