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Agile talent acquisition: 7 steps to creating a global talent strategy

March 12, 2019 by Content Team

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Agile talent acquisition: 7 steps to creating a global talent strategy

Content Team

March 12, 2019

Agile talent acquisition: a lean and flexible strategy positions your enterprise to build an anytime, anywhere, optimal workforce.

A comprehensive global talent acquisition strategy is workforce planning writ large. It enables you to ramp up hiring following a business acquisition in a new country, for example. An agile talent acquisition strategy can also prepare teams for expansion into new markets.

After exploring the benefits of talent acquisition, you may be ready to create an agile talent acquisition model.

Read on to discover the seven basic steps behind high-performing global talent acquisition strategies.

Step 1: Develop a global hiring road map

From the C-suite to the HR department to the project managers who will work closely with global hires, corporate buy-in is key to delivering an agile talent acquisition plan.

In many ways, the world is still the early stages of a global workplace. Executives and employees alike are still adjusting.

Teams may require training to collaborate effectively with workers across different cultures. A manager unaccustomed to working with one or two remote employees may require additional training and reminders to properly include those workers, for example.

When key decision makers support the global workplace, critical steps are less likely to fall through the cracks. These steps may include cultural awareness workshops and in-person team gatherings every quarter or so — activities which can help reduce frustration and friction, while helping teams bond and collaborate.

Step 2: Unify stakeholders and cross-cultural teams

From the C-suite to the HR department to the project managers who will work closely with global hires, corporate buy-in is key to delivering an agile talent acquisition plan.

In many ways, the world is still the early stages of a global workplace. Executives and employees alike are still adjusting.

Step 3: Showcase a global employer brand

A positive, dynamic employer brand is the bedrock of effective global talent acquisition. Candidates in your target markets and around the world should gain a clear view of your workplace culture, day-to-day vibe, and long-term career opportunities. Important windows into your employee value proposition include:

Regional job fairs
A regional careers website
Local social media recruitment campaigns
Global company pages on LinkedIn and Glassdoor
Outreach to local universities and professional associations

Keep your current employees in mind when developing, or evolving your employer brand. They help sustain your value proposition and keep you honest if the EVP doesn’t translate to lived experience. Effective hiring, retention, and workforce engagement depend upon an authentic employer brand.

While it’s important to do your research, you can easily get stuck in this early phase and stagnate. Building or bolstering your global employer brand is a smart starting point.

Step 4: Create candidate messaging that resonates

While a consistent, appealing global employer brand is vital, job particulars require tailoring in different regions. Candidates in Belgium, for example, will have different expectations around compensation and benefits compared to candidates in Australia or the Americas.

Effective social media marketing can also change in different countries as platform preferences shift.

Step 5: Gain efficiencies from HR technology

Though global talent acquisition is complex, recruitment technologies can keep the process manageable, central, and cost-effective. The right recruitment tech underpins a truly agile talent acquisition strategy.

There are many ways in which recruitment tech can help drive efficiency. Global applicant tracking systems search for local keywords to reduce the number of candidates who move to the more time-intensive steps of the hiring process. AI chat bots and automated emails can help drive candidate engagement. With video interviewing, you can manage first interviews without losing candidates who can’t easily meet in person. New solutions are always arriving.

Step 6: Establish a timeline and accountability

From the start, clarify expectations in your global talent acquisition strategy. Even in an agile context, every global recruitment project should still start with an agreed deadline. This applies whether you’re rolling out a new global applicant tracking system, training your hiring teams in video interviewing, hiring a sales team in a new country, or crafting a social media recruitment playbook for a new region.

As the project progresses, you may need to review and realign. However, everyone should work towards getting a first version out the door, so to speak, and then iterating upon that. Taking too long to set projects live gives your competitors ample chance to breeze past.

Within your teams and service provider partnerships, there should also be clear accountability for meeting goals.

Step 7: Evaluate and adjust based on data

When it comes to an agile talent acquisition model, results matter. Leverage data analytics, as well as manager, candidate, and employee feedback to understand success factors, bottlenecks, and pain points.

Evaluations should include candidate quality, talent retention rates, and social media engagement. Such metrics can help inform strategy adjustments or overhauls. They can also highlight high-performing elements, thus allowing you to exploit these successes further. A global approach also allows these best practices to be shared more widely and replicated.

The global hiring landscape is here, and companies that leverage the talents of foreign workers have the upper-hand on establishing an identifiable employer brand in new markets. Remember this as you set out to develop an agile talent acquisition strategy targeted towards attracting highly engaged candidates.

Want to learn more about agile talent acquisition?

Click here for more information about Talent Acquisition.

Hudson RPO

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The Hudson RPO Content Team is made up of experts within the Talent Acquisition industry across the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions. They provide educational and critical business insights in the form of research reports, articles, news, videos, podcasts, and more. The team ensures high-quality content that helps all readers make talent decisions with confidence.

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5 benefits of talent acquisition, making global scale a reality

March 11, 2019 by Content Team

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5 benefits of talent acquisition, making global scale a reality

Content Team

March 11, 2019

The benefits of talent acquisition can help your enterprise compete regionally and scale globally.

Whether your team operates in four countries or 40, a global talent acquisition strategy can help you target top talent, regardless of where that talent is based. A flexible, border-fluid approach to talent acquisition enables the most creative enterprises to build and maintain position as market leaders.

As a talent executive or HR leader, you can add value by initiating a business conversation around this approach. To help spark the discussion, here are five key benefits of talent acquisition driven by a global focus.

Talent acquisition benefit 1: operational efficiency

Companies with far-reaching operations often enlist local agencies to help source hires. Alternatively, a global approach to talent acquisition helps your business streamline hiring processes. It can reduce costs while improving communication about hiring needs and regional skills gaps.

Here’s an example scenario. Consider a global logistics company seeking supply chain managers. The business already has talented inventory managers on the payroll in other countries, some of whom are showing key signs they’re ready for a change.

How would this scenario fit into a global talent acquisition strategy?

To begin, a global strategy would typically include key communications and awareness campaigns. As a result, existing employees would be actively invited to apply for the job, or to at least participate in preparatory training for similar openings.

The company would also save on agency fees, while reducing the time and expense of on-boarding new employees. Workplace morale also benefits from the availability of career development opportunities.

Talent acquisition benefit 2: better candidate journey and employee experience

Global talent acquisition also enables greater consistency along the candidate journey. With a unified approach to candidate messaging, you can ensure each touch point represents your employer brand.

Your employer brand reflects your genuine global employee value proposition. Your talent outreach should be positive and clear across all regions.

Whatever country the candidate is based in, he or she should receive a consistent representation of your business. There will always be a degree of cultural nuance in any multi-regional enterprise, but this shouldn’t cloud the delivery of your global values. This is particularly important in the world of social media recruitment marketing.

No matter where your workers are in the world, they feel as though they are a valued part of a professional community. With these essential elements in place, your team can more easily recruit permanent and contingent workers in new regions.

Talent acquisition benefit 3: richer diversity and tangible business gains

Thanks to advanced collaboration, messaging, and video-conferencing technologies, companies can schedule brainstorming meetings with team members on different continents. These tools allow your business to access the skills, knowledge, and creativity of people from across the globe.

Effective collaboration in a diverse environment can benefit the bottom line. That’s because companies in the top quarter for ethnic and gender diversity are more likely to have above average profitability compared with companies in the bottom quarter.¹

Talent acquisition benefit 4: local insights into new markets

The number of Fortune 500 companies based in global emerging markets may exceed 45 percent by 2025, according to McKinsey & Company.²

So, when expanding into new and emerging markets, companies must understand the local culture, economic climate, business practices, and effective sales strategies of each region. These are not the same the world over. Hiring local talent allows your business to integrate into the community quickly and effectively, helping to avoid the cultural missteps that can harm business prospects.

Talent acquisition benefit 5: business solutions powered by key skills

Astonishingly, 70 percent of employees in professional services work remotely one day per week, and more than 50 percent work remotely at least half the week, according to IGW.³

Flexible work incentives intensify the competition for skilled workers. But a strong global talent acquisition strategy can let you cast a worldwide net to attract the people who offer key creative and cognitive skills.

Want to learn more about talent acquisition?

Click here for more information about Hudson RPO Talent Acquisition.

Sources

¹ Dickey, Megan Rose. “Diverse teams are still *really* good for business, McKinsey says.” TechCrunch. Web. 18 Jan 2018.

² McKinsey Global Institute. “Urban world: The shifting global business landscape.” Web. Oct. 2013

³ Browne, Ryan. “70% of people globally work remotely at least once a week, study says.” CNBC. Web. 30 May 2018.

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Global talent acquisition: how to compete with astonishing growth

February 28, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

Global talent acquisition: how to compete with astonishing growth

Content Team

February 28, 2019

Global talent acquisition is growing at an extraordinary pace. Among global professionals, 70 percent of people in professional services work remotely one day per week, and more than 50 percent work remotely at least half the week.

Those insights may astonish workers and managers who still operate within a traditional work environment. Nonetheless, they come from a detailed global study conducted by IWG in 2018.¹

Needless to say, the implications are extraordinary. Perhaps top of the list, enticing levels of flexibility are being offered to compete for the best talent worldwide.

As we deepen our understanding of the rapid growth in global hiring, we must also equip ourselves to compete effectively.

The recommended approach includes a global talent acquisition strategy.

A global approach to talent acquisition enables your business to capture a wide-angle view of all the far-flung pieces. It lets you observe what’s working, what’s missing, and how to bring it all together—now and in the future.

The rise of global talent acquisition

Before we act, let’s make clear the necessity, based on a review of global talent acquisition growth trends.

Businesses of all sizes are entering or expanding their reach in the global marketplace. The number of Fortune 500 companies based in global emerging markets is expected to exceed 45 percent by 2025, according to research by management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company.²

In the United States, 70 percent of employers consider a global workforce “very or extremely important” to their talent strategy, according to a 2018 Harris Poll for Envoy, a global immigration services firm.³

Furthermore, just under 40 of US hiring managers expect employees will do the majority of their work remotely in the next ten years, according to a 2018 survey by freelance website Upwork.⁴

All of these figures point in the same direction: With the rise of a global workforce, we renew our commitment to cross-cultural communication and engagement strategies. This applies to the full life cycle of talent acquisition, but it begins with your candidate engagement strategy.

Talent acquisition takes its pulse from your EVP

A positive, dynamic workplace culture is the bedrock of effective global talent acquisition. Seek to provide candidates in your target markets and around the world with a clear view of your team culture, day-to-day vibe, and long-term career opportunities.

Important windows into your employee value proposition (EVP) may include:

A regional careers website
Global-focused company pages on LinkedIn and Glassdoor
Local social media recruitment campaigns
Regional job fairs
Outreach to local universities and professional associations

Workplace adaptations for a global talent force

A successful on-boarding process is key to the long-term success of remote employees. It can also help shape an effective, collaborative environment that spans time zones, geographies, and cultures.

Worldwide, employees and employers are in the midst of a workplace sea change. Increasingly, team members join meetings and contribute via cloud-based project management tools and video conferencing.

Keep your current employees in mind when developing or evolving your employer brand. They help sustain your value proposition and keep you honest if the EVP doesn’t translate to their experience.

Effective hiring, retention, and workforce engagement depend upon an authentic employer brand and supportive communication channels.

Want to learn more about talent acquisition?

Click here for more information about Hudson RPO Talent acquisition.

Sources

¹ Browne, Ryan. “70% of people globally work remotely at least once a week, study says.” CNBC. Web. 30 May 2018.

² McKinsey Global Institute. “Urban world: The shifting global business landscape.” Web. Oct. 2013

³ O’Donnell, Riia. “How to recruit in a global talent market.” HRDive. Web. 29 Nov. 2018.

⁴ Dishman, Lydia. “Remote work is “the new normal.”” Fast Company. Web. 28 Feb. 2018.

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Government sector recruitment: 3 tips for process improvement

February 28, 2019 by Content Team

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Government sector recruitment: 3 tips for process improvement

Content Team

February 28, 2019

Government departments are facing increasing pressure to perform effectively and efficiently.

Hiring quality talent is the key lever for these departments to be able to achieve the agility they need, and appropriate scrutiny should be applied when reviewing the selected resourcing model.

Over the past 25 years, we’ve served clients in both government recruitment and the private sector. We understand how to create efficiencies, leverage the latest HR technologies and innovations and create streamlined, scalable solutions for our client partners.

As an experienced talent acquisition specialist, these are the three key areas that I recommend you focus on.

Whether you’re in government or private sector, rigorous recruitment processes are key. Candidates, for their part, expect a high-touch experience.

To compete for talent, government leaders are increasingly embracing an agile government resourcing model underpinned by process efficiency and new technology.

Recruitment tip 1: streamline talent processes

When it comes to securing top talent, speed to market and speed to response are critical.

To add value and manage budget accountability, begin by reviewing your recruitment processes. Identify the bottlenecks that may be preventing your division from hitting key targets. Reporting can help you understand if the organisation is meeting critical performance requirements.

Ensuring that the most relevant and streamlined processes are in place when it comes to recruitment mean that you have the best chance of securing the right talent at the right time for the right roles.

We recently partnered with one of our Government clients to review, streamline and manage their recruitment processes as part of a major transformation program

To enable efficiency, we replaced traditional face to face interviews with video interview technology. This helped reduced costs and time required and enabled our recruitment specialists to focus on key priorities for their stakeholders.

Here’s an example:

One of our government clients recently reviewed and streamlined their recruitment process.

In the first three stages, internal employees had to reapply for their own jobs and be reassessed for suitability. They could also apply for another job at their same level or similar. In the final stage, we looked externally for compatible talent.

Behind the scenes, we revised each stage while also delivering at the next stage, in accordance with government guidelines for compliance and risk management.

Recruitment tip 2: focus on candidate experience

As with private sector enterprises, candidate experience is a hot topic and one that can make a huge difference to the success or failure of a recruitment project or campaign.

With so many different career options available, having an effective and high-touch candidate experience that reflects a modern, forward-thinking and fast-responding business can prove essential.

Candidates seek a detailed and authentic insight into employers. This helps them determine whether the relationship could be a good fit.

Recently working with a large education Government client, our teams were able to not only review and streamline the recruitment process, but also rewrite job descriptions and ads. This helped ensure the content was targeted and engaged the right calibre of candidates required.

Providing a high-touch approach and experience for candidates meant that they felt positive about applying for roles and understood the next steps.

A fast and efficient candidate experience and process helps reduce the number of candidates abandoning the recruitment process. As a result, you’ll be hiring better-quality people.

Recruitment tip 3: select best-fit technology

Having recently placed more than 2,000 people (both internal and external) in nine months for a government client, we can vouch for the importance of using best-fit technology.

The right technology for government recruitment creates efficiency. It allows you to streamline the recruitment process and can also transform the perception of slow service encumbered by red tape.

We recently managed a volume recruitment project for a client that required us to assemble a delivery team of over 50 people in just six weeks.

The 9-month project timeline to fill over 2,000 positions was ambitious. The use of several online recruitment tools helped ensure successful and timely delivery.

For example, by using Xref, an online reference checking software solution, our team conducted more than 4,500 references efficiently with compliance requirements fully met.

Implementing tools like this helped ensure a highly efficient, positive candidate experience. It also meant that business leaders in HR, Operations and Procurement could trust us to manage their recruitment activity, freeing them to pursue other critical business initiatives.

We recently oversaw more than 15,000 applications by assembling more than 50 project team members in just six weeks. A number of online tools helped make this possible, ensuring successful and timely delivery.

Plus, by using video interviewing instead of traditional face-to face-interviews, the client saved considerable time and cost. By using Xref, an online reference checking software solution, our team conducted more than 4,500 references within challenging timelines.

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Talent sourcing: what does it mean to source talent?

February 26, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles, Video

Talent sourcing: what does it mean to source talent?

Content Team

February 26, 2019

How does sourcing differ from recruiting? Watch the mini video now, or read more below.

Talent sourcing: what does it mean to source talent in the work world? Is it really all that different from candidate recruitment?

Sourcing is the practice of finding candidates who are not actively seeking new roles, but who have the preferred skills, aptitudes, and experiences to excel in an open role.

When approached, these candidates are not usually considering a job change, or even aware of the vacancy.

Active candidates, however, tend to show interest in new opportunities by submitting applications, registering with job boards, or contacting recruiters or hiring managers. These types of candidates go through the recruitment process. In that process, a job is advertised and active candidates apply.

Passive candidates will not usually have applied directly to a vacancy or initiated contact with talent managers. Technically speaking, they aren’t recruited into a role. They are sourced.

Here’s another way to think about sourcing, vs. recruitment. In traditional recruiting, candidates typically present themselves to the opportunity. In sourcing, however, the opportunity presents itself to the candidate, vis-à-vis a sourcer.

What do sourcers do for talent acquisition?

A person who proactively contacts passive candidates about new career opportunities is known as a sourcer.

Sourcers are responsible for filling the vacancy, or vacancies. When sourcing candidates, the sourcer initiates contact with passive candidates. These candidates may already be in another role, or they may not yet have entered the workforce. They may be based locally, or, in an increasingly global economy, they may be based in another region or country. Every situation is unique.

The technical and creative skills of a sourcer are often required to fill roles that require specialist abilities. Big data and search technology help sourcers to map candidate pools and identify exceptional candidates. Sourcers can then deep-dive into how candidates and competitors operate in a given market.

Here’s an excellent step-by-step explanation of how sourcers transform a search into a hire.

Sourcing plays a key role in filling vacancies that are niche in nature, such as technology and pharmaceuticals, or for roles that are unique in scope or location.

Sourcing roles can exist within a company, or they can be outsourced and accessed via an on-demand model.

What are the benefits of talent sourcing?

“Sourced candidates are more than two times as efficient as candidates who apply” directly, according to Lever’s Recruiting Benchmarks Report 2016.

Strategic talent sourcing also helps you identify highly qualified candidates earlier in the process. More than half of people who apply for a job are under-qualified, according to the same study.

When you aim to deliver against time-to-fill metrics, you can’t afford to waste resources on shifting through unusable résumés and CVs.

Sourcing allows you to begin a more focused conversation with vetted candidates. At the start of this conversation, you can align the employer value proposition to the values and goals of your prospective candidate. Equally useful, you can quickly identify whether there’s a fit at all.

With sourcing, you can use personal messaging to reach the closest-fit candidates. Custom messaging is likely to drive higher engagement throughout the process. It’s also likely to help distinguish your employer brand from a sea of prospective employers.

Some roles are so unique that you may not find the right candidate through traditional recruitment. When that’s the case, specialist talent sourcing allows you to dig deeper and avoid mediocrity.

It also helps you avoid those uncomfortable conversations with stakeholders about why you failed to identify the right talent, when and where it was required.

Want to learn more about sourcing?

Click here for more information about sourcing services with Hudson RPO.

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Nailed it! Five tips that help lead RPO implementations to success

February 20, 2019 by Content Team

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Nailed it! Five tips that help lead RPO implementations to success

Content Team

February 20, 2019

Implementing recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) on a global or multi-regional scale can be mega-complicated.

But with the right approach, it can also be wildly successful.

You’ll likely encounter legal, cultural, operational, and commercial variations. To smooth the process, think glocally. By combining a global mindset with local awareness and sensitivity, consistent and custom service can be delivered.

A single project management methodology and framework can also help align regional processes and establish standards.

An implementation toolkit and a phased implementation approach — one which draws on prior learnings — can help drive best practice. We call this flexibility within framework.

This approach does mean a heavier reliance on the necessary resources to achieve local engagement and global process alignment. But it pays off.

Discover five tips for RPO implementation success.

Top 5 tips for your global RPO implementation project

#1. People must be your No. 1 priority. From selecting your project team, to identifying who will provide ongoing service delivery, great people will help unify your team. Selecting the right-fit team will help ensure cultural alignment, commitment, capability, and collaboration.

#2. Governance creates clarity. This defines the what, whom, when, where, and how. Who is responsible for what activities? In what time frame?

#3. Contracts take time. You need to account for different legal jurisdictions. You should also factor in for the different legal expertise and styles of people involved. This may include non-legal staff, in house council, or external legal advisers.

#4. Trust is earned. It can sometimes be difficult for trust to be given in an implementation where there is often no track record, nor an existing relationship. Quickly forming a joint project team, and mastering early-stage implementation on the first attempt, can help you build track records and earn trust.

#5. Strong communication and change management skills drive implementation. Global projects sometimes require you to do things in person. Take these opportunities to begin nurturing solid relationships.

RPO implementation leaders on the Baker’s Dozen list

As of 2019, we rank No. 1 for RPO implementation in the HRO Today Baker’s Dozen Customer Satisfaction Ratings. The ratings reveal that 100% of our clients describe our RPO implementations as on time, on budget, and acceptable in terms of disruption to the business.

When it comes to successful RPO, a great start is the only start.

Content Team

Agile talent acquisition: 7 steps to creating a global talent strategy

Step 1: Develop a global hiring road map

Step 2: Unify stakeholders and cross-cultural teams

Step 3: Showcase a global employer brand

Step 4: Create candidate messaging that resonates

Step 5: Gain efficiencies from HR technology

Step 6: Establish a timeline and accountability

Step 7: Evaluate and adjust based on data

Want to learn more about agile talent acquisition?

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

5 benefits of talent acquisition, making global scale a reality

Talent acquisition benefit 1: operational efficiency

Talent acquisition benefit 2: better candidate journey and employee experience

Talent acquisition benefit 3: richer diversity and tangible business gains

Talent acquisition benefit 4: local insights into new markets

Talent acquisition benefit 5: business solutions powered by key skills

Want to learn more about talent acquisition?

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

Global talent acquisition: how to compete with astonishing growth

The rise of global talent acquisition

Talent acquisition takes its pulse from your EVP

Workplace adaptations for a global talent force

Want to learn more about talent acquisition?

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

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Government sector recruitment: 3 tips for process improvement

Recruitment tip 1: streamline talent processes

Recruitment tip 2: focus on candidate experience

Recruitment tip 3: select best-fit technology

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Talent sourcing: what does it mean to source talent?

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What are the benefits of talent sourcing?

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Nailed it! Five tips that help lead RPO implementations to success

Top 5 tips for your global RPO implementation project

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