20.05.2022

Adapting to a global recruitment market

By Ben Gateley CEO and Co-Founder of CharlieHR, a service which offers on-demand HR advice and HR software for thousands of UK SMEs.

Despite predictions that the Ukraine war and COVID-19 will herald the end of globalisation, the task of finding the best skills from all across the globe only looks like becoming both more prescient and challenging. With the recent warning that Britain risks sleepwalking into a stagnation in skills, keeping on top of global talent supply may be just as important as navigating blockages of other vital commodities.

However, very different, and often complex, factors apply to the import of talent. Recruiters building international teams should consider how different company values may play out in other cultures, as what passes for humility in the UK might well be very different in The Netherlands, China or America. Give consideration to the developing map of nationalities within your organisation and your key markets, take the effort to understand cultural differences when recruiting across the globe and pay particular attention to the competition for the best skills and people. As barriers to recruiting internationally become easier to hurdle, where are your rivals looking for talent? What are the key criteria in those and other markets? And can you stay agile and one step ahead of the opposition in responding nimbly to these?

We have noticed a definite growth in competition in this area over the past couple of years and it is advisable to research the likely expectations of potential future team members in different markets. If you are hiring in the USA, the strong link between health issues and bankruptcy makes provision of health insurance a key determinant in successful recruitment. In Portugal, very different social and legal rules apply to the acceptability of texting employees at weekends.

How might this change over the next five years? Our crystal ball indicates that cross-border understanding of cultural differences is likely to improve, due to better communications and faster information flow. We see hiring practices improving, with law-makers and regulators keeping a close eye on alleged abuses. Technology clearly has a key role to play in assisting with both developments. Generally, the appetite for recruiting from a global market is increasing. COVID-19 has quickened the pace of change and expectations of work-life balance have shifted in favour of home and leisure time, though it remains to be seen whether employees are prepared to bear the associated cost. This is a trend that is evident globally, not simply in the UK.

Do clear hotspots exist where it is already difficult to get the best talent? Product, engineering, design and product design roles are still short-filled, while we are seeing a rise in requirements for people with machine learning and artificial technology skills. In the medium-term, Web 3.0, a new iteration of the internet based on blockchain technology, is sure to affect demand for advanced tech skills. In addition, human resources positions have taken on a much more central role during the pandemic and we do not expect that to change as the world learns to live with COVID-19. Over the next decade, we are likely to see an acceleration of several current trends, so recruiters should ‘lean in’ to those that are clearly here to stay. Skills and technology in areas such as old-school banking have already fallen to the wayside and many other industries are going to rapidly modernise.

Recruiters wanting to stay ahead of the curve should determine which skills are particularly in demand in certain territories and develop the optimal package of the skills most needed. Great communications have long been key but the increasing switch from voice to text is making written skills more important than verbal ones. Assessing adaptability now needs to include the ability to work with different cultures, time zones and skill sets. And finally, the micro manager, long an endangered species in progressive workplaces, may finally be killed off as the ability to work seamlessly in a global and remote environment will increasingly depend on giving employees autonomy as well as accountability.

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