Global Recruitment: Strategic Advice from Top-Performing Brands Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice
Technology has enabled businesses to expand their capacity and hire the best and brightest regardless of location. This new global workforce gives recruiters access to a large, diverse, global talent pool. At the same time, this diversity has also created new challenges. Although the talent pool of workers is larger than ever, employers have discovered that finding the right talent when they need it is not an easy task. In fact, according to Manpower Group s most recent Talent Shortage Survey of 35,000 employers across 36 countries, 34% of companies say they struggle to fill jobs. In addition to this, many human resources executives have found managing remote recruitment operations is a significant challenge. These struggles stem from companies not having a well-planned, consistent recruitment strategy. HR SOLUTIONS GLOBAL MULTILINGUAL PORTALS WEB-BASED GLOBAL GLOBAL WEB-BASED CONFIGURABLE SAAS SCALABLE WEB-BASED MOBILE SOURCING TALENT ACQUISITION SOLUTIONS MATAWAN, NJ SAAS INNOVATIVE HR SOLUTIONS SECURE MOBILE FLEXIBLE CONFIGURABLEGLOBAL MOBILE SCALABLE TALENT LIFECYCLE SECURE MOBILE SCALABLE APPLICANT TRACKING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE SCALABLE SECURE APPLICANT TRACKING FLEXIBLE GLOBAL HR SOLUTIONS APPLICANT TRACKING FLEXIBLE MULTIPLE LANGUAGES HR SOLUTIONS MOBILE TALENT ACQUISITION SOLUTIONS FLEXIBLE SAAS TALENT CONFIGURABLE TALENT LIFECYCLE SOURCING WEB-BASED FLEXIBLE SAAS TALENT ACQUISITION SOLUTIONS INNOVATIVE GLOBAL SOURCING FLEXIBLE HR SOLUTIONS SECURE MULTILINGUAL PORTALS SCALABLE MOBILE GLOBAL SECURE INNOVATIVE TALENT ACQUISITION SOLUTIONS GLOBAL ATS WEB-BASED APPLICANT TRACKING TALENT LIFECYCLE HR SOLUTIONS CONFIGURABLE SYSTEM icims compiled tips and strategies for success from our top-performing global clients to address this challenge. Like many others, these top-performing global organizations initially struggled to find the perfect recipe for global success. Now that they have achieved that success, they have graciously shared what they learned. Whether your organization is planning a global expansion or simply looking to improve global recruitment processes, the advice from top-performing global organizations can help guide you through the process. 34% out of 35,000 employers across 36 countries struggle to fill jobs Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice 1 Global Recruitment Advice 2
A GLOBAL RECRUITMENT STRATEGY PAYS OFF Strategic recruiting objectives increase a business s ability to achieve revenue, growth, and budget targets. Over time working with thousands of customers, many of whom have global operations or global aspirations, we have found that many organizations do not have strategic global recruitment plans in place. Accordingly, these organizations experience many challenges in their global staffing. Impact of Strategic Recruiting Objectives on Recruiting Effectiveness +30% +28% +40% Common Challenges Does the following sound familiar? Unable to unify HR team on a global scale Entirely manual recruitment strategy that is expensive and time consuming No centralized location for shared candidates Difficulties meeting international compliance laws Typical Resource Framework People, Process, Tools, Budget, Structure Objectives Coordinating Resources around Strategic Objectives Many organizations that try or have tried to expand their operations globally face these common challenges and find themselves bogged down by their own processes. Revenue Growth Budget Global Recruitment Strategy Return-On-Investment Generally, recruiting operations have always been managed and measured in terms of people, processes, structure, tools, and budget. Unfortunately, many organizations manage these resources using an outdated approach that implements disparate tactics. In fact, only 24% of recruiting organizations have a defined global recruiting strategy for deploying resources with a concentrated purpose. Impact of Strategic Recruiting Objectives on Business Outcomes +7% +8% +16% Accordingly, their candidate experience and the corporate brand are inconsistent and, at times, even alienating to local markets. Top-performing global recruitment organizations require a long-term business strategy Typical Resource Framework People, Process, Tools, Budget, Structure rather than a tactical approach. Focusing on strategic recruiting objectives yields significant returns in performance and business outcomes. So, what does the term strategic objectives mean? Simply, top-performing global recruitment organizations coordinate recruitment Objectives Coordinating Resources around Strategic Objectives resources (people, processes, structure, tools, and budget) in a way that complements the organization s overarching business goals to achieve efficiency, agility, and influence. Revenue Growth Budget Source: Realizing Recruiting Success in a Global Environment, Corporate Leadership Council, 2012, www.hrleadershipcouncil.com Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice 3 Global Recruitment Advice 4
GLOBAL RECRUITMENT STRATEGY BEST PRACTICES The following key steps must be taken for a global recruiting strategy to be successful. 1. Define Scope and Align Common Goals Fostering consensus and alignment on common goals is a critical first step in designing a global recruiting strategy. Key stakeholders, who understand the goals, resources, and expectations of the organization, can better establish a strategic vision and ensure it produces desired results. Having executive sponsorship and getting input from all stakeholders can ensure talent strategy aligns with business needs. OBJECTIVES COMMUNICATION BUDGET Communication is the key to achieving consensus. Organizations should develop a shared lexicon and develop a common understanding of different program elements such as the appropriate resource requirements and process milestones. Keep in mind that certain terms may not mean the same thing to people in different parts of the world. By mapping out your global opportunity focusing on resource alignment toward a common goal, you start to get an idea of the recruiting picture in each location, and you begin identifying some key scope parameters. RESOURCES ALIGNMENT VISION The goal of the global recruitment strategy must align with the overall business goals. In general, the business goals relate to revenue targets, growth targets and budget targets. For recruiters, this means developing goals pertaining to cost-effectively recruiting the best talent Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice 5 Global Recruitment Advice 6
2. Design Globally For Local Execution The next step is to think about any additional regional, country specific, or other key design parameters that might influence the project. This will help provide a project framework to meet the organization s needs for standardization and flexibility around brand, technology and compliance. Golder Associates: [Using our ATS, icims] we standardized job creation fields, making approximately 95% of the fields required. Each step ensured greater consistency for accurate reporting and metrics. We also standardized job advertisements and applications to ensure jobs looked the same and the brand is consistent around the world. Scalable recruiting initiatives, such as workforce planning, university recruiting, and employment branding, benefit from higher levels of standardization. Our experts had this to say: This is not intended to imply that localizing your message is not imperative. Success in hiring globally means knowing your audience. For example, in parts of Mexico and Africa, Internet access can be limited and processes need to accommodate these limitations. In that case, organizations can use print advertisements and establish kiosks that enable candidates to apply for open positions electronically or accept paper applications. Implement standard automated screening questions and interviewing procedures that are required in all international locations. In that way, all candidates are measured by the same standards. Use a unified and seamless recruitment and onboarding solution to share data and streamline operations. Maximize automation and information sharing using a single recruitment tool accessible 24/7. Configure online applicant portals and automate all paper forms. This reduces paper, standardizes processes, and creates information on which you can report. Make sure all processes are consistent and easy for recruiters and candidates. Standardization does not eliminate flexibility. At Enterprise, we have a decentralized approach to empower local managers within our standardized corporate framework. All locations should use the same software with consistent workflows. This will not only result in standard processes, but also facilitate standard reporting which is invaluable to managing processes moving forward. The software you use will need to be flexible allowing configuration for multilingual career portals, bilingual applications and other forms required for international compliance. Candidate-facing activities, such as sourcing and screening, should be locally tailored within a standard corporate framework. The local tailoring must support the recruiters and applicants in terms of language and culture, while maintaining the integrity of your brand around the world. Additionally, languages are not all the same. For example, the Spanish translation of a job ad in Mexico won t necessarily work in Argentina, Peru, or Spain. This is a case where businesses must rely on local recruiters to tailor the verbiage of postings in different regions. RECRUITMENT TIP: Employing standardization within your recruitment technology is imperative. Items like field names, required information from candidates, workflow set-up, and processes should be defined at this stage. This ensures data integrity for better global reporting metrics. Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice 7 Global Recruitment Advice 8
3. Deploy In Phases Successful deployment of a global recruitment strategy requires careful attention and execution. An agile implementation process allows the flexibility that global companies need, while providing enough structure to make sure that no important pieces are missed. Be sure to plan a kickoff meeting before deployment to reinforce shared understanding of scope, rules and processes. This keeps everyone current on where things stand, where they are headed, and when changes will occur. Following the kick-off meeting, regular status meetings are imperative to make sure that the project stays on track. Golder Associates is Using icims in These Countries Rather than fully deploying at once, deployment is best done in measured phases. As each location goes live, monitor solutions closely, allow for a learning curve, and prepare to make adjustments. We have operations in over 20 countries, with plans to expand the icims Talent Platform even more. RECRUITMENT TIP: Candidate-facing elements of your recruiting software will start having an impact once you deploy in a region. Candidate-facing elements include multilingual Career Portals, multilingual electronic forms and applications, and tailored employment branding per region (if applicable). Argentine Australia Brazil Canada Chile China Columbia Hong Kong India Indonesia Ireland New Caledonia New Zealand Panama Peru Singapore South Africa Sweden U.K U.S. Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice 9 Global Recruitment Advice 10
4. Refine Every global recruiting project, no matter how carefully planned, will require some adjustment as time goes by. Talent managers need to check the internal temperature and scan for opportunities to improve or redefine processes. Configure Dashboards After the global recruiting strategy has been rolled out, the project team likely will be redirected to other roles. However, the program still requires nurturing and support. Formal communication of project milestones can prevent the program from getting stale or failing to deliver on business requirements. During the refinement phase, take advantage of teachable moments by looking at how well the project was executed against original objectives to provide intelligence and insight for future initiatives. Refine Projects $ Perform Audits Reporting is imperative to measuring the success of your global initiatives. Compare metrics across regions. Configure every user s dashboard to support their role/purpose/metrics. Also, perform quarterly system audits to identify any needs for training or challenges that different regions may be encountering. Provide Trainings RECRUITMENT TIP: Robust reporting allows you to isolate bottlenecks and improve processes. Regional operations become transparent, allowing you to make better decisions for your organization. Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice 11 Global Recruitment Advice 12
BEST PRACTICE CHECKLIST FOR BUILDING A GLOBAL RECRUITMENT STRATEGY A global recruiting strategy can strengthen a global brand, expand the talent pool and support standardized, cost-efficient processes and better candidate experiences. Take the advice of the experts that have established top-performing global recruitment strategies. Obtain leadership support: Executives leaders have many priorities to juggle. Before launching a global recruiting strategy, ensure that you have their support in every aspect, especially your objective. Consider regional processes and challenges: It s easy to forget that other regions have different challenges, processes, and concerns than headquarters. Develop a thought-out plan: How is the technology going to work? How will you communicate? Who will communicate to whom? What is the change-of-management plan? How will users be trained? How and what will you measure for continuous improvement? All of this and more needs to be considered before launching. Treat regions as equal partners: Avoid top-down implementation and demonstrate that you re all one team. Meeting regional representatives face to face and having that discussion is the key to success. Be consistent: You will start seeing progress once consistency is implemented. Communicate thoroughly: Make sure that every system user is up-to-date on processes, field changes, configurations, trainings, and new releases to ensure that everyone is well engaged. Make yourself available: People will always have questions. It s important to be there as an ambassador and provide help and resources. It doesn t end with deployment - ensure continuous improvement Even after your recruitment strategy is deployed, there will always be areas to improve or challenges that will pop up. With the proper processes in place, you can record, measure, review, and continuously improve operations. Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice 13 Global Recruitment Advice 14
HOW icims CAN HELP The icims Talent Platform provides organizations with the tools to succeed in the global talent marketplace. Due to the inherent scalability of icims solutions, our Platform is flexible enough to meet corporations domestic and international recruiting efforts. Free configurations can also be made in any language which allows global user group can view fields in their own language to effectively meet recruiting goals. In addition to scalability, configurability, and flexibility, icims products offer the following tools to support your global recruitment needs: A Multilanguage support, including special character support for languages like Arabic and Chinese within the icims Platform and in all electronic forms. Availability of multiple Career Portals to support regional branding, different languages, or different recruiting strategies such as diversity or university recruiting. iforms technology to turn any paper form into an electronic, searchable, and reportable form in any language. https://icims.yourbusinessglobal.com GO Integrations with internationally competent job board posting vendors like TMP, Job Target, and e-quest. Integrations with other system that provide screening, background checks, payroll, employee management, and many others. Social recruitment tools that allow recruiters to leverage popular social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter as well as popular international boards like Vkontakte in Russia, Weibo in China, and hundreds more around the world. To learn more about how icims can help your organization go global, call us at (800) 888-4422 or take a look at an online virtual tour of icims Talent Platform: http://www3.icims.com/candidatemanagementdemo/1555/9948 Saas Software-as-a-Service software model providing 24/7 worldwide access to the icims Platform. Award-winning three-tier customer service model, providing personalized support 24 hours per day, 5 days per week. Copyright icims, Inc. Global Recruitment Advice 15 Global Recruitment Advice 16