Staff with corporate and local knowledge is a top priority
Recruiting staff who understand both corporate and local cultures is an increasing priority for global recruiters.
That was one of the key messages to come from the Ochre House Annual HR Directors’ Symposium held at Wentworth earlier this month. talent strategies, Ian Marshall, previously chief people officer at Tiscali, said that for global companies the ideal employee was someone who understood the corporate culture of their organisation and could apply it locally to build the business. “This is something that we are going to need to do more of,” said Marshall.
However, Marshall said that finding such individuals, was difficult, particularly as so far, over and above the usual selection and assessment methods that were not designed with this task in mind, “recruiters haven’t found a good way to do it”.
David Mason, international talent acquisition director at global engineering services company CH2M Hill agreed that given how valuable such individuals are for global companies, finding them was a key role for recruiters. “Someone who understands the global model and can build the global business in the Philippines or Mexico - that’s a rich combination,” said Mason.
Other speakers said there had been progress in the way that global companies recruited talent.
Danny Kalman, global talent director at Panasonic, said that when he first joined the company 18 years ago, all leadership roles had been filled by Japanese nationals. However, this had changed. “We are moving to a global perspective of the right person for the right job irrespective of nationality,” said Kalman.
Claudia Estrada, European talent and resourcing director at Telefonica, said there had been similar changes in her company, where people were now recruited “because they are talented” rather than because they come from a particular country.
Tony Butler, European HR manager at Kimberly-Clark Europe, said that modern communications technology was a useful additional tool in the armoury of recruiters looking to attract global talent.
“It allows us to say ’yes, you can be a marketing manager living in Madrid; you don’t have to be in Reigate’[where the company has a UK office],” he explained.
