Best international recruitment practices

As labour markets globalise, companies are becoming more reliant on personnel that can fill a position quickly and seamlessly. But what are the most effective ways to achieve that? Jennifer Hamm reports.

Companies are moving quicker into markets and do not always have the resources or willingness to get HR personnel involved, said Nannette Ripmeester, founder and director of Expertise in Labour Mobility (ELM), a Rotterdam-based consultancy for international work issues.

Just five years ago, if a company considered entering a new market, it would first study the possibilities and then act. But about a year and a half ago Ripmeester began to notice a change in corporate attitudes, with executives deciding their firms need to operate in more locations around the world ó and faster.

Now the decision is often taken first and then the practical stuff comes after, Ripmeester said.

As a result, last year she launched HR Abroad -- a new company initiative that assists businesses to quickly grasp the major HR issues in a foreign country, according to the ELM web site. This includes supplying information such as the standard work week, local salary expectations, government hiring regulations and trade union influence.

For HR staff looking to hire personnel in a new market, Ripmeester offered a few suggestions. Big doesn’t necessarily mean better. Working with a specialized recruitment agency can mean access to extensive local contacts. This kind of firm may have a more nuanced understanding of the local labour pool. She also recommends checking the agency’s track record before proceeding.

The drive to cut costs and move rapidly into new markets has meant multinational companies are scouting local talent, rather than importing staff from the home office.

The aim for global mobility these days is to hire locally, said Michele Bar-Pereg, managing director of Foursquare Relocation in Amsterdam.

India and China are two of the most popular destinations for big companies looking to re-locate some of its operations. But the new European Union member states also remain attractive.

DHL, for example, recently moved its global data centre from the United Kingdom to the Czech Republic. Connect2Development (C2D), a Prague-based IT recruiting and outsourcing firm, is recruiting some 3,000 employees from the local labour market for DHL’s new centre in the Czech capital.

It is part of a bigger trend by UK-based firms to move operations to new locations, said Stuart Watkins, managing director of C2D. The Czech and Slovak republics are attractive destinations for UK IT and manufacturing firms because there is an educated but less expensive labour pool, the infrastructure is good and it is comparatively close to home.

Watkins’ firm maintains a database of some 8,000 Czech and Slovak job candidates through its own recruitment software called CareerZONE. C2D also markets this web-based software to companies looking to set up their own database of job candidates. Recruitment databases have become an essential part of doing business.

It’s not an option anymore, Watkins said. Especially from a recruitment perspective, you can’t compete if you haven’t got a very good [database] system.

International recruitment consultancy Integration has been in business for nearly 30 years but went completely electronic when it introduced a new computer system for its database about two years ago.

Guenter Liepach, HR Manager for the Frankfurt-based firm, receives an average of five to 10 Curriculum Vitaes every day from candidates with expertise in niche aspects of emerging markets and developing nations. Though the recruiting system is now automated, Liepach still personally reviews each CV he receives.

Otherwise, you get a lot of people on your database that you don’t really want, he said.

Candidates are entered into the database of approximately 1,500 experts and sent a form letter. But for the really top experts, I keep them aside and have their names in mind. Those top experts also receive a more personalised email.

It’s important for them to know that we have them on our screen, Liepach said.

Once he receives a request for personnel, he first considers his list of top experts. If none are available from that pool, he searches the rest of the database.

Despite the efficiency of a good search engine, extracting a qualified pool of candidates can present its own set of challenges. One is to keep information on job candidates current which means staying in touch with them on a fairly regular basis.

At C2D in Prague, job seekers are encouraged to keep their own profile on the CareerZONE software current. The firm sends out regular emails, advertising positions and inviting candidates to update their work experience and contact information as it changes.

Liepach cautions against letting a database become too large. You should have a large database but you also have to look at the quality, Liepach said.

From time to time, perhaps every two to three years, he recommends combing through the database to weed out all the out-of-date information or candidates that may not be available anymore. A database of about 1,500-2,000 people is manageable, he said.

For firms interested in establishing their own databases, be prepared to make an investment of more than just the price of the computer system, Liepach said. It takes time to have a good and large database.

June 2004

Jennifer Hamm is a freelance journalist based in the Netherlands.

Reprinted with the permission of Expatica HR (www.expatica.com/hr), a website publishing news and information for HR professionals with a mobile workforce.