Best Practices for Building a Global Workforce

Best Practices for Building a Global Workforce

Finding good talent for your organization can be quite challenging.  Finding candidates with the right educational background, work experience, skills and company culture fit — before your competitionfinds them — is often frustrating and extremely time consuming even at the local level.  But many organizations  are looking to build global teams — one study  reports that 40 percent  of the 350 executives surveyed intend to expand in both developed and emerging markets. And consider these findings from NPA, the Worldwide Recruiting Network:

• Close to 20% of the largest multinationals surveyed expect to double their total workforce outside their home country within the next five years.


• Twenty-five percent of companies will enter new markets in five years.


• Global markets are outpacing home markets for revenue growth. Thirty percent of respondents expect 70% of their revenue from outside of their home country within five years.


• Brazil, China, India and the U.S. are target markets for companies looking to sell products.


• Vietnam, South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa are considered the best opportunity for those seeking to source materials, products or components.


 

With that comes the need to build strong international workforces for which recruiting talent has  similar challenges as recruiting locally, but may be compounded by several other factors.  Yet there are best practices, that when implemented, can make international recruitment efforts infinitely easier. Here are a few actionable tips to put in place right away.

Assess international staffing needs early and often

The best way to be prepared to ramp up an international team is to anticipate needs far in advance. The sooner an exploration team can be deployed to assess what your organization’s staffing needs in  a foreign market may be, the sooner goals and strategy can be put in place. If international expansion is not on the table at the present time, make a point to check in yearly with leadership. If your organization already has employees working in other markets, stay abreast of potential growth in those areas by checking in regularly with management.

Understand your international markets

It is of utmost importance that when looking to staff in other markets you are familiar with local recruiting practices. International trade publications, webinars and colleagues are great sources for understanding how to attract foreign employees. Local hiring functions can differ greatly between regions and cultures, and not all policies in place in the U.S. will work in other countries. Be aware and open to tweaks and changes to your hiring practices when seeking out global talent.  In many cases, it may be best to hire a local expert who knows and understands the norms to lead the process.

 Build an international professional network

Leverage colleagues in other countries, Linked In and Linked In groups to build an international professional network. Think through your tried-and-true method of finding talent through referrals  and expand it outside of U.S. borders. You will find that you’ll be closer than you might think to building a great global team.

If you need help building a strong, global IT department contact Infovision’s Strategic Resources team.  We can be deployed either on-site at a client at any location worldwide, at one of our several on-shore facilities in USA, or at our off-shore facility in Bangalore, India or any combination thereof.