The major focus of this research paper includes the issues of international staffing. With the development of globalization, many businesses begin to expand and hire people from abroad. Also, technological advancement drives fast progress in many industries forcing the most active competitors to seek better resources and practices (Thoo, 2013). Knowing that people represent one of the most significant organizational resources, it is critical to ensure that the best talent is attracted and selected for the business. In this research paper, the current trends in global and international sourcing and recruitment of talent will be overviewed to create a viable plan for these practices that will be based on thorough research and a literature review.
Approach
To study the selected issues in-depth, it is necessary to locate a wide variety of suitable resources. A brief search using the Google search engine showed that there exist many websites that overview the topics related to sourcing and recruitment of employees in the international and global context. However, it was decided to sort the available sources of information and choose only the most reliable ones. In particular, scholarly sources such as journal articles and books are the priority resources that will be researched for the literature review. Also, among the multiple websites presenting information on sourcing and recruitment practices, some reliable portals could offer a significant amount of useful and valuable information.
It is anticipated that the books, websites, and journals will offer information related to the current trends in sourcing and recruitment, as well as the most common and effective practices employed by respectable organizations. Moreover, some information regarding the attitudes towards and perspectives on the purposes and main objectives of such practices present in different parts of the world could be interesting to learn. Also, some examples of how international sourcing and recruitment of employees is done in different workplaces may be found. All of these pieces of information would help carry out a critical analysis of the practices and create a practical plan.
Focus
When it comes to the sole central issue that will serve as the driver for this research paper – it is probably clear that such an issue is sourcing and recruitment talent located in parts of the world other than North America. At the same time, since this issue is quite broad and includes several different aspects, an attempt will be made to highlight all the most prominent factors that play a role in the formation of recruitment and sourcing strategies. In particular, the attitudes towards sourcing abroad, the benefits that this practice carries, its challenging aspects, and some best experiences and evidence could help elaborate on the subject.
The practical relevance and value of this topic are in its broad application. In particular, in the contemporary world, more and more organizations begin to consider recruiting talent from abroad for different purposes (Thoo, 2013). As a result, the knowledge of the issues related to sourcing in countries other than North America can be very helpful. Consequently, an HR practitioner equipped with this kind of knowledge can be very useful as a professional in helping their company with handling challenges regarded to hiring from abroad and building a practical plan for sourcing and recruitment strategies (Ready, Hill, & Thomas, 2014).
Literature Review
As noted by Rahaman and Roy (2017), talent acquisition is an important issue for most modern organizations; also it is an issue with a dynamic nature. It is particularly significant for organizations operating in fields with the highest levels of skill shortage. The main objective of talent acquisition strategies is to enable organizations to source and attract the best talent in the most effective ways (Rahaman & Roy, 2017).
Global recruitment and sourcing are now common practices worldwide and, due to that, in many companies, the people involved in recruitment and talent attraction are faced with numerous challenges. In particular, Sharhan and Yazdanifard (2014) specified that an international manager is needed to create a successful sourcing strategy; namely, this professional has to possess such qualities as tolerance, open-mindedness, critical thinking, flexibility, and adaptability. These are the requirements driven by the need for this person to approach their duties from a non-ethnocentric, progressive point of view.
Scullion and Collings (2006) mentioned that one of the main challenges presented by global staffing lies in the need to operate in foreign countries while sourcing the talent and then managing the multicultural workforce. Specifically, Ready et al. (2014) emphasized that talent sourcing practices must differ in foreign and domestic labor markets and be adjusted by the cultures from which they target candidates.
McIntosh (2016) named a variety of methods or external recruitment such as employee referrals, social networks, Internet mining, raiding competitors, college recruiting, intern programs, media advertisements, job postings, and job fairs among others. Moreover, some of the most effective methods include the engagement of external recruiters, the use of social networks, and the implementation of intern programs (McIntosh, 2016).
Finally, when it comes to practical planning, ICIMS (n.d.) proposed considering several important steps such as the alignment of recruitment strategy with business goals, reaching organizational consensus as to what people should be sourced and how, ensuring the clarity and consistency of hiring practices included in the strategy, establishing a comprehensive hierarchy and communication, and outlining phases in which recruitment will be implemented.
Results
Based on the information gathered through the research, it is possible to notice that the processes of sourcing and hiring from abroad are complicated by many factors such as international hiring policies, cultural differences, attitudes in the workplace, and the overall planning and choice of strategy. Based on the collected data, it is possible to formulate a practical plan for the sourcing and recruitment strategy targeting candidates from the countries other than North America. Such a plan would include the basic guidelines as to the creation of a recruitment strategy and instructions concerning its implementation.
- Ensuring leadership support, outlining major orientation and objectives, aligning with organizational business goals. This step will define the overall course of the strategy and clarify its priorities and purpose.
- Creating a recruitment management team, establishing leaders, supervisors, and assigning duties, tasks, and roles, taking into account team hierarchy. This step will ensure that the hiring practice is implemented in an orderly nature and will be cost-effective.
- Defining which labor markets will be targeted and for what type of talent. This step will help create boundaries regarding the functions of the recruitment team.
- Listing core competencies and skills sought in the candidates, assigning value points to each of them, considering culture-specific aspects. This step is critical to the practical side of candidate evaluation and selection. Core competencies are to be prioritized with the consideration of culture-specific factors. For instance, speaking English fluently may be necessary for some jobs, while for the others, a basic level of English language command will do with the following training course provided by the organization.
- Selecting channels and tactics for sourcing candidates and assigning team members to each channel. At this step, it is critical to consider the most effective sourcing methods and how they work regarding the specific cultures that are targeted. For example, in some countries, reaching out to university graduates and students could be more effective than placing advertisements in the media.
These are the basic steps on the way of creating a viable sourcing approach for foreign candidates that will ensure an effective work of the recruiters and that only the most valuable and needed talent is targeted.
Conclusion
The research carried out in this paper helped provide a deeper understanding of international talent acquisition attitudes and approaches that have a dynamic nature, are becoming increasingly more popular by the year, and are employed by many contemporary organizations. The present research gathered some valuable information regarding the formulation of sourcing and recruitment strategies targeting foreign candidates. The practical value of the research lies in the plan that was created using the findings. To be more precise, this plan includes the major initial milestones for the establishment of an organized and effective strategy that would be particularly helpful for an organization that has little to no experience with international staffing and talent acquisition practices.
References
ICIMS. (n.d.). Global recruitment: Strategic advice from top-performing brands. Web.
McIntosh, L. (2016). Six key elements of an effective talent acquisition strategy. Web.
Rahaman, A., & Roy, N. C. (2017). The changing dynamics of talent acquisition: An Indian perspective. International Journal of Commerce and Management Research, 27-31.
Ready, D. A., Hill, L. A., & Thomas, R. G. (2014). Building and game-changing talent strategy. Harvard Business Review. Web.
Scullion, H., & Collings, D. G. (2006). Global staffing. London, UK: Routledge.
Sharhan, N. A., & Yazdanifard, R. (2014). Implying international strategic recruitment and its impact on local workers. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 4, 134-140.
Thoo, L. (2013). International HR assignment in recruiting and selecting: Challenges, failures and best practices. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 3(4), 143-158.