Team challenge 2 - recruiting around the world #brilliantbasics

In the next part of my #teamchallenge series, I’m picking up a suggestion from Mr Damien Fletcher who inspired me to map out initial recommends & merge two of my fave topics: recruitment & travelling, aka recruiting worldwide.

I know that I was always destined TO travel & recruit, but I didn’t know the form it would assume in terms of personal and professional passion. I started travelling, quite late on – I didn’t take or want a gap year, I wanted to leave lecture halls and get a job. Similarly, I found a couple of cities I loved and took pretty much all my holidays in places like New York, Venice and Paris on repeat visits.

Personality wise, I was born a “why” person – always questions, always inquisitive and outrageously nosy with anyone who held my interest and always a nightmare if I didn’t like the answer or feel that the question hadn’t been answered at all.

I thoroughly recommend that approach.

Having recruited across several industries and then specializing in all levels of contact center, multilingual resourcing, I got to a place where the UK was literally, only the beginning. If I was ever asked (and I kind of have been), what are my takeaways or thoughts on how to even start recruiting for a business internationally, I would go with:

Know what you need to know

Before I was asked to head over to Barcelona, I collaborated with the most fantastic team where we basically built our own ‘war room’ and housed all our findings on every surface the room offered. The research was relentless and the more research, the more we knew we had to do! The twists and turns of understanding in DETAIL: a brand-new city, a culture, workforce market, competitors, legalities, advertising mediums and essentially breaking into an existing community is a book itself. We had the best time on a total voyage of discovery, but it was only through this research and the energy of the collaboration that got us to the result: being ready.

Respect rules

In conjunction with what you find out about your new location, whether it’s to be established (as Barcelona was) or you’re getting acquainted with it through a BPO in Manila, knowing is not enough. Brilliant basics remain exactly that, in our world. So, one needs to utilize the insight to create a mindset of respect for the country, culture and practices you’re going into. Sounds simple, and common sense – take my word for it, people forget the small stuff. How you interact with suppliers, services & candidates in a brand-new territory says so much, to all those groups. My message: set your stall out in the right way, from the get-go.

Culture club

Talk about keeping all the plates spinning!!

You’re taking YOUR business culture to a different country, which has IT’S own culture, socially & professionally. Can you find a way to fuse them all together?

Sure! It’s not an overnight job, let me tell you. Your research shows you how it’s currently operating in the new base and as someone who smashed enough China to rival any bull in the shop, I encourage you to take that research sensitively, constructively and figure out your people approach before you arrive. You can’t implant and engage any kind of brand-new culture with one already in place, unless it’s gradual, with a hint of innovation and people see the benefit in joining your party. One of our company values is: we love having fun. When I first explain this to new sites or partner locations, they think my medical problems are greater than they appear! Fun? Work? Fun AT work? Seriously?

Yes!

But every professional culture in a geographical territory has its own comfort level with things like this. What works like a charm in one center is not guaranteed to smash it, culturally in another. Trust me. So, look for your quick, immediate and even small wins as you intro your way of working and company culture to new hires, balancing it off with the cultural vibe of where you’re setting up. Who needs the consequences of getting it wrong, right?

The legal

There’s no getting around this and why would you want to? “Right results, right way” is part of my DNA thanks to my place of work and it’s a no brainer. You can’t compromise on any aspect of this and I repeat, why would you want to? Whether it’s first class HR and people guidance, selecting a CBA, signing off an SOW or creating the right relationships with a union/work council – do not leave a stone unturned and seek help or advice whenever you need it. I’m as pragmatic as the next person, but in this area – there’s no room for compromise or error, plus it’s just not worth it.

Measure everything

I know you all keep track of everything, but in a new, even experimental work assignment this can go overlooked, when you’re so busy DOING it. Keeping an eye on progress (and it’s all relative, after all) and costs is old school wonderful that’s not going anywhere. But who has hours to sit behind a desk or I-pad recording, in the middle of DOING!? Not me, and why would I?

In today’s world, we look at our phones more than we look at ourselves and this is from a VAIN man… so if you haven’t already got with apps like Evernote, Wunderlist or Goals On Track, try them out as part of a way of working, then by the time you need them for a new project you’re up to speed and it’s just the way you roll.

Expenses, KPI’s, ideas, red flags, thoughts in the middle of the night, random learnings throughout your day & status quo of results can all be housed in one place, on the move and seriously help to keep you and your professional/mental health in a great place.

I referenced basics that are ‘brilliant’ at the beginning and that will always stand, but please don’t mistake my headlines for the need for detailed plans & insight that sit beneath the surface. It’s always and only truly in the doing that the business we know and love as “recruitment” evolves and becomes part of the new culture you’re building. Transparent, respectful communication and a kick A method of operating with your people are timeless, that’s one piece of general advice I can give you that works the whole world over.

#Teamchallenge 3 – will follow ??

For #teamchallenge 1 - click here