Building a commercial presence within a foreign country carries the responsibility of hiring and maintaining a globally distributed workforce. A high-performing set of teams, united by a common purpose and goals across numerous locations, languages, and cultures.

To unite a company's global recruitment process, it is sensible to draw together all components into one robust framework and ensure recruitment excellence all under one roof.

Just like Danfoss and their collaboration with Talenthub.

Today, we will be looking at what steps a business can take to go global with its recruitment. And how they can do that using tools or services like those offered by Talenthub. 

This article will provide:

1. An insight into the decision-making process behind the adoption of a global recruitment management tool. 
2. The key players in your business who need to be involved in the decision-making process.
3. What potential benefits can a global workforce bring to a business?
4. The possible issues you should consider to ensure the integration of a global recruitment management tool is as smooth as possible.

So, what things need to be considered?

When a business wants to go global with a recruitment management tool, what should it do?

To integrate a tool like Talenthub or other candidate survey management tools, you need to think big.

In particular, if you have global ambitions for its use.

To ensure buy-in across your organization, these five steps could facilitate a more straightforward decision-making and integration process.

Onboarding

Open communication. Awareness. Understanding.

Your teams should be your first port of call to explain the changes you wish to make.

It is crucial to get the employee's views and opinions.

For Danfoss, this meant discussing with their offices across eleven regions worldwide and hearing the thoughts of those actively involved in daily talent acquisition tasks. 

It is important to consider questions like:

1. How do the employees find the existing recruitment management tools? 
2. What are their likes and dislikes about it?
3. Are they simple to work, or do they have too many unnecessary complications?
4. If changes were to be made, what kind of tool would work best for them? 
5. And if you are a company with teams spanning the globe it is important to consider what might work well in one country, won’t necessarily be the right choice for another.

The feedback and ideas received can help direct your thinking to find a candidate survey management tool that is the most appropriate tool for your organization and employees.

Finding what you want

Having received valuable input from your teams, it is now time to build your design criteria.

By identifying the essential requirements, you can see what your employees across the world want in a tool as well as the criteria that they all agree work best.

‍Some conditions could be:

1. How user-friendly the tool is
2. From a recruiter's perspective, it will not add additional work
3. It integrates well within the existing infrastructure
4. It makes the connection between teams, offices, and regions seamless

You can now compare and start to evaluate the tools available on the market. And see if your criteria match any existing processes which are capable of being implemented on a global scale.

Verifying

At this point, it may be wise to get the opinions and insights of your IT teams.

You never know; the IT team may be aware of an already existing solution to your problem.

You may just not be aware of it.

It is best to check and also let IT know of your plans. So they can start the ball rolling on their side in preparing for change within the digital infrastructure of the business and any risk assessments that need to be conducted.

The IT teams can also review the solution against the design criteria you have set out to see if it is a good match or not.

Evaluation

So, you have all your information. Organized tables and charts, showing you everything you need to know about each potential tool.

Now is the time to compare each process to find which best suits your needs as a business and make an informed decision based on your findings.

Decision time

With lots of back-and-forth, communication with talent acquisition stakeholders and IT teams, pitches from different companies about their ideas and solutions, all with their own merits, you have to come to a decision.

Your choice should fulfill the design criteria set out at the beginning of the process. 

Your recruitment management tool choice will align all parts of a global recruitment strategy into one high-functioning framework.

And will fit cozily within the businesses existing recruitment process, bringing synergy to the process.

Now, let’s get it going!!

But what can a global workforce bring to a business?

It is important for many significant reasons. These are:

Open up new markets

With feet on the ground in a new country or region, this could provide a perfect opportunity. Where your business could reach and impact new markets. Potentially, your product or services may be the first of its kind in that region.

A gap in the market identified! The golden egg for all businesses.

But, please do your research into the regions you wish to do business in! You should know if there is a market for what you are offering in that specific place.

Greater Brand Recognition

An expansion of business is that offices or employees within a new country can help build momentum and local interest in the services or products you sell.

With local stakeholders' support, your company can become a brand or employer that local people trust.

A good reputation as a company is something to be proud of and can pay off big time for you.

These good feelings could potentially give you the edge over any local competition. In regards to customers actively seeking to buy your products as well as wishing to work for you.

Access to new talent

With global expansion comes a widening of the circle.

And a growing pool of potential employees to fish from.

Which will help businesses in their search for the future voices and leaders of their company.

From different backgrounds come new, fresh perspectives, ideas, and skills to refresh and energize your business.

Driving it into the future!

Who needs to be involved in the decision making process?

The implementation of any major campaign, process, or tool requires transparency.

People need to know the facts. What is involved, what is its function, and how will it impact their day-to-day working.

Especially global decisions that will radically change the way a business recruits around the world.

And so, spreading the word is critical.

An open attitude and inclusive style of working offer all the relevant parties and perspectives a voice.

With everyone's opinion taken into consideration. 

As these changes will affect your employee's work, those directly involved’ voices and views should be sought. And with the feedback in hand, it will hopefully make the result far greater. 

For Danfoss, they couldn't agree more.

Danfoss currently employs 27,000 people worldwide, and they recruit from across eleven regions globally.

For Danfoss, that was a lot of moving parts. A lot of variables and things to have to consider.

Danfoss felt they needed something that could unite their global recruitment process.

When it came to discussions regarding adopting the Talenthub tool, they made sure to involve all the major stakeholders in their decision-making.

Who are the decision makers?

For Danfoss, their process relied on each team dealing with their expertise and ultimately combining to reach their goal.

These teams were: 

Talent Acquisition

This party was the driving force behind the move and is the most directly involved. 

They are always looking for the best and most appropriate solution to optimize the recruitment process or employer branding.

The Technical Wizards

The IT teams' opinion is a must as they will be responsible for integrating the system. 

The IT team needs to know how any new solutions will fit into a business's existing digital infrastructure.

How the tool works so they can better understand how to prevent and deal with any potential issues

Furthermore, what are the best ways to safeguard the new tool from online threats? 

As well as bearing in mind Data Security and making certain the tool complies with various national or regional regulations about the possession or use of data, like GDPR.

Purchasing or Legal Department

In engaging with this team, they can help better understand any legal requirements, contract, or contract details that the adoption of this new tool may entail. 

So, instead of your brain swimming with confusion, please leave it to the experts to make sure everything is in ship-shape!

So that everyone is ready to sign on the dotted line and make the union complete.

But, I work at a much smaller company?

Depending on the size and style of your business, the decision-making process could look very different.

But in whatever case, openness and communication are still pivotal.

Empowering stakeholders to voice their opinions increases commitment and creates an environment where workers are motivated to contribute. 

And which will make sure the implementation of any candidate survey management tool is a booming success. 

What other factors need to be considered?

When trying to bring change to how your business conducts its global recruitment strategy, it is also valuable to consider these points:

Cultural differences

Every country or region is different. The culture, language, and history obviously, but also little details that may go amiss. 

The market, customer preferences, behavior, or people's sources of information may be completely different from what you have known.

We may be interconnected, but that doesn't mean we know it all! 

A global workforce can fill in the gaps. 

Understanding and appreciating what makes you different can help you find common ground with your teams worldwide.

Doing the research will pay dividends, we promise. 

Understanding norms and customs that you are likely to encounter in the recruitment process, and showing genuine interest in a business's new home and culture is a positive start.

These steps can help avoid confusion and prevent missed opportunities.

They can also help to spot growing trends or needs within a local population.

It helps you stay ahead of the curve, identifying gaps in the market for a product or service that could have global applications.

You may have a hit on your hands with that kind of insight!

And put you ahead of competitors in attracting interest from your new home's talent pool as well as showcasing your products and services.

Engagement with local teams

You have a resource who has intimate knowledge of local systems and people.

Use them!

Using the tools you have, the local teams can show you what works, help you understand any subtleties you may be unaware of, and make your global recruitment a success.

Working with local teams can help better position your messaging more appropriately and competitively for your target audience within a country or region.

For example, they can identify if questions used in the candidate survey management tool are respectful. Is there something missing in the communication between your business and potential employees, or should it be missed out?

For some countries, you can ask about current or past salaries while there are laws in others against doing so.

The feedback from local teams can raise concerns and ultimately satisfy all parties in making the recruitment process excellent.

Lost in Translation

Things like language and pronunciation can also be significant challenges.

We all appreciate the convenience of Google Translate, being able to rapidly switch an English template into your language of choice in a matter of seconds. 

But, when writing in your target language, it would surely be wiser to use a local voice, one aware of their mother tongue's delicacies and tone, which can make it friendly, professional and avoid any embarrassing misunderstandings.

All united, no matter the distance

Direct involvement and appreciation of the global workforce's opinions which may be thousands of kilometers away from your business's base, build togetherness.

It shows respect for your employee's opinions, building buy-in and emotional investment that they are a valued part of the process, which will ultimately lead to great results!

So how do we go global with recruitment excellence?

A desire to expand and go global as a business should not be a deterrent.

But it is vital that in building a global recruitment framework to support your business's growth, those moves are considered from every possible angle and strategically planned.

This can be challenging. It is a big world, after all.

Here are the three top tips to follow when thinking about going global with a recruitment strategy:

1. Evaluate. Find the proper process that suits your business's needs and your recruitment strategy.
2. Involve the right voices. Get the stakeholders' opinions, those with skin in the game; they know what works and what doesn't.
3. Adopt the process. Make it suitable for your recruitment teams worldwide. Don't be inconsiderate or blind to the customs and culture of your global workforce.

Stay connected for more insight into the world of global recruitment strategy!

And if you want to learn more about how to act on the suggestions we have discussed, have a look at the case study we did for Danfoss.