Accelerated by the pandemic, the building of hybrid and fully virtual teams has made roles more accessible for employees and opened up the world to HR professionals. If the location of employees no longer matters, what’s to stop a startup in San Francisco from hiring talent from Hangzhou? The answer is, of course, nothing. Taking the talent search global allows organisations to grow their teams with the very best in the world.
However, knowing where to start can be daunting. Here are some of the ways companies can strategically broaden their hiring pool and make the most of the remote work revolution:
Honing in on talent hubs
When the world is your oyster, it can be hard for talent teams to narrow down their search. One tactic that helps them take advantage of global talent without opening up opportunities to every location in the world is to hire from central hubs in different geographic regions.
In choosing a new talent hub there are certain factors HR managers should consider.
First is the time zone. Although time doesn’t have to be an issue, it’s going to be much easier (and more sustainable) if time zones aren’t too dissimilar and employees don’t have to wake up at 4 am to tune into company calls. Then there’s the talent pool: hubs with bilingual employees with international business experience may be a better match for your business. Cost will also be a key concern as lower-cost jurisdictions allow organisations to preserve company resources while still offering a highly competitive salary and attractive benefits.
Other factors to consider when choosing a talent hub include the area’s infrastructure (including internet reliability), economic and geopolitical stability of the region and workplace cultural norms.
HR teams should also be clear on the type of talent they’re seeking. Many companies will be looking for skilled back-office support in lower-cost jurisdictions, but others are searching for employees at the very top of their field. For the latter, extending the search globally will help HR teams find world-class experts but there’s unlikely to be any cost benefit: a VP with Google on their CV will command a similar salary across the world.
However, for less specialised roles – and particularly when many positions are needing to be filled – looking internationally helps save costs. A hub where the cost of living is lower saves organisations resources while also creating good jobs in new areas.
Seeking talent around the globe
The Americas
Tech talent in the Americas extends beyond Silicon Valley.
For instance, Uruguay’s comparatively high number of engineers and well-educated population means many companies have established their back-offices there. Another tech hub is Monterrey in Mexico, where NetSuite, Oracle and other world-famous multinationals have set up offices. Then there’s Medellin in Colombia which boasts a budding startup ecosystem within a country that is one of Latin America’s fastest-growing tech hubs.
Another region to find engineers is Toronto, Canada. Canada’s visa system has allowed it to attract highlyskilled immigrants although recruiting from this area won’t substantially save on costs – about 15 percent less than standard costs in Boston or San Francisco – mostly due to exchange rates.
Beyond tech recruitment, the Americas offer employers several lucrative talent hubs. Mexico City has 2.6 million fluent English speakers and is a prime location for bilingual, college educated, highly experienced talent to fill roles such as customer service agents, business development representatives, accountants, project managers and content writers (to name but a few!). Costa Rica similarly has a highly educated, bilingual population for HR teams to consider.
Asia-Pacific
Many professionals in Asia-Pacific are skilled in providing back-office, multilingual support as well as working with international companies, making these regions very attractive in recruiting talent.
For instance, Colombo, Sri Lanka is world-renowned for its accountancy output as well as business process outsourcing. Ten thousand certified accountants work for HSBC and Aviva in this city with accountants earning around a tenth of the average accountant’s salary in the U.S. and a third less than financial employees in neighbouring India. All this means that talent in this region is very accessible to international businesses.
However, looking to this region isn’t just about saving costs – Asia-Pacific’s professionals have world-class skills and innovative ideas in their own right too.
For instance, Malaysia ranks third in the world for companies embracing disruptive ideas, according to Michael Page, making cities like Penang ideal talent hubs. Then there’s Seoul, South Korea, home to some of Asia-Pacific’s largest tech parks, among mature markets as well as top-tier universities and research institutions. This makes Seoul an ideal location for research and development operations, in a country that’s home to massive multinationals including Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and Kia.
When it comes to tech, India and China have dominated the region for decades, but many other tech hubs have begun to emerge. For instance, the Philippines produces over 130,000 graduates in IT and engineering each year, and cities like Manila offer low labour costs and a large English-speaking workforce.
And, within China, cities beyond Beijing and Shanghai are gaining tech ascendancy. Hangzhou is home to 15 tech unicorns, including Alibaba and NetEase, yet has the lowest labour costs in China and lower office and technology park rents than Beijing and Shanghai. Hangzhou’s success is partly due to local government measures to attract high-skilled tech talent and government policy is also responsible for the tech boom of Bengaluru in India. This city is home to over 1,000 tech startups and is an easy t access point to venture capital in India.
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
These regions offer a wealth of talent and opportunity for HR teams. If seeking English-speaking talent, managers should remember there are 24 countries in Africa where English is the official language and across Europe. English teaching is compulsory. 62% of people in Poland, 67% in Finland and 61% in Belgium speak fluent English.
When looking for tech hires, organisations should consider hubs like Kraków, Poland. Poland is home to the most competitive IT sector of all 23 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, considered the business centre of the East of Europe, and Kraków has many high-ranking engineering schools. This means there is a large concentration of highly skilled graduates seeking work.
Tech is also crucial to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The country’s large expatriate population (only 20% of UAE residents are local Emirati) means remittances and fintech services are in high demand, which in turn stokes fintech growth in the area.
The Abu Dhabi government is also taking steps to nurture this tech growth but managers should bear in mind that the UAE is not a region for cheap labour: the UAE is one of the world’s richest countries based on an average GDP per capita of $69,957..
Partnering for Growth
The remote work revolution is here to stay and will deliver countless opportunities for employers and employees alike. However, as with many tasks in life, knowing where to start, and then actually getting started is the hardest part. The good news is that organisations don’t need to go it alone. There are specialist firms with indepth knowledge of the world’s key talent hubs that can help navigate the complexities of international hiring. Companies like Globalization Partners can become the Employer of Record for businesses wishing to identify and hire the best talent they need to fuel growth, wherever they are in the world. Today, talent faces no boundaries – and that’s a positive development for everyone.
