Making your company appealing - Recruitment - upon entering foreign markets

Business Asia, Feb, 2002 by Cliff Stoneman

YOU HAVE decided to open a regional office or move your business offshore. New markets may be flourishing or there may be a significant cost benefit for you to relocate your business. All the necessary research has been conducted and you are prepared and ready to go.

Your only requirement is to attract the right calibre of people to assist you in your goals, as without them your business will go nowhere!

Unless you have put in place a strategy to position your company as a target for the people you seek, even the best-made plans will fall apart. This is certainly the case with smaller, inexperienced enterprises. All too often I have spoken with organisations who have assumed that attracting high quality people is a relatively simple and straightforward process, and that other strategic issues are of a higher priority. This neglect to planning can have detrimental effects, potentially sending companies to the wall and others to the brink.

The problem is that your company is unknown in the foreign market. No one knows who you are or how well you have planned your entry into these local markets. The high calibre people you need will want to know.

How well have you thought through the recruitment attraction process?

It is important that you allocate part of your marketing budget to promoting your company as a desired target for the people you want to drive your business.

So how do you effectively profile your company so that it will appeal to and motivate these candidates?

The first is to brief your advertising or PR department and ensure they are aware and sensitive to all your human resource requirements in their overall strategy.

The second is to use the services of a quality recruitment consultancy that has a strong local knowledge. This is likely to be the most effective solution, reducing risk and preventing lost time. Consultancies can offer discounted recruitment fees that will initially attract many companies, but be wary. When it comes to attracting the best people, the quality of the service is paramount.

Thirdly, use a local recruitment-advertising agency to prepare your profiling solution. Lastly, make sure that when interest has been generated by target candidates, you have the necessary and up-to-date information on your website or made easily available to potential applicants.

Cliff Stoneman is the managing director of eoc Consulting Asia Pacific.