7 Strategies for Effective Hiring in the Age of Globalization

The current state of globalization is like a swift and strong wave. It’s touching a lot of frontiers and changing them into an entirely new state. The world we see now is a world with melted boundaries, higher collaboration and faster communication than ever before. Innovators, enterprises and people can jump from one region to another without leaving their physical anchors. They can interact, work and create a lot of ideas and impact –in a seamless way now.

Implications of Globalization for Hiring:

• Better talent availability – When people are able to reach any region without the need for a physical footprint, this leads to a wider pool of candidates – and available easily.
• The world is now open and up for grabs – if you are looking for a specific talent need. If, earlier, you could not find that specific talentaround you, now you can easily tap it from any other part of the world.
• No geographical constraints – Globalization has shrunk the world on the virtual canvas. Now there is no need to be limited by physical boundaries. A lot of countries and their skill-pools are now accessible and easy to reach out to.
• Tapping the Hybrid workforce – Your organization can now enjoy the best of both worlds- it can hire near-shore talent as well as recruit talent from far-off places. The ability to blend both kinds of talent has been made simplified and affordable with the advent of new technology. You can have a team with some people working in your own office and some sitting far away- but still collaborating without any friction.
• Cross-pollination of skills across regions – This access to a global pool also opens the doors of mixing a diverse set of capabilities and creating a beautiful symbiotic effect. If one country is strong on a certain domain, it can now take advantage of skills in other domains without any hiccups.
• ‘Follow The Sun’ model – An always-on workforce – Of course, globalization means ‘your office never sleeps’. It’s a ‘no-lights-out’ scenario since some geography would always be up and running in this new work model.
• Productivity and Engagement – A splendid side-effect of a globalized workforce is that people enjoy working with a versatile set of colleagues from all over the world. This new flavor of team-work creates high fulfilment and output too.
• Distributed workforce – Talent managers and HR leaders can strategically allot different tasks to different regions as per their competencies and time-zones. This really helps in leveraging the distributed workforce advantage- and in de-risking a lot of HR areas.

These changes have a massive connotation for tech hiring. As observed in the 8th edition of the Dice Tech Job Report-there were about three million tech job postings between January and June 2022. When juxtaposed with data from January through June 2021, the demand for tech talent has continued to grow throughout the first half of this year. In fact, companies not normally categorized as tech also continue to recruit and hire tech talent at a rapid pace. Tech job postings were up 45% since the beginning of the year and up 52% compared to the first half of 2021. This means that tech talent-hiring teams have to be extra cognizant of both the opportunities and the challenges that come with globalization.

Challenges of Globalization for Hiring:

It’s not easy to recruit in a globalized world. In terms of top HR challenges, 39 per cent cited recruiting and hiring as a big challenge and 24 per cent identified remote or hybrid work as a challenge in a recent PwC’s Human Resources Technology Survey. Candidates are not making this task any easier too. In a globalized world they are more aware and demanding of new-age advantages. Consider how over a third of the respondents were seen extremely or very likely to switch to a new employer and how 37% millennials are likely to switch employers in the next 12 months. Even 33% of Gen Z workers are extremely or very likely to ask for a reduction in work hours (as seen in the India Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022 report).

If we comb through a McKinsey study, we can see that 95% CHROs were putting priority on elevating HR through digitalization. A McKinsey survey of 80 CHROs (at some of the largest organizations in the United States and Europe) found more than 90% predict significant changes to the HR operating model during the next two to three years.

In the SHRM State of Workplace Study 2021-2022, we see that 84 % of organizations reported labor shortage challenges in the past year. Organizations have fallen short when itcomes to the twin talent challenges of recruitment and retention. 72% of HR professionals shared that their HR department was working beyond capacity and stretched too thin. Finding and recruiting talent with the necessary skills (68% of organizations) emerged as 3rd-highest priority for 2022.

Key challenges of globalization that accentuate these HR difficulties

• Talent outreach – It’s possible to reach other regions with globalization, but it means a new strategy and model for HR leaders
• Time expense – When HR teams use the wrong tools, they can incur more time in reaching out to a global workforce
• Cost expense – Communicating with global candidates and seamlessly handling the screening process – it can be quite costly too, especially on the hidden and unplanned costs.
• Uncertainty – It’s hard to predict the timely, and role-based, availability of talent in a global model- specially for tech-talent
• Quick domino-effect of one region over another – What affects one region can quickly spread to other regions too. As seen in the recent phenomenon of ‘The Great Resignation’ and ‘The Silent Quitting’
• Redundant resources – Sometimes recruiting across the globe can lead to a lot of people sitting on the bench – leading to underutilization of manpower
• Duplication of effort- Too many regions – without a smooth and smart technology platform- can create a lot of chaos and duplication in hiring
• Absence of the right talent criteria specially for tech roles – Confusion and delayed communication – can be compounded with fragmentation of HR – specially high in globalized hiring.

All these challenges are being played out in real numbers. When asked about their greatest challenge to finding talent, 72 % cited lack of qualified talent in the SHRM State of Workplace Study. Also, HR professionals predict limited resources and resistance to change as greatest barriers for achieving priorities – and 14 % cite limiting or limited technologies as a barrier here. Turns out that HR teams are walking a tight rope – on one hand, they have to empower their organizations with right, and timely, talent. On the other hand, they face barriers in achieving this aim.

So how can HR leaders and tech-talent hiring teams navigate this new landscape?

Conclusion: 

It’s simple. HR teams need to invest strategy, and effort, in solutions that help them in maximizing opportunities and reducing challenges of globalization.

The PwC’s Human Resources Technology Survey showed that HR tech is delivering the goods overall by meeting expectations and creating value for both HR and the business. In terms of top HR challenges, 39 per cent cited recruiting and hiring as a big challenge.

This is where you need effective strategies to make the most of globalization:

1. Adopt technology with a prudent mindset. You need not just any tool but a platform that can really understand what you go through – your ambitions and constraints in tech-hiring.
2. Look for expertise that has been battle-tested. You need a solution that can put on the table- over 26 years of experience in the field of hiring tech talent – in a way that you can use a big berth of flexible staffing solutions such as permanent, contract, temporary, remote & project-based hiring.
3. Deploy a solution that cannot just write better job descriptions but also helps you in the candidate screening process and does so with a lens on both Technical and Cultural fit.
4. Always incorporate solutions that can open windows to a larger pool of candidates.
5. Do not sacrifice time for the temptation to hire the best. It should be a balance of both.
6. Use tech-hiring as a competitive advantage in your industry. In a milieu, where people are facing disillusionment and looking for something ‘beyond a salary’ – it’s wise to bridge the distance with smart hiring and etch your brand as a strong employer that understands these expectations.
7. Opt for technology that understands your industry- specially for the exact tech roles and context you need while hiring candidates from a global pool.

So as you look at this massive wave, take a step back and reflect on how you can meet the new era of globalization in a way that helps you to tap maximum advantages possible. Then step ahead and select the right partner. Dive into the new age. Talk to a hiring expert today.

Connect Tech+Talent- with over 27 years of experience in tech hiring and having a rich global database of over 2.0m tech resources- can be a trusted partner in your growth journey.Learn More about Hiring During A Recession.

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