Successful recruiting and talent acquisition in Europe has never been more vital to a global company. I’ve got a big article on the topic coming up in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership. For now, let’s just talk about tips, tools, and techniques that will enable talent acquisition leaders to manage recruiting across Europe most effectively.
To begin, some basic, fundamental relationship-building is key. To this end, traveling to the region and having some personal face time is important. Demonstrating your desire to listen to colleagues in the region and understand their business and talent needs in person is critical. It shouldn’t be done via the phone or email. Considering each country in Europe on its own terms (and recruiting locally) is not only an important mindset and approach; it extends to systems and processes. Don’t assume that systems and processes designed for one particular region will work in Europe (or even ones designed for one country in Europe will automatically work for another in the area). Be prepared to adapt them, at least to a degree, to allow for local differences.
Application processes generally be kept simple, with as few clicks as possible. Candidates are used to using simple and well-designed websites for e-commerce purposes. They will not have the patience to follow a clunky web-based job application process. Thus websites are key. A company has to have a high-quality careers section of their corporate site — or even a microsite. Applicants — whether direct or via other sources — will review the careers pages and recruiters can save a lot of valuable interview time if many of the typical FAQs have already been answered via the careers pages. Job boards will inevitably evolve fast in the coming years. Many candidates now skip job boards initially and go straight to search engines like Google to search for their desired role. Search engine optimization is therefore increasingly important.
However, with improved technology and access has also come challenges. Undoubtedly the web has made the process of finding candidates far easier, where the required skills are scarce and work permits are available; the challenge, however, is companies can now expect to receive job applications from literally all around the world, and there is the real risk that potentially hundreds of people may apply for certain roles where either the employer does not need to bring in talent from abroad or where the odds of receiving a work permit are minimal.
Social media is also a vital and emerging tool these days (although outside the U.S. there is little evidence as of yet that it has been used very successfully for direct sourcing). LinkedIn is now very powerful, as is Xing in German-speaking countries or areas (of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) and Viadeo in France. Many companies are still not making the right use of social media and many fail to appreciate how effective a candidate’s personal marketing page can be on the web.
The following are some additional recommendations for improving talent acquisition activities in Europe (that can also be applied to an organization’s recruiting activities overall):
There are tried-and-true tips that apply to all organizations around the world, but especially in Europe:
Though recruiting in Europe has changed significantly over the past several years, there are still complexities that are unique to its composition of so many different countries residing in such a small space. Many of those challenges and cross-border barriers will remain until other changes (political and otherwise) occur. In the past, recruitment in many countries and companies in Europe may have appeared to outsiders to be less advanced than other regions of the world. Things are changing fast! As technology continues to evolve and become ubiquitous; as multinationals continue to grow and seek efficiencies and cost decreases; and as neighboring countries in Europe continue to lower the barriers to working together, the whole of Europe, including its many individual countries and companies, will indeed be on the cutting edge of the recruiting universe.