Talent resourcing and selection factsheet
A factsheet on the resourcing and selection of talent is now available as part of Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit. Download your free copy.
- Thought leader viewpoint
- Approaches to talent resourcing
- Competencies required
- International recruitment and selection
- Useful contacts
- Further reading
SAMPLE CONTENT
Approaches to talent resourcing
There are three main approaches to resourcing talent to work internationally:- Home- or parent-country nationals (PCNs) are deployed to work in international locations. This is known as the ethnocentric
- Host-country nationals/local staff (HCNs) are used to address staffing requirements in their own countries. This is known as the polycentric
- Third-country nationals (TCNs) may be deployed to work internationally. TCNs are employees who are neither from the parent country (usually where the headquarters is based) nor from the local host-country workforce. This is known as the geocentric approach when talent is drawn from across the world. It is termed the regiocentric approach when talent is drawn from within a regional trading block.
International recruitment and selection
Recruitment for international positions can be external or internal to the company. Organisations typically prefer to send internal staff, because they have more detailed knowledge of their performance than is the case with new recruits.To attract candidates externally, employers may use executive search agencies, cross-national advertising campaigns, and internet-based recruitment. For internal recruitment, positions may be advertised on the intranet or via other organisational media. Remember that all recruitment advertising must be cross-culturally attuned.Selection methods must be determined and agreed, in order to choose the best person for the role from the pool of potential candidates. The most common approach is to articulate job and person specification criteria and to use an interview, followed by reference checks, to ensure that these are met.Interviews should be carried out by a panel, and a standard approach to questioning used for all candidates. Interviewers must be cross-culturally aware.Standardised tests can be used to establish knowledge and skills. The use of biographical data can be useful to correlate personal characteristics with work success. Work sampling can be used, too, whereby a simulation of the new work duties is used to determine how individuals will manage the tasks associated with the role.Psychometric testing can also be employed, but care must be taken to ensure that it is not culturally biased. Remember that some nationalities are accustomed to this type of testing, as it is used frequently in their home countries (especially Western societies). For those candidates who are less familiar with psychological testing, this assessment tool can be seen as intrusive, even demeaning.Assessment centres, where a combination of tests, work samples, interviews and teamwork exercises is employed to distinguish between closely matched candidates, can also be used.Also in the Talent and Career Management Toolkit
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