6 ways to strengthen your global recruitment strategy
Clarke Ricks School of Business,
Liberty University
BUSI 690: Policy and Strategy in Global Competition
Dr. Hicks
May 7, 2022
6 ways to strengthen your global recruitment strategy
1. Inspire the world’s top talent to join you
The global talent market is vast, but the competition is high. When more employers seek
out top talent without location boundaries, it takes more to attract talent for both high-demand
and highly specialized roles.
2020 taught us that employer branding, authenticity, and a commitment to diversity and
inclusion all have the power to sway a job seeker one way or the other.
Consider the message your career site sends to candidates. As Steve DeCusta of
the world’s largest travel luggage company said, “The career pages we were utilizing left
candidates searching for information. Our career site is the face of the company; it’s one of the
first items candidates interact with and we really needed to set the stage here for why you
would want to work with Samsonite.”
Career site best practices that speak directly to any talent audience:
oGreet visitors with relevant job opportunities based on their search (including
recommendations based on skills and keywords)
oAuthentically and clearly communicate company values and mission on screen
oHarness machine learning of AI recruitment software to boost job posting
performance by location
oChat in multiple languages and in any time zone
oIncorporate employee video testimonials
Talent teams are getting creative to reach more potential candidates across multiple
locations, without the extra work. Here are some approaches to get your opportunities in front
of a big audience.
Best practices that bring personal experiences to a screen:
oMarket personalized or mass-hiring events to targeted talent pools
oUse text and chat-based outreach to keep engagement rates high
oBuild a repeatable event strategy across many locations and use unique, branded
event landing pages each time
oOffer relevant information to all job seekers, even casual browsers
oMake the event mobile-friendly to encourage any attendee
oConnect recruiters, managers, and talent in location-specific 1:1 chats
Social media can be an effective way to attract active and passive candidates. Not only can
it showcase your company culture, but paid advertising can target audiences by location to
deliver personalized experiences on a global scale. Social sourcing best practices to access
global talent from one place:
oLean on social networks like LinkedIn to provide an easy and familiar experience
for over 722 million users in 200 countries worldwide
oAutomate jobs from your ATS to LinkedIn, so candidates apply directly
oGain more insight into best-fit talent through universally used LinkedIn Skills vs.
simply looking at a resume that may be formatted differently in different locations
2. Simplify your high-volume hiring approach
Whether your recruiters are hiring from different offices or seeking out global talent from a
single headquarters, consistency is key. Your talent solutions can help you master high-volume
hiring while maintaining the elements unique to each location.
For example, international businesses require many different workflows and processes but
prioritize standardization. Foot Locker commented on their ability to leverage multiple
workflows saying, “We were looking for a global operation that could scale with us and allow us
to have consistency across our brand and locations.”
Applicant tracking best practices to improve worldwide efforts with consistency:
oCreate a single source of truth with data flowing in and out of one core system
oSimplify workflows with bulk actions for common tasks
oManage scheduling and communications in local times and languages
oConfigure dashboards by location to provide the right guidance and metrics
oMaintain candidate profiles to elevate for future job matches in the same
location or remote position with relevant skill requirements
Read more: 3 ways to hack your ATS to attract and hire top talent
Offer management best practices that deliver streamlined and compliant offers:
oKeep offers branded and cohesive across any location
oAutomate tasks and approvals based on the hiring type
oBuild pre-approved templates to ensure accuracy with terms and language
oConsider and swap clauses based on the hire type and local regulations
oAdd a video message to personalize the offer
Onboarding Software best practices to deliver streamlined and compliant offers:
oProvide location-specific digital paperwork to complete before day one
oConfirm compliance is met in any location
oMaintain accuracy and timeliness with electronic forms and task alerts
oPersonalize the experience with video greetings from the hiring manager and
team member
3. Create a consistent candidate experience from anywhere
While it would be nice if job seekers came to your career site and applied right away, we
know that multiple touchpoints are needed to stay on their radar.
The top data scientist in San Francisco was likely sought after by other businesses in the
area for some time. But now, with location restrictions limited, that same top niche hire may be
receiving offers to work remotely for an innovative business in France.
The best way to compete is to create a consistent, branded candidate experience with
touchpoints that make talent from anywhere in the world feel a sense of belonging. That’s
how U.K.-based TT Electronics saved £170,000 in agency fees. They built an experience that
matched applicant expectations across all 27 international locations they hire for.
Candidate relationship management best practices that build international connections:
oCollect candidate information on your career site and at events
oBuild targeted talent pools by location, hiring type, or skills
oAutomatically surface the best fit candidates from large talent pools using AI
oAutomate branded communications with personalized details
oEnliven emails with videos of team members sharing their experiences
Recruiting best practices to reach talent where they are, on their time:
oModernize your outreach using a universally accepted approach: text
oAccess talent quickly outside of varying business hours
oAdapt communications to language specifications
oTrack outreach with talent through universally-accessible candidate profiles in
your ATS to easily execute data privacy requests
4. Maintain international compliance
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 60% of global enterprises will invest in a HCM suite for HR,
but still source additional tools to meet 20-30% of requirements from other solutions due to
gaps in functionality.
That’s a lot of data flowing, and potentially a lot of risk.
Global talent acquisition amplifies compliance concerns. Different countries have different
protocols, legislation, and policies to consider. That’s where having an experienced and globally
equipped talent solution becomes an integral part of risk mitigation.
Integration best practices to keep data flow accurate and compliant between tools:
oIntegrate hiring tools used to attract, engage, hire, and advance talent under the
same talent platform for a single source of truth
oPartner with vendors with noted international data transfer and privacy
standards so your data is secure between all your systems
oEnsure your tools can meet the GDPR, EU-US Privacy Shield, Swiss-US Privacy
Shield, and other applicable data privacy laws
oConfigure your solutions to address varying regulations across different locations
oSet individual job openings to provide specific compliance questions required by
a certain country and add them to future corresponding job templates
oKeep candidate communications off employees’ personal phones and in a
secure, compliant platform
5. Align your C-Suite for maximum ROI
Talent acquisition is undergoing a mandatory transformation fueled by the events of 2020.
That transformation has most talent teams searching for more from their talent software,
which requires executive buy in.
You’re positioned to impact your business’s future and scale by showing the ROI of
partnering or continuing to partner with a vendor who can support you.
Here’s how to get alignment on the global hiring technology your team needs:
oAlign functionality gaps to current and future business goals
oUse a holistic view of key performance metrics to tie in ROI potential
oPersonalize the value statements for each C-suite member
oShow progressive multilingual and accessibility capabilities
oBring forward the success other employers in your industry
oLook for a partner who has worked with global employers before and continues
to invest in global-scale software that scaling operations require
Read more in the Executive Guide for Evaluating New Technology.
6. Create a truly localized candidate experience
In a world of hyper-personalization, the only thing that’ll cut it when it comes to quality of
experience and satisfaction is the feeling that end users’ needs and preferences are uniquely
met. While features are the engine of user task execution, content is the essence of user
experience. When localization is done right, the notion of a truly native experience becomes
possible, allowing international companies to benefit and delight in using SaaS solutions as
much as any other company.
Resonate with your audience by speaking their language
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him
in his own language, that goes to his heart.” – Nelson Mandela.
Candidates and consumers alike react more positively to brands that speak to them in their
language. According to Common Sense Advisory, 85% of consumers won’t make a purchase if
information is not readily available in their own language. Considering that the U.S.
represents less than 25% of the world’s $88 trillion economies (GWP), it is imperative for
international organizations to tailor content and services to diverse languages.
But, multi-language capabilities are important not only for a company’s bottom line but for
compliance as well. “Companies going global need to be very mindful of local regulations,”
explains Megan Buttita, research director of emerging trends in talent acquisition at IDC. “There
are different rules and regulations in each country, and they change frequently. It takes time to
learn about the culture, recruit talent, and find trusted partners.” Certain market regulations
require that all user-facing content be available in locally spoken languages. One such
requirement is “The Quebec Rule,” which mandates: any person or company that sells products
or services in Quebec must follow the language requirements of the Charter of the French
Language. Furthermore, all workers in Quebec have the right to work in French. Employees can
speak and write in French and ask for French work documents and tools, including workplace
communications and software. These rules apply to all businesses, no matter how big or small
they are.
Remember that not all candidate experiences are the same
To successfully market and sell on the global stage, multicultural experiences are no longer
a nice-to-have; they are a necessity. With ever more global and diverse markets, identity-driven
marketing is critical for businesses to make meaningful connections and resonate with
audiences who buy their products or join their workforce.
Regional hiring practices are a key factor to any company’s global success, as consumers
seek (and naturally expect) to see themselves in the businesses they buy from. Thus,
international employees with bilingual skills and cross-cultural competencies are uniquely
suited to help make authentic connections between international audiences and brands. Global
candidate sourcing is the first step to acquire the capability for local resonance anywhere in the
world.
The first step in every global journey is local
When candidates consider employment opportunities with your business, they’re actually
“buying” into your brand. People naturally expect content to be presented to them in their own
language when making a buying decision. Employment decisions are no exception.
Global businesses make enormous investments in multicultural marketing to ensure
optimal resonance for their products across diverse customer bases. Likewise, attracting,
hiring, and retaining top global candidates requires culturally targeted recruitment and
employer branding campaigns distributed across channels and markets.
Global by design
Global Accessibility is a key pillar in iCIMS’ commitment to delivering a user experience
second-to-none. iCIMS solutions allow every international (i.e., non-English) user to benefit
from the unique hiring and candidate management features and capabilities we offer, as much
as any of our American (English) users. Our Product Leadership and Customer Success teams
work intently to deliver world-class solutions, addressing local and global hiring requirements in
a unified and consistent yet localized experience.
Delivering a truly localized user experience requires diligent execution of several
processes, including:
oCreating content, workflows, and designs that reflect user preferences and
expectations across markets. This includes emails, job postings, and all recruiter/candidate-
facing UI elements.
oAdapting graphics and themes to conform to varying cultural norms and
sensitivities.
oBuilding flexible layout and navigation patterns of website pages
to display translated texts properly.
oConverting elements to local formats, such as units of measure, calendar
dates, and currencies.
oDisplaying multibyte character sets (MBCSs) and using the right encoding (via
UTF-8).
oHelping customers to comply with local employment laws and regulations
(including GDPR).
Optimize your global recruiting strategy
As borders become less relevant, global companies are in a position to connect even more
people with job opportunities across the world. It’s all about having the right partnership to get
you there.
