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27 October 2008: Globalisation - an Interview with Andrew Young - HR Director Magazine
Multinational marketing with Andrew Young, MD ThirtyThree
In a time when global companies are increasingly looking to present a cohesive message in their recruitment and employee communications, chairman of global employer marketing company OneAgent, Andrew Young, discusses the challenges faced by employers embarking on a plan of globalisation.
Is global consistency necessary or desirable in recruitment communications?
Yes and no, depending on the nature of the recruitment requirement and the target audience being addressed. The highly educated graduate audience will expect to see strong and sophisticated branding and to be treated as international candidates who could end up working anywhere in the world.
At the other end of the scale a large consumer goods or automotive company with manufacturing plants in a variety of locations should probably allow for a great deal of flexibility in how it communicates with potential recruits, to reflect the language and culture of different territories and the levels of sophistication and competition in local job advertising.
Overall, the point is that consistency shouldn’t be pursued for its own sake. Global consumer brands (Coke, McDonalds, Microsoft) are ruthlessly controlled for a purpose, namely to create and reinforce a common product experience for consumers anywhere in the world. Product band values are typically quite simple and easy to define. Employer brands are more complex and multifaceted. Trying to force candidates to swallow the same message irrespective of their background and cultural reference points is unlikely to work.
What are the key factors in developing a successful global employer brand?
The first thing is to decide who and what the employer brand is for. The key question to ask is “in what way does this help us attract the talent that we need to achieve our business objectives?” Some international companies aim for something far too broad in scope, covering too many diverse territories and employee groups.
In most organisations, the strength of the employer brand will be most important to junior and middle tiers of management. Lower skilled workers will be more influenced by the specifics around the job, e.g. location/journey time, pay and conditions, working hours while senior leadership might focus more on the challenge of the role and how it will enhance their CV.
Having decided which groups to focus on, some element of research will be helpful in identifying the gap between the desired brand position and current perceptions amongst both existing and potential employees. Research on a global scale can seem daunting and expensive but if it’s well scoped and maximises the use of existing information and online survey methods, useful insights can be gained at a relatively modest cost.
Gaining buy in from senior stakeholders is always very important. Without the sponsorship of senior management, global employee communications initiatives rarely get off the ground.
Equally important is having a small and focused group of people driving the project who are representative of the organisation’s geographic spread and can champion the activity within their regions.
Finally but perhaps most important of all is the choice of external partners to help with the design and roll out of new communications materials both internally and externally. It’s vital that they either have or can access local knowledge and delivery expertise while providing strong global project and relationship management.
Are there any obvious pitfalls to avoid in global employer marketing?
A key starting point is to recognise the huge differences in candidate job-seeking habits and communication styles from one country to the next. US companies sometimes assume a level of homogeneity in mainland Europe for instance whereas the reality is that the cultural distinctions that exist across Western, Central and Eastern Europe are every bit as great as those between the US and China. Charging headfirst into recruitment in any country without doing some basic research into the comms landscape is a recipe for failure. And yet it does happen.
Use of inappropriate imagery is also a danger. Pictures can be powerful, particularly if they if to portray an image of the company’s existing employees. Getting simple things wrong like the style of dress or using colours or objects which have specific meaning in certain cultures can be very counterproductive.
Speak to people in their native language. Even if fluency in English is a requirement of the job, copy that talks to people in their native tongue is far more likely to convey the key attractions of the company and the job. And it demonstrates the respect your organisation has for other nationalities. Worse still are bad translations.
Another is assuming your brand is better known than it is. Aside from the few mega brands such as Coke and Marlboro, it’s often a surprise to multi-national corporations how little name recognition and awareness they enjoy outside of their home territory. Don’t underestimate the needs to communicate the basics about what your company does and how big and successful it is.
