How to build an acquisition strategy for attracting international staff?

Afternoon Alex,

I'll try and keep this concise, there are 2 main areas to consider before considering a strategy (let alone creating a new innovative approach):

1 - the image of the business across the international landscape; is it a company that people are attracted towards? do they have a good reputation? would professionals engage with them if approached directly? is it a business people know? can employees work remotely?

My suggested strategy would then be defined by those answers:

If the majority of the answers are NO then the first challenge they have to overcome is their image; candidates at every level will want to join a reputable business they trust and can grow with. A company answering no to the above will only attract good people by paying over the odds and staff attrition is likely to be high.

A negative answer also means that approaching candidates directly through an internal resourcing team is likely to fail with people being put off by the reputation. At this point you would look to engage the services of a headhunter to create a strategy that builds a senior team who can then manage recruitment of their own junior teams once they get things moving.

If the answers are mainly YES then look at building an internal resourcing team; these are separate from HR and exist to identify and 'pipeline' potential talent for the business. Working with the senior management team they will create future profiles that will be required as the business grows. In this way the business can react quickly and bring good people in fast.

A company with a strong reputation will also attract direct applicants and responses to cold approaches from within the business.

There are other factors to consider such as:

- Candidate/recruitment management systems;

- Business strategy and structure;

- Hiring and management structure.

In terms of being innovative ideas such as google's code cracker generate press and standout without being too gimicky. An innovative approach and strategy would be very dependant on types and level of roles you are looking to recruit. People hate not being responded to at any stage of the process and in the current recruitment climate even giving a 100% response rate to applicants would generate good press and send out strong cultural messages that appeal to people.

I hope this helps 

Andy