What are talent trade routes and why do they matter?

by Tom Clancy Vice President Talent Acquisitions at Naspers

Increasingly, ecommerce businesses are competing with each other for talent in their regions and many are reaching the limit of the available talent in their home country. The fix is either to be flexible in your needs or to look internationally for talent. If you do decide to hire internationally, there are a number of things to watch out for.

More and more talent acquisition leaders are being asked the question — where in the world do I put my engineering team? Or, how do I bring engineers into my region? Whilst classic graduate schemes and intern programmes can deliver, to accelerate the roadmap of their business, companies often need top engineering talent immediately.

As some governments close their regions to labour migration, emerging ‘mega hubs’ are growing in importance for tech companies. Engineering labour is particularly difficult to recruit since usually no more than 10% of the group is mobile. Even then, they have a specific set of geographies that they want to go to.

As companies move to technology centres, HR professionals need to pay attention to what I call the talent ‘trade routes.’ The flow of talent into these regions is strong and competition (and in some cases compensation) is not a concern. The concern is quality and supply.

There are now primary and secondary locations for technology supply — and it isn’t just about the number of people. It’s about quality, depth of experience and exposure to innovation. Cities, governments, and their supporting industry groups are determined to become premier hubs for technical, product, and data science design, and offer great incentives for businesses. They want to be on the talent trade route, and they’re working hard to achieve it.

Here are some tips to navigate these global talent trade routes:

Do your research

· Don’t listen to the ‘one off’ myth. Be wary of people promoting their own city, as they tend not to be critical. Triangulate the references and get referrals from your network.

· Governments tend to push companies to settle in regions that are underdeveloped. That is not where the talent is and it’s not where the talent will go.

· Choose locations that can be topped up by the countries and regions around them. That means you need somewhere that is attractive for expats, where foreign workers are welcome, and that has the infrastructure to accommodate foreign workers’ needs (for example a network of international schools).

· If your talent demands on your previous location were unreasonable, chances are they are globally unreasonable. Not all talent markets work the way yours do. If you are blaming the market for your issues, find a mirror and you will find the problem.

Stay focused on what motivates people

· Prioritise the talent in the new geography, not your commute from the airport. Many companies build out-of-city technology centres in order to accommodate flying executives, only to discovery very quickly they are in the worst place to attract talent.

· Don’t be too obsessed with graduates, who may want to move on quickly. Keep your recruitment mix broad and remember that at 30, engineers don’t suddenly stop being talented.

Pay attention to your competitors

· Go for regions where there are already a lot of other competitors for talent. They will act as a magnet for more.

· The Talent Trade Routes are not a secret to competitors. Even if you get ahead of others, they will follow. Be ready for it!

Ahead of these steps of course, you should be future-proofing the skill sets of your existing staff and leveraging their networks to attract more talent.