Strategy
a couple of UK graduates who formed a group with their Belgian counterparts after networking at one of the training events. They are now collaborating on a project together. “They took it to the appropriate leaders in each country and got their buy in – it’s more about the grads driving it.”
Merlin also sees value in bringing its graduates from all over the world together for training, running three global development weeks within the 18 month programme. The weeks include tailored development sessions, evaluating the highs and lows of their placements and coaching. “Enabling them to share that experience with each other really helps,” says Foot. “It’s challenging to organise logistically, but it definitely pays dividends.”
Foot says training for the first six month placement is more tailored to the graduate and the country they go to. “One of our challenges is cultural perspective. We could have an Asian graduate coming to the UK and they may find that cultural difference tough
Q&A
Machar Smith, Graduate Recruiter EMEA, EXPEDIA
Why is a global approach to graduate recruitment important for Expedia?
Expedia is a global business with regional teams in EMEA, LATAM, APAC and North America so it very much takes a global approach to all levels of student talent acquisition. The reason we do this is to be able to support the rapid growth of the business and brands in each region more effectively, bringing a vast array of top talent in quickly and cost effectively.
To satiate the demands of the business we simply cannot rely on recruiting for one entry point per year. For some areas of our business we are engaging with student talent year round, opening up a number of entry points to Expedia during the calendar year. We have grown our Global University Recruitment Team considerably to be able to do this.
10 Graduate Recruiter |
www.agr.org.uk
How are you broadening your search for talent worldwide? My remit is Europe, Middle East and Africa and I consider myself very lucky to be granted free reign to explore and develop the search for talent as I see fit. Presently I’m building new relationships at Universities and Hotel Schools in countries where there is a high focus on growth for our business, with a strong emphasis on developing academic relationships so we are continuously relevant to the students in front of us. We have university partners with global campuses affording us multi access points across the globe and we are increasing our presence at global hospitality events such as the Young Hoteliers Summit in Lausanne.
What are the key challenges of doing this? An early challenge is employment law per country and acquiring visas where required. So as much as we are trying to engage talent more frequently and deliver to our business more quickly, both can have a knock on effect of pushing back a preferred start date for new employees, so managing expectation when hiring managers becomes crucial.
to start with. We will support, coach and develop them accordingly. Many are well travelled, have an interest in our industry and understand that they will need to be flexible when working with new cultures. It’s definitely a challenge for us.”
Addressing the practicalities There are practicalities to consider too. Stockton believes the key challenge will always lie in the differences that apply to each territory. “One of the conversations I had last week was, if we do send grads to Asia at the end of the programme, for example, who is going to pay, how are they going to pay and what does the host country get in terms of its ROI?” She also cites the issue of replacing resources as a common stumbling block. “In the past it has been a problem with people saying, ‘If we send you four grads to work in New York we need to be sure we will get four back because there are still jobs to be done here.’”
At Merlin, the small number of graduate recruits makes addressing this problem slightly easier. “We rotate the graduates’
placements, whilst maintaining an even distribution around the globe. For example, we currently have two graduates over here in the UK from Australia and we are relocating a UK- based graduate over there,” says Foot. “We try to maintain a balance.”
That said, Foot does encounter some challenges across different regions. “Benefits and pay vary so you need to make sure they align and are on a par with the local offering. Globally our graduates may all be benchmarked around the same salary but benefits differ, and you need to make sure you are in line with these. In China they offer different insurances and benefits for example. We find these factors influence whether a graduate accepts our offer to join the Merlin graduate programme.”
Long term view The evidence suggests that graduates increasingly desire global opportunities, and that organisations increasingly require graduates with global mindsets.
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