Strategy Challenging Territories
Global Challenge
Just two years into the British Council’s global scheme, the organisation has graduates in all corners of the globe, from Russia to Libya, Bangladesh to Poland, but it struggles to recruit for some great opportunities in challenging regions such as the Middle East and North Africa, areas notorious for conflict. Ruth Summers, Graduate and Internship Project Consultant explains how the organisation is overcoming this challenge - using existing graduates as part of the attraction strategy and integrating a local approach.
T A lot of prospective candidates
have the right raw skills, maturity and potential
to work in these locations but often don’t understand what work in this region actually entails…
His profile was perfect for our roles in the Middle East – international exposure, cultural dexterity and fluency in Arabic. He wanted to speak to me about British Council opportunities in the EU. I advised that he would be better suited for the Middle East and forwarded him a case study from one of our graduates, Chris who is currently based in Libya. Chris’ case study begins like this: ‘Sitting in my apartment in Tripoli, Libya, after having to evacuate the British Council office in an armoured car following a security incident, I was wondering whether it was all worth it. Then the electricity cut off…’
he work of the British Council covers six continents and over 100 countries, delivering international opportunities to
millions of individuals each day through its work in Education and Society, English and the Arts. The way our scheme is currently structured means that candidates apply for a specific country. This raises a few issues for us. The lure of a graduate opportunity in Italy is often far greater than an opportunity in the Middle East – an area of conflict where curfews and security alerts are simply part of everyday life for some of our graduates.
Graduates on the ground A lot of prospective candidates have the right raw skills, maturity and potential to work in these locations but
often don’t understand what work in this region actually entails and the world of opportunity it could lead to.
I was recently contacted by a final year masters student studying Middle East politics with Arabic from SOAS University.
16 Graduate Recruiter |
www.agr.org.uk
Not the best marketing ploy, but Chris’ story continues to beautifully illustrate the variety and impact of his role. From leading delegations with Libyan professors to working on Libyan street theatre projects, he really brought the experience to life and the candidate was completely sold on the opportunity. There really is no substitute to using graduates on the ground as part of your attraction strategy especially, when recruiting for territories so far removed from what some graduates may have experienced before.
Assessing cultural dexterity Another problem for us is assessing potential talent. We have found that role plays combined with a group exercise work well for assessing cultural dexterity. At our assessment centres last year we gave candidates a project in a fictitious country. An actress entered the room and took the role of a slightly disruptive social entrepreneur. It was up to candidates to employ the correct negotiation and cultural skills to move the project
forward. This quickly showed us who had the capability and intelligence to deal with situations like these.
The purpose of the scheme is to find a globally mobile talent pool for future leadership posts, so assessing cultural dexterity is a must, but candidates must be prepared to deal with the complex environments of their first postings. We have found that working with local staff in the final stages of the recruitment process works well. Inviting colleagues from Libya to our London assessment centres allowed us to see which candidates would be able to achieve and contribute.
Colleagues formulated questions that were specific to the region and were able to assess who would be the best fit. Integrating a local approach to a centrally run corporate programme really did make the difference. For a country as complex as Libya, we have also found that some experience of the region in any capacity is a must, whether through a dissertation, voluntary work or professional experience; some understanding of the reality of the country prior to applying for our schemes really does go a long way.
So what’s next for the British Council? Our recruitment process gets us some great graduates but we strive to be completely global in our approach – the aim is to start recruiting from local markets in the future as opposed to just focussing on UK grads and make our talent pipelines truly global. n
www.britishcouncil.org
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