Strategy Global challenges
A World of Change
Employers are concerned about skills shortages and work-readiness among young people. Technological advances are creating new demand for innovation. And education reforms and cabinet reshuffles are changing the face of education policy. It’s a volatile time for recruiting graduates. Sharon Spice, Director of Global Student Recruitment for ICAEW, which supports chartered accountants worldwide, shares some insights into the challenges of talent attraction on a global scale.
opting to recruit relevant graduates with proven ability to study and achieve in the subject area. Now, we’re seeing less focus on students needing relevant degrees, and instead employers are opening their routes into the profession, similar to the UK.
This is something we’ve also experienced in Mauritius, where employers are beginning to recruit school leavers into trainee chartered accountancy roles across their business, in addition to the graduates.
T …spotting
and nurturing talent has changed the way employers look at
graduates and school leavers.
he number of graduate jobs has begun to rise to pre- recession peaks this year, but while graduates and
recruiters feel more confident about job opportunities, there is still change to contend with. As a result, spotting and nurturing talent has changed the way employers look at graduates and school leavers.
At ICAEW, our global expansion has given us the opportunity to gain a real insight into talent attraction worldwide. While many attraction activities remain the same, differing cultures and economies have had a real impact.
Africa
Entry routes are a prime example. Similar to the UK, we have begun to witness a shift in importance from ‘recruiting graduates’ to ‘recruiting talent’ around the world. Emerging markets such as Africa are prime examples; previously they were more structured, hierarchical and risk averse,
Europe As we all know, graduate recruitment across Europe is highly competitive, with staggering numbers of applicants for each position. But this isn’t always the case, especially in countries such as Russia, where an ageing demographic means Russian graduates have their pick of opportunities. Strategies to attract those with the skills to enable growth from outside of the home country could be favoured by countries in this position in the future.
South Asia Malaysia is taking on the student recruitment and attraction role to the profession as part of Malaysia’s Economic Transformation. The Centre of Excellence, launched last year, sees collaboration between ICAEW, TalentCorp Malaysia and Sunway-TES, with employers such as BDO Malaysia, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC and the Sunway Group to position Malaysia as an education hub for ASEAN. This attracts students from across the whole region to come to Malaysia to qualify
as ICAEW Chartered Accountants; increasing the talent pool in the country and promoting excellence in accounting training for Malaysia and the region.
The return migration of highly-skilled workers to their home countries is also a growing trend for emerging countries according to the World Economic Forum. Therefore, businesses that are struggling to attract talented individuals may have to tailor their strategies with entry routes that suit mature recruits and can tempt highly-skilled professionals to return to their home country.
Top tips for global recruiters
1. Take your time: get to know the culture, demographic and economic environment of the market.
2. Plan for the future: think about longer term strategies to ensure you have the right people with skills to maximise growth.
3. Invest in education: offering the right development opportunities to your new recruits will support both your attraction and retention strategies.
4. Encourage accessibility: offering multiple entry routes will support the attraction of a diverse workforce.
5. Work with others: identify local organisations that you can learn from, and identify ways you can work with them. n
www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 17
www.icaew.com
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