Talent Centric
A
s challenges go, designing and
executing Alexander Mann
Solutions’ growth strategy for the
Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is vast
and labyrinthine.
For one, the region is made up of 11 countries and,
for the company’s purposes, includes the Middle
East and Africa. It encompasses diverse cultures
and languages, plus differing rates of development
and local priorities. Second, APAC is a region of
increasing significance, rapid growth and high
strategic importance to Alexander Mann Solutions
as a global business.
“The real desire and objective is to have our brand
as the number one consulting talent acquisition and
management service in the region,” says Caleb Baker,
Managing Director for APAC , and the man charged
with addressing the challenges of a transforming
workforce. We must have a strong story, especially
for the major markets: China, India, Hong Kong,
Singapore, the Philippines and Australia. Our global
clients have a clear commitment to the region and
we have to be here to support them and to innovate
and upgrade continually as they move into more
emerging markets.
“APAC is the most complex region,” he continues.
“Asia is a concept invented to class together the
countries in this part of the world. We simplify and de-
risk our clients’ people engagement into the region, as
well as providing the agility for recruitment at scale.”
CATALYST
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Acacia Leroy, Asia Pacific Trend Strategist at Trendwatching, provides
a taster for her session at Catalyst 2017:
“While every marketer needs to know what consumers want next, every
talent acquisition professional must know how to reach this same group
– the next pool of talent for their organisation. We will deep dive into the
major trends shaping consumerism, understand what each means for talent
professionals, and leave the audience with actionable opportunities.”
Three ways in which the behaviour of Asian candidates is changing:
1 T he constant search for social status meets the evolution of social
sharing: today, every candidate is on the lookout for share-able
moments, opportunities to tell stories about himself or herself to gain
social status in the eyes of peers.
2 A s communication tools grow more seamless (think messaging
functions, voice control, and more) candidates expect information
delivery to be increasingly intuitive and personal.
3 T he entrepreneurial wave and the gig economy have primed
expectations around life and work: beyond looking for
flexible arrangements, candidates are increasingly looking for
empowerment and the ability to contribute meaningfully.
Regional nuances
While countries are grouped for convenience,
strategies must be applied according to maturity of
market, tech capability and cultural factors.
“As a rule, APAC matures from south to north,”
explains Baker. “Australia is a mature market for
HR practices and talent acquisition, and so a lot of
our business there is managed service: partnering
and providing consulting services to drive better
practices. The contingent or contractor workforce
is on the strategic agenda, and the issue of diversity
coming to the forefront.
“If we keep moving north, to Singapore, Hong
Kong and China, there is still very much an
outsourcing market; a need to be scalable and agile
in hiring capacity. They are slightly behind some
other areas of the world in their talent acquisition
practices and we do a lot of work to try and bring
that forward.”
He notes that “the Asia markets have not hit
a level of maturity or understanding where the
contingent workforce is a key topic. Culturally,
people still have a high pressure to retain their job; it
will take time for those gig economy conversations
to come through.” And while workforce diversity is
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“In almost all of the Asia markets,
by culture, they are highly
entrepreneurial people”