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Catalyst | Soundbites
People and purpose
As a global talent-acquisition leader,
how do you balance local candidates’
wants and needs with the overall
purpose and ethos of your business?
We spoke to Noel Brown, global head of
talent acquisition at global life sciences
company Thermo Fisher, to find out.
Could you give us a quick introduction to
Thermo Fisher?
Thermo Fisher is a Fortune 200 lifetime
company, operating in 100-plus countries. We
expand the spectrum of science and have 21
divisions across the globe.
How do you align your recruitment strategy
across different regions?
Whether I’m a recruiter sat in the UK, in China,
or Brazil, I follow the same process. We want to
drive consistency. Where we differ is our go-to-
market strategy. Our channels and messaging
are very targeted and localised. For example, we
know the market in China is highly competitive,
so we really have to highlight compensation.
How do you prioritise hires across your
operating regions?
We always start with the business. We have to
look at how the different regions are performing
and let that dictate where we’re going to hire. For
example, EMEA is currently at low single-digit
growth, whereas China has very strong double-
digit growth. We hire 20,000 people a year, but
have to prioritise critical hires that are going to
impact our strategy and performance over the
medium term.
Is the importance of employer brand a
global trend?
Everywhere I go, the talent I’m meeting is looking
for the same thing: global opportunities and for
an organisation that makes a change in the world.
People might not immediately recognise
the Thermo Fisher brand, but they are very
connected to our mission — to enable customers
to make the world healthier and safer. Our value
proposition for early talent is based around the
careers they can have with us, but also the impact
of the work we do and why it matters. Purpose
underlines everything we do. We highlight it by
sharing the stories of our employees. It’s how we
position the company.
WELCOME TO THE
PROJECT ECONOMY
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, author of
The Project Revolution and head of project
management at GSK.
Q
What is the project
economy?
Good ideas are no longer the
golden ticket to success. Instead,
good ideas must be tethered to
a project if they are to propel
businesses to new heights and
deliver change.
Where projects used to
be the concern of small IT
departments, they now assume
a central, senior position in
today’s economy and our lives as
a whole, sometimes recognisable
as the ‘gig economy’.
The centrality of project
management, technological
literacy, and agile thinking as
hallmarks of the ideal employee
is symptomatic of this emerging
project economy.
Q
What stops businesses
from thriving in the
project economy?
A focus on projects necessitates
complete structural reinvention,
and businesses aren’t making
the required changes.
Traditional organisational
structures do not allow for the
necessary cross-departmental
collaboration that projects
demand. Nor can they provide
the leadership and management
teams needed to ensure the
projects are guided, monitored,
and measured.
Around 70% of projects end
in failure because only 52%
of companies have a project
management department,
and even fewer, 23%, have a
project portfolio management
office. These are essential to
the success of projects, so they
have to be fully developed.
They need their own offices,
promotional opportunities,
career paths, senior executives
and a comprehensive network
supporting and empowering
good project-centric practice.
Q
What does a successful
project management
team look like?
Project uptake has increased
exponentially – but they’re not
necessarily the right projects.
This uptake is symptomatic
of a quantity-focused attitude,
rather than a quality-orientated
one. Taking on as many projects
as possible in an attempt to
maximise chances of success
only blurs organisational focus.
A successful project
management team carefully
prioritises their initiatives
based on its organisation’s key
strategic objectives. It must
adopt a philosophy of sharp
focus and careful prioritisation,
executing fewer projects with
concentration and discipline
rather than investing in several,
less relevant ones.
This also means organisations
need to become comfortable
accepting when a project
is failing. Often a reluctance
to admit failure means
businesses continue to fund the
revival of an entity that really
needs amputating.
Thriving in the project
economy requires a seismic
shift in our focus – we must
restructure, reprioritise, and
reorganise to allow our attention
to square neatly around the
successful implementation of
important projects.
Issue 3 - 2019
21