Recruitment
Dispelling the talent myth
Trevor Foley says great talent is available worldwide – you may
just need the right help to connect with it
ar too often, industry
players will say that
there’s not enough talent
in the industry. The
simple truth is that those saying that
are just looking in the wrong places!
Without doubt, it can be
challenging to attract top candidates
to new opportunities. Current
employers will be eager to keep them,
and candidates are often relatively
comfortable in their current role with
good salaries, benefits, and a feeling
of job security.
Contrast that with the flexibility
and willingness of the best talent in
our industry to move around the
globe – which is ideal for an industry
that is expanding its global footprint
at a rate of knots.
The demand for top talent to move
from one side of the world increases,
and those passive candidates who
were comfortable a moment ago can
quickly become active candidates
when an opportunity is presented
to them by a talent partner with
knowledge of their skills, as well as
cultural fit for an organisation. The
key to successful talent matching
is in knowing both employer and
candidate well enough to know
where there will be a chemistry fit,
and just as importantly, where there
will not be a fit.
One of the main appeals of a
talent search partner, therefore, is
their existing industry knowledge
and connections, and their ability to
identify the best individuals who are
ideal for the business’ current and
future needs – and know how best to
approach them. Another important
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
Trevor Foley
is Managing
Director of
tfconnect,
a specialist
recruitment and
executive search
consultancy for
the global events
and exhibitions
industry.
contribution of a talent search partner is their
understanding of local employment situations,
which can be vastly different, essential information
to know before a lot of time and effort is wasted
ahead of things inevitably falling over.
Here’s a clear example. In the US market, where
notice periods of just two weeks are common, it
is quite normal for an employee to hand in their
notice and begin working with a competitor within
two weeks. Contrast this with a US company
“The key to
successful talent
matching is in
knowing both
employer and
candidate well
enough to know
where there will be
a chemistry fit, and
just as importantly,
where there will
not be a fit”.
seeking to hire talent into Europe,
and selecting a German candidate
who is then wondering why she has
not been sent a guaranteed FIVE year
employment contract!
Navigating the differences and
variations in regional cultures and
expectations is the key to making the
right international hire.
A talent partner can who
understands your business intimately
can offer a truly confidential and
consultative approach. Many big
businesses don’t want to advertise
the fact that they’re losing a valuable
senior executive, or that their own
talent pipeline might not be up to
filling such critical positions.
Work smart, not hard. Great talent
is available worldwide - sometimes
you might just need the right help
connecting with it. We will explore
some case studies of fabulous talent
placement successes and spectacular
failures in future editions.
Issue 3 2019
9