New research shows how building a global talent pipeline can help student employers compete in local markets, explains Talanta.

The tech-lead evolution and the subsequent adoption of remote work has not only helped bridge the gap between employers and a more diverse workforce, but also changed the way employers reach, recruit and retain top talent. This aims to remove the numerous obstacles that companies face when striving for inclusion.

Innovation and technology helps bridge the gap between borders, from video calling to instant messaging, both of which have become commonplace in remote-first work environments.

Top employees in every industry are scattered across the globe, working remotely from their homes, coworking spaces, or foreign countries. In many sectors, companies must offer remote or flexible work to remain competitive.

To illustrate the impact of remote work even further, several countries in Europe, Asia, Central, and South America now offer ‘digital nomad’ work visas.

That being said, some things haven’t changed. Recruitment and retention are still among the biggest challenges facing employers of all shapes and sizes, due to the complexity and expense associated with those aspects of the hiring process.

Surveys conducted amongst recruiters in the US reveal that a majority of recruiters say that their biggest challenge when it comes to hiring is the lack of ‘skilled, high-quality candidates’.

Finding those qualified, prepared candidates takes time. On average, it takes over 40 days to fill an open position (according to platforms like LinkedIn and Zippia.) Meanwhile, the best candidates are snatched off the market in as little as ten days, putting companies in a tight spot when it comes to hiring the right people.

Talanta specialises in student recruitment, using technology to bridge the gap between companies and global talent.

Through the Global Apprenticeship Program (GAP), companies are provided with a pipeline of pre-vetted, job-ready, entry-level talent. This program sees us taking on the top performers from partnered universities, training them with a soft skills curriculum provided by MIT Open Learning, and positioning them in internships at companies around the world. Companies can now diversify their workforce and contribute to creation of a borderless world for talent.

The race is on to hire global talent

We have studied the landscape of emerging global talent, specifically apprentices, interns, and entry-level employees. We surveyed and interviewed over 40 companies to find out more about how they recruit and retain these workers.

The results of this study showed us that there’s an immense need for a tech-centered solution to recruitment.

Talent is distributed evenly throughout the world, but recruitment opportunities are not. And while most companies agree that diversity is extremely important to them when hiring, the vast majority of recruitment happens in North America and Europe.

That’s despite the fact that over 80% of companies use online recruiting methods, which could provide simple cross-border recruiting access.

These two regions – North America and Europe – make up just over 14% of the world’s population, which means that there are enormous opportunities for companies to expand their search to Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania (which make up the other 86% of the world’s population!).

In our survey, talent managers agreed that the top three talent challenges they are faced with are recruitment, onboarding, and retention.

Within recruitment, the primary hurdle is accessing a reliable and consistent pipeline of quality candidates.

For onboarding, companies report that the majority of entry-level candidates lack sufficient soft skills to be successful in their roles. These skills include the three Cs: critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills, which are essential for productivity, leadership, and performance.

As for retention, our study suggests that by employing talent from emerging economies to work remotely, while paying above-market rates, companies can reduce turnover and circumvent the competitive salary requirements in their local markets. This strategy also allows companies to reduce the global ‘brain drain’ and increase income tax revenue for developing countries.

The data in our white paper is backed up by reports from LinkedIn and the US Department of Labor, which show that so-called ‘bad hires’ lack soft skills the majority of the time, and the result of a bad recruitment decision can cost a company up to 30% of that individual’s salary.

Here, Talanta’s solution reigns supreme: providing remote, compensated, cross-border internships.

Far-reaching benefits of international internships

Many companies want a more diverse workforce that better represents their customers’ values. Others need a stable pipeline of talent but don’t know how to set it up or do not have the right infrastructure to support remote global workers.

Internships can provide a clear solution to these key issues. Recruiting platform Zippia reports that students with internships under their belt are 35% more likely to get a job offer after graduation. And 80% of interns who are offered full-time roles by the same company accept those offers.

Further to this, consulting firm McKinsey reports that companies with more diverse workforces are more likely to outperform the financial returns of their competitors. Harvard Business Review reports that diverse firms are 45% more likely to report a growth in market share year on year and 70% more likely to capture a new market.

As if that wasn’t enough, a 2018 BCG suggests that diverse management teams lead to 19% higher revenue, and People Management explains that diverse teams are 87% better at making decisions.

This shows that internships and hiring global talent offer colossal benefits for companies in all sectors and parts of the world.

A borderless world of talent

To conclude, let’s look back at the white paper. In this study, we attempted to answer the question “who will win the competition for emerging talent?”

The answer to that question: companies who expand their search, who provide opportunities to top-tier talent in the world’s developing regions, who hire and develop management and leadership to support and nurture emerging talent. They will set themselves apart from the pack in every industry.

And the best way to grow those processes and programmes is by having a clear, consistent stream of reliable talent year after year, which allows companies to make informed decisions about candidates, providing them with data about the talent they so eagerly want to hire and retain.

Of course, in addition to winning the race for global talent, and improving recruitment and retention, companies should be turning their sights outward from their own countries in order to be part of the global solution.

Students and recent graduates in Asia, Latin America, and Africa have consistently missed out on the chance to demonstrate their skills to global organisations. It doesn’t have to be that way anymore, as Talanta, along with the companies whose pipelines we serve, are closing the gap between global talent and access to jobs.

We strive to promote both excellence and diversity at the international level. Together, we’re changing the landscape of recruitment and building a professional ecosystem that is without borders.

Read more insight and data on global recruitment