In Demand – Global HR Experience

This brief article covers some of the trends we are experiencing across the markets we operate in, with a view to suggesting how individuals can mould their experience in a way that not only adds value to organisations, but increases their individual marketability.

At The Chapman Consulting Group, we find that with most searches across the Asia Pacific Region, there is a standard client expectation that shortlisted profiles will consist of either APAC/SEA or specific in-country experience. This particularly applies to ‘tricky’ markets with specific language skill requirements like Japan and Korea. There is also a general preference for HR professionals who are living in, or returning to, the region or a specific country (as opposed to an individual without substantial Asia experience requiring full relocation). This is, of course, all understandable and certainly a trend that we do not see changing in the short term. Longer term however, there will be changes or shifts which could stem from issues like the ever increasing cost and challenge to hire locals with the right global experience versus the gradually reducing or comparatively lower hiring costs of bringing in non-locals from U.S. or European Head offices with the right global experience. These non-locals may be head office experienced and bring the added value of being able to leverage or bridge the ‘global way’. However, the ‘old expat’ era is now well and truly over and in today’s world, it is expected that HR professionals wishing to work in Asia should also have the necessary local market credentials to ensure they can ‘hit the ground running’ and truly add value above and beyond.

We are also seeing an increasing number of searches in Europe and the U.S., where there is a strong preference for ‘emerging markets experience’ again with a natural preference for somebody either local or returning. More particularly from a head office perspective, we have seen these companies really wanting people that have both in-country/regional experience and home-market HQ experience for global roles. Our European clients tend to be quite open to considering talent from other European markets and in many cases non-European talent with interesting emerging markets experience. On the other hand, we find that the U.S. demand is almost exclusively for internationally experienced permanent residents or green card holders due to the difficult U.S. visa application process for foreigners.

As the global HR profession matures, we are also seeing more nuances from a geographic clustering point of view. In other words, geographies that are emerging for some companies can be viewed as quite mature by others. The Chinese markets within Asia are a good example of geographies which some organisations would treat as very established, whereas to others, this group of countries is still very much a ‘new frontier’. So whilst the notion of emerging markets matures, there is an increasing realisation that each geography has its own nuances and requires its own market specialists, but that attracting talent with similar experiences in closely related markets is important.

For the global HR professional, whichever way you look at it, whether you have emerging markets experience in Singapore or Greater China, Chile, or Turkey combined with extensive corporate office exposure, we would expect your skills to be in high demand comparatively speaking to those without this experience. If you are planning a Global HR career, we would definitely advise embarking on this early, since that rare blend of experience including emerging markets, mature markets, and corporate head office exposure takes time to build.