Korean firms hungry for global talent

[Globalization of Jobs: First in a five-part series] ‘To succeed in an overseas market, employees should not only be fluent in the respective language, but should also have an open mind and embrace the local culture.’ - Hwang So-young September 09, 2010 The drive for talented foreign workers is being fueled in part by the importance of overseas markets. As Korea signs more free trade agreements, this drive is expected to expand, but it is also being driven by companies seeking to branch out from an increasingly saturated Korean market, analysts say. Samsung Electronics recently announced it will raise the ratio of overseas employees from the current 45 percent of its total workforce to 65 percent by 2020. Additionally, it will increase the number of foreign employees working in Korea from the current 850 to 2,000 within 10 years. Samsung is not alone when it comes to boosting its foreign workforce. Similar moves have taken place at other conglomerates including Hanwha and Doosan, where top managers have personally participated in overseas job fairs. Since last year, SK Group has offered an online job portal in English and Chinese. Additionally, SK Group affiliates’ overseas offices have sought to employ top talents, regardless of nationality. Human resources experts say hiring global talent is also inevitable for companies keeping up with global trends. In a survey of 164 human resources specialists, 48 percent said they hire global talents as a way to successfully break into overseas markets. This was not always the case. In the past, Korean companies sent local employees fluent in foreign languages to their overseas operations. However, Korean employees failed to integrate with their foreign colleagues in overseas offices and also failed to apply appropriate marketing strategies that met local situations. As a result, some Korean companies have shifted their hiring strategy when advancing into overseas markets, from Korean talent to hiring locals more familiar with the business culture. “To succeed in an overseas market, employees should not only be fluent in the respective language, but should also have an open mind and embrace the local culture,” said Hwang So-young, planning team director at HR Korea. “Additionally, it is important for companies to establish a global human resource system. To do so, companies need to arrange career development programs based on global standards.” Some Korean companies offer scholarships to foreign students then hire them as interns. It is a strategy to secure global talent to contribute advancing markets like China and Vietnam. The positions for global talent at major Korean companies are also expanding from specialty fields such as research and development and design, to other core departments such as human resources and marketing. “For Korean companies to secure competitiveness in the global market, they need to first become a global brand,” said Choi Hyo-jin, HR Korea CEO. “To achieve this, companies need to globalize themselves in every aspect, from corporate management systems to organizational structure and content, such as values and culture. “The recent hiring of foreigners in top management levels could be translated as an effort to change a company’s management style to a more global standard.” While Korean companies have hired mostly Americans and Canadians in the past, Hwang said this is starting to change, especially at Samsung and LG. “Companies that plan to implement advanced global management systems prefer talent from North America or Europe,” Hwang said. “But talent from emerging markets such as China are Southeast Asia are preferred when the goal of the company is a market localization strategy.” Hwang added that small- and mid-size companies have particular interest in talent from China and Southeast Asia, as salaries are cheaper and they can be just as talented. “In the case of a specialized purpose such as IT, there is a high preference for talent from India,” the planning team director said. The skill set of sought-after global talent goes well beyond language ability, HR Korea said. Language is just a means to an end. The skill set of global talent can be put into three categories. First, the global talent needs to have expertise in his or her field. This does not refer to education and work experience, but rather the intuitive ability to understand the company’s production, technology and competition environment. Although some Korean conglomerates have succeeded on the global stage, Korean companies’ brand recognition are relatively low. Global talents need to have marketing and sales abilities that deliver a company’s production and technology to global consumers. Second, they should have the ability to absorb different cultures. With management becoming globalized, interaction between people of different cultures is on the rise. Failing to understand the unique culture of a market that a company is operating in will lead to failure. Global talent needs to work closely with the global staff. They need to understand and respect each other’s motives; it goes beyond verbal communication. Adherence to the sensitivities of local cultures and religions is especially important. Third, recruited talent needs to have global sensitivity to encounter rapidly changing market dynamics and technology trends. Global talents should be busy networking and there should be priority on self development. “It is difficult to evaluate global talents simply with their foreign language abilities or degrees received abroad,” said Choi Hyo-jin. “Global talents should have flexible mindsets by experiencing different cultures, while looking at problems in different perspectives on the level of diversity and inclusion. They should be able to suggest creative ideas,” the CEO said. Source:Jungang Daily