Global Recruitment Software Procurement and Rollout Across Cultural Borders – A rewarding challenge!

The Challenge

Rollout of software and process in one region or office can be a challenge – but how do we ensure a global gold standard whilst allowing regional and cultural nuance?

The Brief

Rollout a new Applicant Tracking System to all 8 global offices to support recruitment for major engineering projects. The software needed to be easy to use in English, German, and Arabic alongside allowing the use of flexible regional workflows.

Things to think about…

Global change requires global buy in

Do not think rolling out in your easiest region first is the key -(Ignore the ‘we’ll deliver a pilot!’ nay Sayers!)

Make sure you know your business reasons and what the benefits will be…for everyone!

We know profit drive and efficiency is key, but think about the wellbeing of your teams, the look and feel for your applicants and the less tangible outputs that will mean a lot to your people. Some regions may not struggle with applicant numbers…some only get three a week – The needs are different!

Regional and cultural representation must be there at all stages

Procurement through to Completion needs consistent global representation and buy-in. We had different national requirements to think about across the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Poland, China and Hong Kong – Data protection laws, national security laws, firewalls, etc!

Get your requirements down on paper….from every region.

Make sure you go through these with a fine-tooth comb – “What do you mean our Contracts need to be formatted with both left to right and right to left”…don’t miss the minor things!

Establish your current way of doing things

Make sure you understand how everyone completes their current processes if you don’t know already. Gather your feedback of pain points into themes and ensure your future process plan is done before you start looking at software. You need your software to match your process, not the other way round!

Hearts and minds!

Establish your Senior leadership ambassadors and operational drivers within each region – You need top down and bottom-up investment. Senior sponsorship should understand the business drivers for their offices and business units and your operational team should understand the ‘What’s in it for me (WIIFM) as well as the business strategy.

Patience 

Global rollout needs patience and coaching at the heart from your project leaders. Cultural differences in delivery need slower rollout plans in some places. Urgency can be achieved, but allocation of time and energy to higher risk regions is a non-negotiable. We had two regions that requested face to face training as this is what works best for them culturally – we flew out and delivered these… with translators!

Please get in touch if you would like to know more or are interested in a rollout or project in multiple jurisdictions. We know the challenges and the advantages!”