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Inside View: Global Career Company

Reversing the brain drain: this recruitment firm matches overseas candidates from Africa, Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe with jobs back in their home countries

By  Ifeatu Nnaobi

Thu Apr 12 2012

BusinessBecause
This week Inside View talks to Yasmina Mallam-Hassan, Relationship Manager for Universities and Business Schools, at Global Career Company. Yasmina’s background includes ten years’ experience as a Higher Education Careers Adviser and a further seven years in commercial business development and consultancy.

Global Career Company’s mission is to connect businesses active in the emerging markets with the brightest talent, whether they are already in the area, or working or studying overseas. Many of the roles Global Career Company recruits for require MBAs and that their Recruitment Summits are a great chance for networking and landing job offers.

What makes Global Career Company different from other recruitment agencies?
We have over ten years of experience in recruiting for the emerging markets and we focus on internationally-based candidates from Africa, MENA, Asia Pacific and Central & Eastern Europe. Our headquarters are in London but we have international associates all over the world. We’ve recruited for over 400 leading companies across emerging markets and have a global network of over 200,000 leading graduates and professionals.

We’re best known for our Recruitment Summits held in key locations around the world. The Summits allow clients to meet and conduct face-to-face interviews with candidates that are pre-selected to match the company’s specifications.

We also run recruitment campaigns, assignments, and search and selection for companies looking to source high calibre individuals with a blend of international experience combined with regional understanding.

What proportion of the candidates you have recruited have MBAs? For what sort of roles?
It’s difficult to put an exact figure on that but a large proportion of our roles require significant experience so this means that many of our candidates will typically have an MBA. For example, at our last London summit around 36% of the roles required over seven years’ experience.

We recruit candidates for senior roles in all functional areas of business and management so MBAs are very attractive to our clients because they have both the theoretical knowledge and industry experience. Typical roles that we recruit for include Corporate Strategy Manager, Senior HR advisor, and General Manager, Operations.

What are some of the companies that you work with?
We work with a diverse range of organisations in different sectors, such as energy, mining, utilities, engineering, construction, professional services, pharmaceuticals, fast-moving consumer goods and financial services to name a few. For companies some of the recent organisations include Accenture, Shell, GSK, Lafarge, Citigroup and Coca Cola. I’ll stop there otherwise it will be a very long list!

Do candidates usually want jobs in their home countries?
This depends on the type of role on offer. We do get a lot of candidates who are looking to return home and contribute their knowledge and experience so there’s no shortage of enthusiasm. However, the more specific the role is the trickier it can be to find a candidate that fits all the specifications. For certain jobs, candidates might be required to have specific work authorisation or in-depth regional knowledge.

What are the most popular locations for candidates to work in?
In the African market, Angola, South Africa and Nigeria are all very strong for various reasons. Their political systems have become more evolved, they are resource-rich and they have more developed markets. In terms of sectors, 2011 saw growth in Oil & Gas and this year we have seen the emergence of increased activity in the Banking and Finance sector, with banks like Diamond Bank and Exim Bank recruiting through us. The mining sector is also growing at an impressive rate so countries with strong mining industries are also good for opportunities.

How can a candidate use your services?
We are always looking to attract good quality candidates as we are bringing new clients on stream all the time. The best place to start is to register through our website as this is our central portal for candidates. The beauty of this approach is that you only have to make one application to be considered for all the roles on offer.

For the Summits, we will then shortlist candidates for specific roles and invite them for interview. However, we will also invite talented candidates to come and network with employers at the Summit networking reception. This is the opportunity for MBAs to promote themselves face to face with employers and this is an extremely effective method of identifying opportunities, often resulting in on-the-spot interviews for the candidates.

Alternatively, if you want to see what specific positions are on offer, you utilise our job search facility to apply for specific roles. It is important that candidates highlight key information such as sector experience, length of experience, nationality, skills e.g. technical or language abilities and any work authorisation for particular countries as this makes it more likely that we can make a good match between the candidate and the roles.

We will also attend events and promote opportunities through the careers service at your business school, so keeping up to date with their activities will enable you to take advantage of the positions we offer.

Are there any basic dos and don’ts to using Global Career Company’s services?
It is very important that candidates highlight key information about themselves such as sector experience, length of experience, employment permission and work permission, technical abilities and their language skills.

Take all opportunities seriously. Don’t turn down invitations to network or turn up to a networking event or an interview unprepared. These are chances to promote your capabilities and demonstrate your motivation for your target organisations and even the most informal of meetings can result in the career opportunity you have been looking for.

You can see what positions are on offer, and find out about the next Recruitment Summit on the Global Career Company website. Yasmina’s position means that she is in charge of creating new links with Business Schools. Global Career Company already had links with numerous business schools across the UK, Europe and the USA including ESADE, IE Business School, London Business School, INSEAD and Manchester Business School.

If your school would like to build a relationship with Global Career Company, or you have a student club or society that has an interest in the emerging markets, you are invited to make contact with her!

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