Recruitment
Opening up to the global world of talent
Trevor Foley fuels our thoughts on getting the right match for global placements
never cease to be
amazed at the ambitious
and flexible attitude
of organisations and
individuals in our industry, in the
pursuit of business and personal
growth.
At an individual level, many
talented industry people are prepared
to risk all with a move to another
country (with partner and children,
too) to develop and enjoy their career.
Simply put, the best talent won’t stay
where they’re not happy, or where
the right opportunities don’t exist.
At a company level, too, the best
growth is being achieved where those
companies are truly open to taking
on different solutions, in the form of
different nationalities, cultures and
ideas.
True global recruitment can often
mean a client in North America with
a role in Asia looking for European
talent. There’s lots of potential to get it
wrong, and a lot of potential upside in
getting it right. To fuel your thoughts,
let’s start with some of the ‘good’
global placements and why they were
clearly the right match.
1. A UK headquartered business
(UBM) and a role in South America
requiring Portuguese language
and a four-year commitment.
No, not easy, and the internal teams
had been looking for a long time! Our
networking meant that we instantly
knew the ideal candidate, a French
national, in a global pool of one! The
candidate had recently divorced,
wanted a change of company after 10
years, his two children were about to
go to university for four years, he was
a multi-linguist who spoke Spanish
and was confident about learning
Portuguese in a short space of time…
all the boxes ticked.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
2. Comexposium was a French-
centric business when British
private equity firm Charterhouse
purchased a stake in the business.
The PE strategy was to accelerate
the international development of
the business, and develop rigour
around operational standards, to
facilitate an onward transaction.
Charterhouse and Comexposium’s
Chairman, Renaud Hamaide, decided
the business needed an exhibitions
professional with significant
international experience as CEO.
The ideal candidate, then UBM
Senior Executive, Simon Foster,
was thought to be unattainable.
However, with the tfconnect business
approach of utmost confidentiality
and confidence, built upon 30 years’
experience within the exhibitions
industry, we were confident in
facilitating the approach.
Maintaining confidentiality at all
times for both client and candidate,
we were able to make the placement,
leading to the desired execution of
the strategy and resulting in a sale 15
months later.
3. A British organiser (Tarsus) and
a regional role in Asia.
The right candidate needed to fit in
with the close-knit nature and flat
organisational structure of the senior
management team. It was all about
chemistry and culture. At a chance
Trevor Foley
is Managing
Director of
tfconnect,
a specialist
recruitment
and executive
search
consultancy
for the global
events and
exhibitions
industry.
coffee encounter during an industry
conference in Asia, it was instantly
apparent that a German national was
the right fit after - what we call in
England - ‘kissing a lot of frogs’ to find
your princess…or in this case, your
prince.
So, what about the bad
placements? International
placements can go wrong for many
reasons, but generally the problem
that leads to the failure is one that
could have been predicted, where
some of the factors outside of the job
fit have not been tested well enough.
It requires a deep understanding
of sensitive topics such as family
relationships, children’s educational
needs, religion, political persuasions
and more besides. Mistakes are
expensive and third party ‘testing’ is
often invaluable.
Working closely with industry
friends and colleagues all over the
world, we have earned our trusted
position by respecting confidentiality
and offering a thorough knowledge
of our candidates and our clients’
businesses.
Identifying and attracting the best
talent is critical to the success of any
organisation. We
operate in a truly
global industry and
so must always be
open to truly global
talent solutions.
Issue 4
2019
9