How can you choose the best structure for your global talent acquisition team?

1 Factor 1: Business goals and strategy

The first factor to consider is your overall business goals and strategy. What are your growth plans, target markets, and talent needs? How do you align your talent acquisition with your business objectives and culture? Depending on your answers, you may need a more or less centralized structure, a more or less standardized process, and a more or less flexible approach to sourcing and hiring talent globally.

2 Factor 2: Talent market and availability

The second factor to consider is the talent market and availability in your target regions and countries. How competitive is the talent landscape? How diverse is the talent pool? How easy or difficult is it to attract and retain talent? Depending on your answers, you may need a more or less local presence, a more or less tailored employer value proposition, and a more or less proactive and creative sourcing strategy.

3 Factor 3: Legal and compliance requirements

The third factor to consider is the legal and compliance requirements in your target regions and countries. How complex and varied are the labor laws, regulations, and norms? How risky and costly are the potential violations and disputes? How transparent and consistent are the hiring practices and policies? Depending on your answers, you may need a more or less centralized oversight, a more or less standardized documentation, and a more or less customized contracts and benefits.

4 Factor 4: Team size and resources

The fourth factor to consider is your team size and resources. How many talent acquisition professionals do you have? How are they distributed across regions and countries? How are they trained and supported? How are they measured and rewarded? Depending on your answers, you may need a more or less hierarchical structure, a more or less collaborative culture, and a more or less integrated technology and tools.

5 Structure 1: Centralized

A centralized structure is when you have one global talent acquisition team that handles all the hiring activities across regions and countries. This structure can be beneficial if you have a clear and consistent business strategy, a homogeneous and accessible talent market, a simple and uniform legal and compliance environment, and a small and efficient team. However, this structure can also pose challenges if you have a diverse and complex business strategy, a heterogeneous and competitive talent market, a complicated and varied legal and compliance environment, and a large and dispersed team.

6 Structure 2: Decentralized

A decentralized structure is when you have multiple local talent acquisition teams that handle the hiring activities in their own regions and countries. This structure can be beneficial if you have a diverse and complex business strategy, a heterogeneous and competitive talent market, a complicated and varied legal and compliance environment, and a large and dispersed team. However, this structure can also pose challenges if you have a clear and consistent business strategy, a homogeneous and accessible talent market, a simple and uniform legal and compliance environment, and a small and efficient team.

7 Structure 3: Hybrid

A hybrid structure is when you have a combination of global and local talent acquisition teams that handle the hiring activities based on their roles and responsibilities. This structure can be beneficial if you have a balance of business strategy, talent market, legal and compliance, and team size and resources. However, this structure can also pose challenges if you have a lack of clarity, alignment, communication, and coordination between the global and local teams.

8 Structure 4: Regional

A regional structure is when you have a few regional talent acquisition teams that handle the hiring activities across a group of regions and countries. This structure can be beneficial if you have a similar business strategy, talent market, legal and compliance, and team size and resources within each region. However, this structure can also pose challenges if you have a significant difference between the regions, or if you have a need for more local or global expertise and support.

9 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?