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A Story of Trust: Building Partnerships Around the World
May 30, 2018 2:35:35 PM

With many companies having a global presence today, recruiting and placement for positions abroad is becoming critical to maintain a competitive position. However, the process of hiring globally can also bring a unique set of challenges, such as:

  • Understand the unique complexities of different countries’ employment markets.

  • Difficulty coordinating interviews and receiving timely feedback across time zones.  

  • Lack of standardized processes across countries for recruiting, qualification and selection.

Thanks to today’s hyper connected world, it is becoming easier for candidates and employers to connect beyond borders. However, without the right partners, finding those candidates in the first place can be daunting.



The Story

This is a story all about trust.

One of MAU’s clients, a multi-national billion dollar organization had a need to fill multiple international positions across Southeast Asia, from India, to Thailand, back to Singapore, and more. A long term partnership and resulting trust led the company to reach out to MAU’s professional recruiting division for assistance, after a failed attempt using other executive search and local firms, some actually based within Southeast Asia. While the MAU team did not have experience in the specific countries where the needs were, carefully mapped out partnerships through NPAworldwide, gave them the confidence to take on the opportunity.

Create a Plan

The client’s prior efforts had failed due to other partners not sufficiently dedicating resources to the project, as well as a lack of invested time. The MAU team knew that in order to be successful, they needed to create a consistent process to recruit these positions. The planning went something like this:

  • Evaluate overall strategy.

  • Create a standard process to qualify every job with hiring manager and key stakeholders.

  • Map out qualifications for each position.

  • Always keep stakeholders in the loop.

  • Take level of accountability the MAU team has internally and asked recruiting partners to adopt that same level of accountability.

Once the plan was mapped out, it was time to start recruiting!

The Search is On!

The recruiting team created a search plan for each country. Customized social media and communication strategies were critical to identifying and interacting with top talent in each market. The recruiters paid close attention to what was working where, so they could maintain best practices throughout the process.

Flexibility was key, particularly when it came to the willingness to work outside of normal business hours. The recruiters found that most candidates were most easily accessible via text message, as that allowed a medium to communicate outside of the Eastern Standard time zone.

Notice of resignation is normally given 1-2 months in advance across Asia. As a result, there was a significant gap between a candidate being selected and his/her actual start date. Maintaining close contact with the candidates was therefore critical in ensuring their onboarding was being completed and they were still actively engaged.

The team learned as they went, finding that some tools were more successful than others. Because of the close partnership between MAU and the stakeholders, the recruiters thoroughly understood their needs, and partnered throughout the process to get candidates hired and on boarded.

Results are in and Lessons Learned

Over the course of the project, the MAU recruiting team successfully filled 10 positions in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and India. Due to the increased trust gained, the company continues to rely on MAU as needed for additional recruiting needs in this part of the world.

There are always lessons to be learned when sourcing and recruiting talent in a new part of the world. The nuances of International Business can be extensive so maintaining a constant level of awareness of those differences is important. For example, for these positions, the typical pay increase was significantly higher than what employers may be used to. In addition, most offers offer some level of subsidies, including allowances for food, housing, cell phone or even just personal needs. In addition, while salaries were paid monthly, they operate on a 13+ month calendar depending on the country. The MAU recruiters were intentional in clarifying those monthly salaries and for how many months they were to receive it, while also being aware of any annual salary increases since the process was so lengthy.

By having partners like NPAworldwide, MAU had the right resources available to ask questions and understand what they needed to be aware of. The other pivotal resource in finding top talent was through the already placed candidates themselves. By building trusting relationships with our placed candidates, MAU received candidate referrals who could potentially be placed into future opportunities with our international client.



In today’s world, the fight for talent is global, whether your recruiting needs land in your hometown or thousands of miles away. Having
trusted partners there to come alongside and support is paramount.

Fortunately, through global partnerships, MAU has capabilities to recruit for your international hiring needs, and we can also assist with onboarding, provide global payroll services, and offer local HR support in 116 countries around the world through global partnerships.

Click below to download an infographic on Global Employment Outsourcing and how it can help your business gain a competitive advantage when expanding into new global markets. 

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