How to hire in a new geography
Expansion into new geographies is great. But it can also be a challenge.
Picture the scene. You've identified an opportunity, and your business is ready to expand into new territories and embark on a new phase of growth. But you need the right people in place to do that, and hiring in a brand new location where you've not yet got feet on the ground or experience recruiting in can feel like a mountain to climb.
And with digital transformation skills in high demand, it pays to get this right the first time. Nailing hiring in a new region is something our clients talk to us about time after time, so here's our advice on how to put your best foot forward and secure the people you need in your team.
Keep the why at the forefront
Before you start any kind of hiring, the best place to start is thinking about the goals behind the new region you're expanding into. What's your revenue or pipeline goal? Which sectors are you focusing on? What's the sales approach you'll be taking?
This will help you map out who your 'ideal candidates' are and what they look like. Maybe they're experienced individual contributors who can hit the ground running? Maybe they're implementation execs with niche AI skills who'll get to grips with your tech quickly?
Ultimately this comes down to defining which early hires can support new and complex deals best. Whatever you're looking for, taking the time to really understand what you need will keep you laser-focused when searching.
Understand what the benchmark is for the area, and hit it
When you're recruiting for digital transformation talent in a new location, it can be tempting to just copy and paste the recruitment approach that works for you in your HQ location into the new one. But this can be risky.
Instead, we'd recommend getting more localised with your hiring process. Whether that's adjusting your communications, job titles, timelines, or interview stages, it’s worth investing the time to align your way of working with the norm in a particular region. Not only does this make the hiring process smoother for you, but it also reduces friction and creates a better candidate experience.
It's the same story with salary. Making sure you're competitive by benchmarking your offering with the regional averages can make sure you put your best foot forward with offers, rather than risking losing out on the talent you need. And remember, as an early hire in a new location, they may need more incentivising than the people you're targeting in your more established locations.
Map the market, including your competitors
Before you start hiring, mapping the market is a crucial step. When you're hiring for digital transformation or SaaS tech talent, it pays to think about where hubs of skills exist in the location you're hiring in. Having an idea of the talent availability in the area you're wanting to grow will help inform the strategy you go on to roll out.
For example, if you're expanding into the US for the first time it makes sense to look in locations like the Bay Area, Austin, or Chicago (to name a few!) which are well known for being skills hotspots. Or you could look at more emerging hubs, like Dallas or Denver, where you might get up-and-coming talent at a 'better' price.
It's also worth looking at the competitive hiring landscape. Are any of your competitors hiring in that region? What package are they offering? Who will you be competing against when you take your brand and vacancies to market? This is all information that it pays to have to hand.
Finalise your sourcing channels
Once you've got a good idea of what the talent landscape looks like, it's worth spending some time finalising your sourcing channels and your routes to market, as well as who'll be delivering the hiring processes. For early hires, you have a few choices - and neither are wrong.
You could use your existing talent team, in your existing HQ location to run the hiring as they would in their local area. This keeps everything streamlined and on-brand from the off, but does require adapting to local nuances, as well as time zone and language restrictions.
You could make an early hire of a talented person with their feet on the ground in the new region. They'll bring with them an innate understanding of the market and the geography, reducing initial friction. This can feel a little 'running before you can walk', though, when you're not already established in a region. But sometimes the risk can pay off and some companies see success with this approach.
Or you could outsource. There's plenty of digital transformation specialist headhunters out there (you're looking at one of them!) who'll have the experience and the contacts in the region to manage the process for you.
Planning to expand into a new location this year?
Check out our location-specific salary reports for the US, UK&I and DACH to help you benchmark your salaries.
And if you're interested in specialist recruitment support, get in touch on info@fmctalent.com