Top 10 Most Useful Country Stats for International Recruiters (Part 1)

 Globalization, national talent shortages, and the threat and potential of emerging economies are forcing businesses to become more global than ever. Several studies (including one from Towers Watson) predict that there will be increases in international assignments throughout 2014, and the main reason for this is business expansion overseas. This means we can expect to see increasing activity in the international sourcing arena as international recruiters look to place both expats and locals in offshore roles. Whether you are an aspiring or active international recruiter, it’s vital that you stay in touch with global HR trends if you are to be an effective international recruiter, and below I have outlined my “Top 10 Most Useful Country Stats for International Recruiters.”

1. Countries with the highest and lowest employee turnover.This is a very useful statistic that can show you how hard or easy it may be to both attract and retain talent within certain countries, helping you to plan your campaign more effectively. Kelly Global Services has just released its excellent 2013 Employee Content Survey, which shows the 10 countries with the highest and lowest employee turnover.

2. Livability.Of course no one really knows what it’s like to live in a country until he or she actually lives there. But, if international recruiters have a good grasp and understanding of the livability of particular destinations, they can: make more suitable choices for offshore location; make more informed and suitable hiring choices; and plan the talent attraction campaign more effectively. There are several studies out there that show livability by country, such as the Global Liveabilty Ranking and Report by the Economist Unit and the Mercer Quality of Living City World-wide Ranking.

3. Talent shortages by country.It’s important to know how hard or easy it may be to find talent in specific global destinations, and the Manpower Global Talent Shortage gives you an analysis of the top 10 skill/talent shortages for the key markets in the world where you might be looking to hire staff. This seems to be the best and most comprehensive free survey of its kind.

4. New untapped sources of IT talent. There is no doubt that one of the biggest drivers of offshore recruiting and expansion is the search for IT talent. There is a global shortage of IT talent; the most innovative recruiters should always strive to be ahead of the game and find the next goldmine for IT talent so your company can exploit it, before the rest of the world catches on. International recruiters might be interested in the Zinnov Next Frontier Cities for Technology Talent,which identifies the next 40 cities outside of the usual suspects that are suitable for hiring technology talent. There are nine locations in North and South America, 12 in EMEA and 10 in APAC. This is required reading for international recruiters.

5. Countries with the most productive workforces. This is a tough one as it’s hard to measure productivity. Is it measured by the number of hours they work? Well, to a point, as studies show that generally productivity levels start to drop after 40 hour-work weeks; so, arguably, countries with workforces averaging 40 hours a week may be more productive than those averaging 37.5 working hours a week or 35 hours a week. A good study to look at is the OECD study of average working hours for European countries. This CNN Money article gives some insights into average working hours across the world as well.

If you found these statistics useful, stay tuned for the second part of this article, which will show the next five most useful stats for international recruiters.