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rowth in emerging Asia is projected to continue at a steady pace over the coming decade. As multinational companies are expanding their footprint into the region, Asian companies are also growing in international status. According to a recent survey by the Robert Walters consultancy firm, 70 percent of Asian companies plan to internationalize in the next three years. Securing investment funds is a fundamental priority in businesses’ global expansion strategy. However, companies are also beginning to factor in the vital value of recruiting and retaining the right talent to grow their business internationally.

The scenario is not without its challenges. The region’s rapid economic progress has brought about a shortage of white-collar professionals working in emerging markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Although international expansion is an exciting and challenging prospect for businesses in Asia, the ambition can be a significant undertaking and risks disrupting existing operations.

One key issue facing growing companies is how to acquire and retain talent. To keep one step ahead of the competition, both Asian companies expanding internationally and foreign companies localizing their presence are investing in people with business savvy skills and international experience to make their global growth strategy a success.

There is a special value to investing in international talent. These are professionals who have worked for Western companies, whether overseas or in their home countries. Being open minded with a global mindset, international talent can provide an ideal combination of understanding the local market and cultural issues, and have wider knowledge gained from working in an international environment.

Returning Asians with overseas working experience are in high demand, and many have claimed interest in returning to their home country. In a survey by Robert Walters, 85 percent of Indonesian professionals living overseas have stated an interest in coming home. However, they do have concerns and minimum expectations that play a deciding factor on whether they will return, and whether they choose to work for an Asian or Western company.

Competition to recruit the best international talent will be fierce. Most of the surveyed Indonesian companies believe it is more difficult to recruit international talent compared to talent with no international working experience. A major challenge is that they expect salaries, which are generally much higher than the allocated budget.

Western companies often impress talent with their popular brand names and benefits, such as the opportunities to work overseas. Our survey shows that Indonesian professionals consider Western companies to be ahead of their Asian counterparts in several aspects, from their rolling out of training programs, recognition of new ideas and encouragement of innovation to having a structured induction program by the respective human resource divisions and internal stakeholders.

While Asian companies may not be able to provide some of the opportunities presented by Western companies, it becomes highly essential to be able to develop successful recruitment strategies by identifying the right motivations and expectations of potential talent. This is a key component of successful recruitment and retention strategies.

In our survey, most Indonesian talent said they were open to work in Asian companies. The top five motivations of international talent to take up job opportunities with Asian companies are: pay and benefits; belief in the company’s growth potential; brand name/reputation of the company; career prospects/promotion opportunities; and sense of entrepreneurship.

Although pay and benefits are the leading factors for Asian talent to join Asian companies, for Indonesian professionals the top three motivations to join Asian companies are a belief in the company’s growth potential, their close relationship with the CEOs and management/leadership, and a sense of giving back to the local community/their own country.

Companies should also provide structured training and career development programs that can help shape employees’ careers, and maintain a unique and collaborative company culture.

Over half or 56 percent of international professionals stated that the main reasons for leaving an Asian company’s employment were the lack of opportunities in professional training and unclear personal career progression paths.

In Indonesia, the top main reasons are: inadequate opportunities for personal training and development; insufficient opportunities to be relocated to overseas offices and less attractive brand image/reputation compared to Western companies.

The final challenge for companies looking to recruit international talent is identifying those talent who are spread out across the globe. Statistics Indonesia recorded in 2014 that almost 430,000 Indonesian professionals were working overseas. Similar to most markets, companies in Indonesia tend to turn to internal human resources and internal talent acquisition teams before turning to the services of a recruitment agency. By this time, the role would have been vacant for a few months without anyone new being hired.

Recruiters can offer a shorter turnaround for companies to hire through tight and well-controlled processes where the searches, interviews, background checks and salary negotiations all occur within one to two months. Companies that choose to work with recruiters tend to be the most successful in securing quality returning Indonesians they are looking for.
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