The Futurist: Fishing for the right talent

Successful recruitment is about in-depth conversations, and new technologies aren't able to help consultants understand candidates better, says Fabien Guerin, founder and CEO of Talent Fishers.

Many business leaders believe that Asia will spearhead the global economic growth for decades to come. Organisations from around the globe are hoping to get a slice of the Asian market, making it one of the hottest destinations for top talent.

Talent Fishers was set up in 2007 in China to cater to a growing demand from foreign-invested companies for human capital solutions in Asia.

When conducting a cross-cultural search, matching candidates to the right position is not enough. We don’t only find the right candidates, we are here to advise clients on the best practices for Asian markets.

The mission of Talent Fishers is changing people’s lives by offering them better career and better responsibilities, and we change a company’s future by finding the right people for the right roles, enabling the company to better develop.

With the use of the latest technology such as databases, job boards and social networks, a huge amount of time is being saved in extracting data on suitable candidates, but Talent Fishers is committed to taking things to the next level.

We believe having in-depth conversations with our candidates puts them in the best position to be successful, and these new technologies are not able to help consultants understand candidates better.

Our consultants ask candidates the right questions to learn about their professional backgrounds and find out who they really are and what they really want in life.

When conducting a search, understanding the organisation is just as important. Every company has a different culture, DNA and history. We combine all those factors to match an individual who fits in with the organisation’s culture and DNA at the right time.

Sometimes, the most talented individual might not be the best fit for a specific role at a specific time.

For our consultants to get to know the candidates, a face-to-face meeting is often the best way to communicate. With that being said, I believe technology such as virtual reality will bring a huge impact to the executive search landscape by allowing individuals to hold in-depth conversations without having to be seated in the same room.

I hope with VR technology, I will be able to interview candidates from overseas with the same quality of interaction as we have sitting in the same room.

In today’s business world, people are more prone to move to explore another culture. As a result, I foresee top talent from different backgrounds gathering to work in an expertise hub.

There will be different expertise hubs set up around the world and I think Hong Kong is an interesting place for financial services-related functions to set up an expertise hub.

The June 2017 issue of Human Resources magazine is a special edition, bringing you interviews with 12 HR leaders, with their predictions on the future of HR.

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