David Tynan Head of Research, Swann Global.

 Accessing New Talent Pools

The Financial Crisis of the past two years placed great pressure on the minerals and heavy engineering industries.  This was particularly true for companies without interests in “trend bucking” regions like China or oil the based economies of the GCC.  Commodity prices fell, credit was tightened and preserving cash became an imperative.  This meant that operations that were not delivering revenue were scaled back.  Capital works projects, exploration and price critical operations were the first affected by this trend.

To the general relief of investors and economists everywhere the resource and heavy industries seems to have entered a phase of recovery.  With this recovery, however, we have begun to bump up against issues that plagued the boom years.   Among the most important of these issues is the finite number of quality industry professionals required to service an ever growing number of operations.  The consequence of this is an on-going battle to attract talent while maintaining sustainable remuneration expectations.

What is the best way to manage this issue?  Personal networks are useful but ultimately limit the range of skills and talent that can be tapped to known associates.  This in turn limits access to fresh ideas and the ability to bench mark against the wider industry.  Using recruitment services within the countries where the major operators are based (The Americas, the UK, Australia, South Africa, China etc) is essential but competition for candidates in those region is also the most intense.

A solution to these issues may come from accessing candidates from outside the major spheres.  Countries such as the Philippines in South-East Asia, Poland in Eastern Europe, Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia and a number of countries across Africa have established minerals industries with internationally experienced engineers and mining professionals and competitive salary ranges.  Hiring outside the major mining bases presents its own challenges.  A cultural fit with the hiring company needs to be assured and language barriers can create obvious issues.  Add to this the difficulty of tracking down and assessing candidates in lesser known regions with underdeveloped communication networks and the prospect may seem too difficult.

These problems can, however, be overcome.  Regional networks are difficult to build, but once they hit a critical mass, top talent becomes much easier to view.  Understanding cultural fit is more difficult at a distance but with experience and rigorous assessment in consultation with the client a clear picture may be formed.  Wide and incisive reference checking along with exhaustive research into the candidate’s current company and qualifications must be the backbone of this process.  Language barriers are also examinable through intensive interviewing and practical assessments.

The major requirements here are the expertise and network needed to find high quality candidates in new regions and having the resources to undertake an assessment that will often be far more time intensive than in the major mining bases.  It is in this process that the cross-regional networks and professional services of Swann Global present real value.