Brien Keegan is Business Manager of LINK Recruitment's Auckland office, which opened in January 2008. With experience recruiting in both New Zealand and Australia, Brien blogs about returning home to open LINK Recruitment's first New Zealand office at http://godzonejobs.wordpress.com
Like many Kiwis, I packed my bags and left New Zealand three years ago to explore another country and broaden my experience in the recruitment industry. Also, like many Kiwis, my intention was always to return home and settle down.
My experience overseas actually gave me the opportunity
to bring my workplace home to open an Auckland office for my employer in Australia: LINK Recruitment.
Tapping this need for employees to experience overseas hot spots, such as the UK and Australia, is just one of the techniques that New Zealand organisations can use to address the much-debated skills shortage or 'brain drain'.
Business leaders recognise that the days are long gone when employees joined the organisation after graduation and left at retirement.
Canny employers are now building this change to New Zealand's workforce into their strategic HR planning by ensuring employees leave with their blessing and maintain a relationship during their time overseas.
This investment in the future talent of the business can mean the organisation is the first employer that former employees call when they return to New Zealand.
The key for HR managers and business leaders is to stop viewing "length of employment" as a single block of experience and by not penalising employees who choose to take time out from the organisation.
After all, many expats return home with not only valuable vocational experience and an expanded skill-set, but the maturity and independence that come with living abroad. This experience will almost certainly require a rethink of where they fit into the business beyond their previous position.
LINK Recruitment is successfully tapping this rich vein of experience for our own business through what we call our 'Boomerang Club', a mentality throughout our whole organisation that recognises staff who have left and then returned.
This mentality sees our department managers keep in touch with former staff they wish to attract back to LINK Recruitment. Some former employees have even become clients through this strategy or have helped source global talent through the worldwide network.
A strategic retention strategy such as this can help your business by securing its links with talent in the marketplace. Coupled with recruitment strategies, such as sourcing candidates both locally and globally, it ensures that all the doors are open to the talent that you need to keep your business moving and thriving, no matter what the market conditions.
