"Offering packages slightly above local market averages attracts the right talent"

• Isabel Strijland, Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder of Acelr8, explains that hiring globally is also about understanding the requirements and benefits of hiring in different locations.
• She highlights the “importance of partners like Teamed in navigating global hiring complexities”.

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Isabel Strijland, Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder of Acelr8, is transforming how companies hire. Acelr8's mission is to make quality hiring seamless by deeply

integrating with clients, making their talent partners an extension of the client's team. By embedding into recruiting teams from the start, Acelr8 leverages market insights to ensure a perfect fit.

Isabel identifies the top three factors attracting top talent: flexibility, purpose, and strong compensation. "Flexibility has become incredibly important," she notes. "There's also a significant need for purpose in people's roles, especially among our generation." Competitive pay reflecting employees' value and expertise is also a key factor. Isabel states, "Understanding the local market averages and potentially offering slightly above those rates can help attract the right talent."

"Align your benefits packages with these values while conducting diligent market research to stay competitive in each region. This approach ensures that you meet both regulatory requirements and employee expectations, fostering a cohesive and attractive benefits package," she adds. To build the right remote team, Isabel recommends: "When hiring remotely, set clear targets and expect independent work."

Additionally, Acelr8 prioritises diversity and inclusion (D&I) from the start. "It's important to have a diverse interview panel to ensure candidates feel included."

Isabel also stresses the role of AI in recruitment: "Training that AI muscle allows recruiters to spend more time engaging with the right candidates, focusing on the human aspect."

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Highlights from Isabel

• Our mission is to make quality hiring seamless, by embedding our talent partners into (recruiting) teams, making our talent partners an extension of their team.
• Get hiring right from the start with our recruiting team's market insights.
• Flexibility, purpose, and strong compensation are key to attracting top talent.
• Design benefits packages based on local market averages to attract top talent, meet regulations, and align with employee expectations.
• Set clear targets and expect remote talent to work independently.
• Having a partner like Teamed is crucial in navigating these complexities.
• Understand the requirements and benefits of hiring in different locations.
• Prioritise diversity and inclusion (D&I) from day one with a diverse interview panel.
• Integrating AI allows recruiting specialists to focus more on engaging with the right candidates.

The commitment to innovation, inclusivity, and excellence is transforming how companies attract and retain top talent globally. Discover how Isabel Strijland’s insights and strategies are reshaping recruitment in our full interview.

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Full Interview

What makes Acelr8 stand out from other agencies?

The word "accelerate," which we often use in business development and client calls, highlights how we can speed up your hiring process. Though it's spelled uniquely, it embodies our mission to accelerate recruitment.

What sets Acelr8 apart from other agencies is our team of talent partners who deeply integrate with our clients. This means they work remotely or visit the client's offices to manage the entire recruitment cycle. They don't just fill positions—they immerse themselves in the client's culture, understand their products, and grasp their specific hiring needs. This thorough approach ensures we bring in talent that not only fits the job requirements but also aligns perfectly with the company's culture and long-term goals.

Additionally, we apply this model to our executive search services. Our executive partners collaborate closely with clients to understand the nuances of each role, evaluate candidates effectively, and create scalable hiring processes. By doing so, we challenge traditional agency methods with our embedded approach, providing a seamless and enriched experience for both candidates and companies.

In essence, our talent partners become an extension of the client's team, working from within to ensure a high-quality recruitment process. This embedded model is not just about filling vacancies—it's about building lasting relationships and ensuring the right fit for both the candidate and the company. This is how we consistently deliver exceptional results and stand out in the recruitment industry.

You mention in your values, "Get your hiring right." Could you elaborate on this statement? Additionally, what aspects of traditional recruitment do you believe need improvement?

We have our mission, or the families that we have in the business, is to really get hiring right for our clients. And I don't think it's anything new or groundbreaking, but it's so needed to really give recruiting a seat at the table and make it a strategic partner in who you bring on board, how many headcount you have, and at what levels. I think too often recruitment is seen as a service center that just executes whatever is told by the people team, the C-level team, or a founder when companies are a bit smaller. 

But it's so important to involve the recruiting team from those first conversations about who to hire because they have insights on the market. They know what kind of skills and what kind of talent is available, and they can really also say if certain goals are realistic and if it's actually needed to hire that team in the structure that is proposed as well.

And we do that with a lot of our clients by being embedded. We also are part of those conversations, and with that, we sort of try to change hiring one company at a time and implement the right recruiting practices and processes. And with that, we should have a strong outcome, on the other side, with some great talent joining the company and making your business a success.

What are the top three things that attract the best talent today?

Flexibility has become incredibly important, especially after the pandemic. Many companies shifted to remote or hybrid models, giving their employees the freedom to work at different times and from various locations. This trend is now common among the tech startups we work with.

In this environment, there are still many jobs that require being in the office. However, the tech startups we collaborate with often hire talent remotely and offer this flexibility.

Additionally, there's a significant need for purpose in people's roles, especially among our generation. Work is no longer seen as separate from life but as an integral part of it. People want to engage in meaningful work that benefits others or contributes to the well-being of the planet. We see this a lot when hiring for green tech and AI companies, which attract talent driven by a sense of purpose.

Lastly, strong compensation packages are crucial. Candidates are now more informed than ever about salaries, thanks to numerous platforms that compare compensation data worldwide. You can no longer mislead talent about their worth. Companies need to offer competitive pay that reflects the value and expertise of their employees. In this context, comprehensive compensation packages can make a significant difference.

In the context of setting up employee benefits packages, how can companies effectively account for the differences in regulations and expectations across various countries?

Effectively accounting for differences in regulations and expectations across various countries when setting up employee benefits packages requires a multi-faceted approach.

Firstly, it's important to consider the type of company and the culture you want to establish. For fully remote companies operating across Europe, where location is less of a concern, it's beneficial to create packages that are averaged based on country-specific standards. For example, a well-known remote company, Hotjar, employs this strategy by hiring both full-time employees and freelancers, yet maintains a leveling approach to salaries to ensure fairness and alignment across different regions.

For companies targeting specific regions for their hires, conducting thorough market research is essential. Understanding the local market averages and potentially offering slightly above those rates can help attract the right talent. This strategy not only ensures competitiveness with local companies but also aligns with the company's compensation culture and values.

In summary, begin by defining your company’s compensation culture and values. Align your benefits packages with these values while conducting diligent market research to stay competitive in each region. This approach ensures that you meet both regulatory requirements and employee expectations, fostering a cohesive and attractive benefits package.

What do clients usually ask for when they want to hire international talent?

Clients now ask for candidates to be very skilled and highly autonomous, especially with the rise of remote work. With access to talent from various locations, clients can tap into a wide range of skills that students and professionals bring from different places. Autonomy is vital here because, when hiring remotely without a local office, companies need to set clear targets and expect their talent to work independently.

For example, we worked with a co-op, a French startup based in Paris. They quickly realised that their engineering talent was spread across Europe. We helped them identify the right markets, conduct market mapping to find niche roles, and ultimately hire ten people across Europe. This approach went against the traditional French startup model of staying local, making it an international company. We guided them through the process, one hire at a time, ensuring they could manage their remote talent effectively.

How do you handle the challenges of hiring globally, and how do you solve them?

Hiring globally presents a unique set of challenges, and having a partner like Teamed is indispensable in navigating these complexities. Each country has its own requirements for hiring, as well as specific benefits you must offer or can offer. When conducting market mapping, it's not just about sourcing talent or identifying challenges; it's also about understanding the requirements and benefits associated with hiring in different locations.

For example, if you're looking to hire for sales roles in Spain, you need to be aware of the legal requirements, the benefits you can offer, and what is prohibited. This allows you to make informed decisions. We're currently working with a fintech company to identify where to hire German-speaking talent both within and outside of Germany. Given the high demand for German talent in Germany, we're exploring other parts of Europe for German speakers who can meet the company's needs.

This process involves more than just identifying talent sources; it also includes evaluating whether it makes sense to open a remote office there or hire through providers like Teamed.

Another critical aspect we've learned from working with our clients is to prioritise diversity and inclusion (D&I) from day one. Taking hiring seriously means taking D&I seriously, which can be challenging initially but is essential. Making D&I a priority means integrating it into every step of your hiring process.

This includes defining what diversity and inclusion mean for your company, incorporating these principles into skill assessments and hiring criteria, using inclusive language in job descriptions, and being flexible with skill requirements to attract diverse candidates. It's also important to have a diverse interview panel to ensure that candidates feel included.

Additionally, implementing strategies like gender quotas can help ensure diversity in your hiring pipeline. For instance, if you're hiring an engineer, you might aim for a 50% male and 50% female pipeline before making a decision. Every step in the recruitment and hiring process should incorporate D&I principles to ensure a truly inclusive approach.

What are your insights on the current effectiveness of AI recruiting systems?

I think for recruitment, it's really a must. I'm really happy that ChatGPT went with the strategy they did, where everyone is using it—from our recruiters internally to my mother at home. This widespread usage has raised literacy in AI, similar to how smartphones familiarised people with touchscreens. Now, people are starting to understand how to use AI in their daily lives and work.

At Acelr8, we actually have a working group with some of our talent partners who are very excited about AI. They experiment with new AI tools, dive deep into ChatGPT, and develop use cases for how to best utilise AI in recruitment. It's about training that AI muscle and knowing how to integrate it into your work.

I don't think AI will replace any roles in recruitment. Instead, recruiters who can effectively work with AI will outperform others. AI can handle repetitive tasks, research, sourcing, and outreach, leading to a higher quality pool of candidates. This allows recruiters to spend more time engaging with the right candidates, which ultimately benefits both the recruiters and the candidates. When set up correctly, AI can ensure candidates are better informed and communicated with throughout the process.

Additionally, how do you envision their evolution and impact over the next five years?

You see a lot of recruitment agencies and teams already applying various AI tools. I think there's definitely an overload of tools at the moment. It's important to find a few that really fit your workflow and ensure your team fully adopts and uses them daily.

In the next five years, I envision these AI tools improving significantly. They will increasingly handle repetitive tasks, reducing the workload for recruiters. This will allow recruiters to focus more on the human aspect, which is crucial for both candidates and companies.

As AI continues to evolve, it will enhance efficiency in the recruitment process, enabling recruiters to provide a more personalised and engaging experience. This shift will ultimately benefit the entire recruitment ecosystem by fostering better matches between candidates and companies.

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After global recruiting what is next?

The future of global employment is all about seamless integration and strategic partnerships. This is why we work closely with recruiting agencies like Acelr8, who excel in finding and placing the right talent. Once the ideal candidate is hired, we step in to manage the employment process, ensuring a smooth transition and seamless experience for both the client and the employee.

At Teamed, we handle the entire employment lifecycle effectively, from onboarding to compliance, payroll, and benefits. All supported by personalised and dedicated assistance for both employees and companies. That's what makes our TeamedDifferent, a key factor that sets us apart from the rest.

As Isabel's insights confirm, flexibility is crucial, especially in today’s global work environment. We support remote work models, enabling clients to attract top talent from anywhere in the world.

Ready to transform your workforce and harness the power of global talent? Connect with Teamed today!

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