Embracing global markets is a key trend and if you need evidence then search and selection consultancy Digby Morgan is establishing a new, dedicated team focused exclusively on exploiting the burgeoning HR opportunities for clients and candidates in the booming market of Dubai and the wider middle-eastern regions. 

“Through this new focus and approach, we will be helping businesses face the HR implications of globalisation, such as getting the right talent in the right place and up-scaling to reflect ‘best practice’. We are working to help bring HR professionalism and methodologies rapidly in line with global corporate standards,” explains Digby Morgan’s CEO and founder John Maxted. The consultancy now employs almost 100 specialist HR recruitment consultants operating on global client briefs in offices from London to Sydney.

Digby Morgan is also celebrating its 20th anniversary and Maxted comments that even though the HR sector has changed beyond all recognition over the last couple of decades when he started out on his own, the main challenge remains the same – recruiting and retaining top talent – yet, there are several other pressing issues that the HR industry needs to be alert to, including: 

• The continuing rise of the business partner as corporates continue to align HR with strategic commercial ambitions.

• The ongoing growth of retained ‘search’ as a recruitment process of choice.

• The inexorable rise of the interim assignment for both strategic and practical reasons. It’s no longer simply about 'filling a gap' in the standard organisational structure but, increasingly, about driving, facilitating or delivering key change programmes.

• Clients are often willing to compromise on experience but they’re not prepared to concede on quality. They are willing to ‘up skill’ the right candidate with the right character in order that they can fit in with their specific business environment and culture. This means that more people are exploiting new opportunities in different industry sectors so we are focussing on candidates who can bring transferable skills relevant for HR.

• People buying into the ‘total reward’ element of a new job. An environment that encourages learning and development and a good quality atmosphere is becoming more important to many candidates than simply the more obvious compensation and benefits. Also, increasingly imperative to candidates is that they work in an ethically minded and active workplace.