1. Capacity Building: The Cornerstone of Talent Attraction

Team Development

Invest in your team’s growth by enhancing their abilities to analyze labor market data and convert these insights into effective digital talent attraction strategies. Essential skills include digital marketing, cross-cultural communication, trend analysis, scenario thinking, and data science—ranging from data collection and curation to creating compelling narratives and visualizations for decision-making.

Data Utilization

Deepen your understanding of the international labor market through Talent Intelligence. This includes studies on international talent perceptions and detailed country profiles, which should guide your strategies in cultural alignment, platform utilization for job searches, and identification of key educational institutions.

2. Crafting a Compelling Value Proposition

To attract top talent, thoroughly understanding and embodying your place brand is crucial. This brand, typically used to attract businesses or tourists, must be tailored to appeal to potential professional residents.

Personalize Your Pitch:

• Software: Focus on the emotional aspects that resonate personally with your audience.
• Hardware: Showcase industry opportunities and career development potential.
• Brainware: Promote available jobs and benefits.

Tailor your value proposition for specific groups, such as STEM professionals, by highlighting unique local industry advancements and leveraging insights from perception studies to appeal to different nationalities.

3. Effective Digital Attraction Campaigns

Micro-targeting

Define your target group precisely—whether they are front-end or back-end developers, their level of experience, and their specific skills and qualifications. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of attracting the right candidates.

Content Creation

Develop content that truly engages your target demographic by understanding their preferences and cultural nuances. Utilize diverse media formats across strategically chosen platforms, ensuring that your messaging aligns with what truly resonates with your audience.

Budgeting and Planning

Allocate your budget flexibly to adapt to campaign performance in real-time. This involves daily monitoring and adjustments based on analytics to optimize outcomes.

Team Collaboration

A multidisciplinary team is vital for a successful campaign. Roles like project managers, digital marketers, and talent liaisons are crucial in setting up and optimizing the digital infrastructure and campaign strategy.

4. Branding Aligned with Talent Needs

The specificity of your talent attraction efforts often dictates when and how you should introduce potential candidates to regional benefits. As such, information about specific regions becomes more crucial as candidates move further along in their decision-making process.

5. Encouraging Employer Internationalization

Understanding and aligning with employers’ hiring needs is essential for facilitating international recruitment. This involves working closely with businesses to promote the advantages of hiring international talent and supporting them through the recruitment process.

6. Enhancing Business and Talent Cooperation

Sharing insights between business and talent attraction teams can significantly improve both recruitment and business retention strategies. Joint efforts help align economic development with labor market needs, enhancing overall strategic effectiveness.

7. Considering the Broader Context

National policies and economic strategies play a significant role in talent attraction. It’s essential to align talent management strategies with broader economic and immigration policies to ensure a cohesive approach that supports long-term growth and competitiveness.

8. Action-Oriented Strategies

The insights gained from talent attraction studies are most valuable when applied. Implementing these strategies requires a proactive, action-oriented approach to address current labor market challenges.

9. Challenging Your Assumptions

Regularly reassess your strategies and assumptions to ensure your talent attraction efforts are accurately targeted and effective.

This guide serves as a foundational resource for those looking to enhance their talent attraction strategies. For those interested in deepening their understanding, consider joining the Talent Attraction masterclass coming this September. For more details, feel free to reach out.

Nicole van Haelst, Future Place Leadership

For further inquiries: nvh@futureplaceleadership.com

Want to Enhance Your Location’s Talent Attraction Capabilities?

Understand and implement industry best practices for effectively attracting international talent. Join us for a transformative training session in Stockholm on September 17-18, 2024. Learn the essential strategies to turn your location into a top career destination in today’s global landscape. Sign up here!

The post Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Talent Attraction: A Comprehensive Guide first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

Though Europe has come a long way, it is not yet ready to be the leading talent destination of the world. Despite progress, there are obstacles that leaders and practitioners across Europe must still overcome before the region can call itself the place where the global labour market comes to live, study, and work. An emphasis on ‘living’ is more important than ever in this equation.

At Vienna Migration Conference 2023, we heard repeatedly that countries are facing significant labour shortages. We also heard that many businesses want to look outside their countries, and beyond the EU, to hire needed workers. Those who are already doing so have reported difficulties due to existing policies, framework conditions, and procedures around work permits.

In parallel, the annual meeting of the European Talent Mobility Forum in Barcelona provided an opportunity for myself and other stakeholders to navigate these issues at a practical level. The event convened representatives from governments, regional economic development boards, and cities working with international talent attraction from across Europe.

At both events, it became clear that businesses are hiring, and place stakeholders are heavily engaged and active in this area.  But they are struggling – and they need more support from policymakers to make it happen.

Industry developments

It feels like unprecedented times in the industry as investment promotion, tourism, and talent attraction converge towards the same mission. The foreign direct investor, for instance, now needs to draw on local talent and is often involved in relocating management as well. Modern tourists, meanwhile, increasingly find themselves working remotely, at least informally, through ‘workcations’, and in fact could be considered a potential target in the short to medium term for talent attraction, provided they have a positive experience while visiting. And what about entrepreneurs or start-up companies participating in international accelerator programmes – is it not a great opportunity to retain them in the region once they have graduated?

The conventional image of the ‘expat’ is now obsolete. While the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields are perhaps most associated with talent attraction initiatives, the business community has a more all-encompassing focus in practice, ranging from healthcare professionals to service industry workers and teachers, to name a few. Or, for example, electricians, with the green transition front and centre.

Furthermore, since the pandemic, diaspora engagement has become an even higher priority for places, with individuals living abroad seen as potential returnees to their home countries, investors, and/or working professionals.

Remote and nomad work is both fascinating and challenging from an economic development perspective, where the direct and indirect effects are different and, well, complicated. These arrangements bring opportunities for companies and workers who are seeking to balance their life and career.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how far generative AI, bots, and digitalisation will take us and where that will leave us concerning the skills and competences needed for the future and accompanying talent attraction endeavours.

Choosing Europe?

For global talent, Europe is an option but not the destination for them to live, study, and work. In this context, policymakers, place promoters, employers, and other key stakeholders must ask: Why would Europe be their choice? And what challenges do we need to overcome to be that choice? Here are four key elements that stand out:

Maturity (or the lack of it) among companies in the field of international talent attraction, onboarding, and retention remains a hindrance. Enterprises say they want international talent but often appear unprepared once collaboration with the public sector starts. A lack of competence in this area, the need to wade into unknown territory, and a “this is more difficult than local recruiting” realisation are some of the barriers faced by employers.

True integration means cultural onboarding across all aspects of the life cycle, requiring public and private partnerships. While migration and integration are sometimes perceived more as technical terms related to legal pathways and work permits, we need to emphasise holistic societal inclusion as part of initiatives aimed at relocating and retaining individuals and families.

Attracting skilled workers amid more hostile (political) climates has emerged as a particularly pressing challenge. While some governments are prone to favour locally unemployed and underemployed people and those in need, others are disposed to closing borders entirely – and others fall somewhere in between. Meanwhile, there are no votes in non-voters, and internationals often cannot vote in national elections. Even though politicians generally recognise that relocating workers do not steal local jobs, they create them, embracing this stance is not always politically expedient.

Finally, while Europe is a known quantity generally, it lacks the same branding and appeal when it comes to being a career destination.

What does the data tell us?

At Future Place Leadership, we recently partnered with Linköping Science Park in Sweden on a migration study of 2,600 global talents and 300 companies across Europe. The conclusions serve as prudent recommendations for Europe to elevate its performance in the global talent race.

Work-life balance takes the lead as the main factor influencing people’s decisions on whether to live in another country, followed by general opportunities for developing a career and specific job offers. Places and employers, therefore, need to help each other and focus on enhancing the quality of life beyond the workplace. It is not about the location or the job: It is about both.

Barriers to living in another country, according to respondents, include (in the following order) distance from family and friends, a lack of hospitality, and challenges in (re)building a social life and social network. While the distance hurdle may not be easy to address, societies can strive to make themselves more welcoming communities for newcomers and provide access to people and connections to ease integration.

Our survey found that companies generally claim to be open to recruiting people from different backgrounds and cultures and are positively inclined towards building international workforces. Yet, employers face numerous barriers hindering them from hiring talent from abroad. Long processing times for work permits, language obstacles, and cultural challenges top the list.

Companies need to increase their focus on integration, inclusive language training, and career development opportunities. Many companies, in fact, lack know-how on working with international skills. Illustrating this point, while many responding companies deemed local language proficiency as unimportant in theory, in practice international talent often need these skills, especially if English is not used as the common language in the workplace.

Can we start here?

The labour market is a ‘war’ for talent, placing sought-after individuals in the driver’s seat in putting forward their demands to employers and locales. The talents indeed may have already won: They get to decide what they want, as they are highly sought after by places and employers alike.

The organisations across Europe that we work with increasingly agree: Let’s share talent by aligning labour market supply and demand collaboratively where we can. The intra-EU referral of talent, in this regard, is important, and boasts untapped potential, as does building partnerships across the globe. Talent Bridge Africa, to this end, is a promising initiative attracting strong local interest in Europe and Africa behind a win-win partnership. The goal is to match surplus of talent in Africa in certain industries with local demand in Europe, where the so-called bridge symbolises a ‘two-way street’ of economic benefit for both regions either by knowledge transfer, upskilling, or direct financial benefits.

It is also evident from our data that, as important as economic development is perceived by governments, it is striking that only half of our surveyed countries have a national strategy in place for international talent attraction and retention. That is another area to start.

Can we get back to the future?

The discussion among the pioneers and experts at the European Talent Mobility Forum centred around this quandary: Why is it that, after a decade in the industry of global talent attraction, we are still discussing the same topics? Where is the innovation, where are the solutions, and how can we embark on a future-oriented path if we keep taking one step back instead of two steps forward?

In conclusion – Just do it

Though this commentary opened on a dour note, we know what we need to do and the policies that must be put in place. Collaborative platforms have been established, with much happening at the EU, national, regional, and city levels. It is far past time to get to work fixing migration pathways, branding ourselves to target groups, offering the right soft-landing support, and better including migrants in our societies so they can live the life they want. At the risk of sounding like an old commercial: Just do it.

Morten King-Grubert is a Partner at Future Place Leadership and Founder of the European Talent Mobility Forum.

The post Europe as a hotspot for global talent – Is it ready? first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

Talent Attraction learning journey across Denmark, Sweden, Georgia and Central Africa, by Nicole van Haelst, Senior Consultant in Talent Attraction & Retention

Recently I returned from an exhilarating trip to Copenhagen and Southern Sweden with a bus full of enthusiastic professionals from the Netherlands, followed by a trip to Tbilisi in Georgia. Fact finding journeys. Acknowledging that in this decade, attracting and retaining talent is the key in transforming our economies. Cannot wait to tell you all about it!

Talent Attraction Management has become, like most businesses these days, a data-driven business. Labour market analyses all day, every day: What are the most wanted profiles now and in the future? What drives talent in profession A? What is less relevant for talent in profession B? Talent perception studies generate data on attractiveness of Places. And that data can be used to improve that attractiveness. The eagerness to be included in the Talent City Index proves the assumption that cities increasingly make use of data to optimize their proposition towards talent and investors. The historic and structural scarcity levels on the labour market are only expected to push this development.

Demographics tell all

A Dutch example as given by Jan Rotmans, a transition expert: In just 20 years, only 60% of the total population will constitute the working population. The Netherlands will have some 4,7 million people of 65 years old or over and 1,5 million of 80 years or older. 1 out of every 3 people will have to work in health care to be able to provide the required care and cure. This is not likely going to happen, despite the very best efforts in re- and up-skilling and activation of the labour force. Similar calculations apply to most countries in the west. The most wanted profiles will have to come from other places in the world, at least in part. At the same time, immigration discussions are far from comfortable. I just read a news piece on ‘the risks of employing migrants for the installation of energy solutions’. The Human Capital Agenda has become a priority in most, if not all European economies. Finding solutions to close the gap between supply and demand for talent will benefit from looking beyond the obvious. 

Fact-finding

(Future) place leaders will need to take it upon themselves to actively seek different perspectives. ‘Hej Allihopa!’, a group of 25 professionals working in talent attraction and retention in the Province of Overijssel, Netherlands, embarked on a study trip to greater Copenhagen and Southern Sweden a couple of weeks ago. The warm welcome, the openness and authenticity in dialogues with our local hosts impressed us the most. The embodiment of Nordic values – informal, earnest and plain-spoken. Participants very much appreciated the fact that concepts like ‘cross-border collaboration’, ‘a data driven approach’, ‘social cohesion’ and ‘a transformative government’ have gotten a more profound meaning. The practice of ‘talking with them, not about them’ has been imprinted as an integral part of their programming (personal and professional). They have been energized and feel proud of their region. So they told.

Going to Places to explore and check assumptions is rewarding. Two additional experiences from the last two weeks: a trip to Georgia and launch of the Swedish Talent Attraction Forum. Asking about the Forum’s attributes that add most value to their daily practice, the participants replied: the Q&A session. Being able –  in the informal setting created – to share the challenges they are struggling with and getting immediate ideas that have proven to work, was appreciated most.   

Talent bridging

One of our ambitions is to help set up a talent bridge between Africa and Europe. Earlier this year we explored the design for such a bridge together with a delegation from Berlin Partner. We investigated the talent ecosystem, and it proved out to be mature and inviting (even more than we assumed, check!). Collaboration should be beneficial to both sides. Critical success factor is the readiness of European cities and civilians to adopt African talent in their workforce. In this context it can only be applauded that ‘Africa’ invests in taking the stage in Europe to display the business opportunities and skills they can add. Whilst this ‘onboarding process’ needs time to gain full traction, we are engaging with very interesting regions to the east.  

Last week I returned from a study trip to beautiful Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The goal was to get a better idea of the work done in placemaking and items on their human capital agenda. Georgia is part of the Middle Corridor of what is called the New Silk Road. And this is where geopolitics meets Talent Attraction. Interesting! Due to the war in Ukraine talent and (international) business on both sides of this corridor are looking for alternative destinations for their career and investments respectively.

Over 30 countries make this Middle Corridor, from Western Europe to Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and all countries in between. Due to the unforeseen and unfortunate events in the region, opportunities have in fact opened up for them. Investors and employers are looking for partners and people to grow. In this context, an increase in place branding and acquisition efforts are taking place. The competition is fierce and requires creativity and proven concepts. I met with some very interesting people in the private sector, government and academic world and learned a lot about the drivers of talent, business needs, employer brands and the start-up ecosystem. Some of the energy risks in the west might be addressed by the capabilities available in the east. Sourcing and being sourced. That’s what sticks to me.
Future place leaders in the west benefit from incorporating good practices from ‘unusual suspects’. The countries of the South Caucasus and Central Europe for example. And visa versa. 

Following the business meet ups, my husband and I went on a hiking trip to Mt Kazbek basecamp. Stunning views! He was reading Accidental Superpowers from Peter Zeihan. It made me think: geopolitics, economics, FDI and talent attraction…  Accidental Superplaces! I am a fan of the Middle Corridor. Will definitely do my best to see if we can organize a special edition of the PlaceX conference there.

Soon I am traveling back to Africa and I will be staying there for the ‘festive season’ as the general elections are coming up in Congo. Tumultuous times ahead for the talents in this part of the world. Wishing them a lot of accidental superpower. 

In the meantime, I will seize the opportunity and commit to another episode in the series ‘Demystifying misbeliefs in Talent Attraction Management’. A topic that keeps popping up in my projects is language. To be continued. 

Best,

Nicole

The post ‘Accidental Superplaces’ – A Snapshot on Talent Attraction State of Affairs first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

If you haven’t read it yet, the first article ‘An Introduction: How to Leverage AI & ChatGPT in Talent Attraction?’ offers a simplified overview on the basics of the topic and discusses potential applications.

This article is by Sam Khosravi, Future Place Leadership‘s Data Analyst, and resident smart guy.

ChatGPT and regional promotion

Place branding plays a vital role in attracting businesses, tourists, and residents to a specific region. ChatGPT can significantly enhance place branding efforts by generating engaging content and delivering targeted messaging that highlights the unique offerings of a location. Here’s how:

1. Authentic Storytelling

ChatGPT can create compelling narratives that capture the essence of a region, showcasing its history, culture, and local attractions. By crafting stories that resonate with the target audience, ChatGPT can help establish a strong and memorable place brand. You can essentially generate a brand identity within minutes, which has significant potential particularly for smaller, less known regions and municipalities without big marketing budgets and teams. Yes, building a brand will still require a human marketeer to orchestrate, strategise and manage the project, but ChatGPT can help tremendously where marketing resources are scarce.

2. Tailored Messaging

ChatGPT can analyze audience demographics and preferences to generate customized messages that cater to their interests. This targeted approach ensures that promotional content resonates with the intended audience, increasing the likelihood of a positive response.

3. Multilingual Content

ChatGPT’s ability to generate content in multiple languages enables place branding efforts to reach a broader audience. By breaking down language barriers, ChatGPT can help attract international businesses, tourists, and residents to a specific region.

4. Engaging Social Media Campaigns

ChatGPT can create shareable content for social media platforms, driving engagement and expanding the reach of place branding campaigns. By leveraging popular social media trends and creating captivating visuals, ChatGPT can increase the visibility of a region on a global scale.

5. Real-time Updates and Information

ChatGPT can be employed to provide real-time updates on local events, news, and developments. This ensures that potential visitors, businesses, and residents have access to the most up-to-date information about the region.

6. Virtual Assistants for Destination Promotion

ChatGPT can power virtual assistants that answer questions and provide information about a region’s attractions, accommodations, and activities. By offering personalized recommendations and assistance, ChatGPT can enhance the overall experience for potential visitors and investors.

By integrating ChatGPT into place branding strategies, regions can benefit from AI-generated content and targeted messaging that effectively promotes their unique offerings. This innovative approach can help attract businesses, tourists, and residents, contributing to the overall growth and prosperity of the region.

Interested in utilising AI and ChatGPT in your organisation but not sure where to start or how to go about it? We can help you with that, let’s chat!

The post Regional Promotion with AI-Generated Content and Targeted Messaging first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

A 6 part article series by Nicole van Haelst

We make places great. Why? Because in relocation, assets relating to the living environment are most decisive. Meanwhile, the world of work is broken. The pandemic, geo-political stress, the climate crisis and high speed of digitization fosters tensions on the labour market. Traditional models with a clear divide between home and office are challenged by hybrid and more fluid forms. Remote working and global nomads have become mainstream. The endgame of this transition has not yet begun. 

We try to gauge the full impact of the above developments on the concept of Place. One popular idea is the following:

Employers accept people working from anywhere and so have become less dependent on the reputation of the place in attracting & retaining staff.

True and false? 

True. Place is less relevant for an employer if the majority of the staff works from a preferred location other than the corporate office and distance to work is accepted. In this case work and home have become unrelated and employers shift weight to the employer brand in labour market communications. 

However, an increasing number of employers prefer their staff to check into the office a few times a week (again), for productivity or team building reasons. Since people value the living environment more than the job, employers have all the more reason to work with the city to promote the Place as the most liveable in terms of safety, sustainability, child-friendliness, culture and hospitality.  

Place has gained substantial relevance for the smaller cities and suburbs too. The hybrid forms of work allow for more distance to the business district. And we see great places for the global nomads being promoted …. Such as Madeira successfully does. The (global) competition amongst those ‘second tier’ places – or paradises – has become more fierce.  

‘Place’ still matters and the changing context seems to require a change in response, or question even: What places are more relevant?

OTHER places more relevant

Our customers are mainly European but Places on other continents have gained our interest. No doubt a result of the fact that most of us work remotely from awesome places like Vietnam, Bali, and Colorado to name a few. But, apart from that, more parts of the world have become involved in the war for talent. And as for me – Well I ended up in Congo DRC, the Heart of Darkness in Central Africa. Exotic and remote for sure. Interesting too. 

Africa is mentioned more often in the context of solving the scarcity on the Northern labour markets. The continent as a source. This includes both talent for relocation and remote work. A big topic. Very big. Very complex too. In addition and equally interesting is the topic of Africa as a career destination. The economies of an increasing number of African countries are growing. They too are heavily invested in attracting and retaining talent and skills, nationally and from other parts of the world.

Case: Kinshasa, Congo DRC 

June 2021 I arrived in Kinshasa, visiting dear friend, now husband Roland. And a rollercoaster it has been, personally and professionally. It didn’t take long before my mind started exploring ‘place leadership, talent attraction, Kinshasa, future proof cities and the like. Talking about misbeliefs, assumptions, preconceptions etc. I am in a state of becoming…

Some facts: waste management is at a very early stage development. Kind of non-existing actually. The city is one big poubelle of plastic. Congo DRC is often in the news, mostly negatively as related to the war in the eastern part of the country. Looking at the cultural scene, music and fashion in particular, Kinshasa qualifies amongst the global trendsetters. Capital Kinshasa is home to over 18 million people including over 10 million youngsters.

‘Mutu Fulu’ – towards a more sustainable and inclusive city 

So many needs, so much potential. ‘If you want to make a change, start acting, do, experiment!’ I told myself. It’s the best way to discover what works, how to relate, what the next steps could be. And so the idea of ‘Carnaval de Kinshasa’ was born. Aim is to show the world the extraordinary richness the city has on offer (other than the ‘usual’ raw materials Congo is associated with). Theme: ‘Mutu Fulu’, or ‘Waste is in your head’ in lingala. Approach: raise awareness for the attractiveness of a clean(er) city, in terms of joy of happiness and prosperity for ALL.

Recycled waste is used for art: costumes, installations, dance, music and play. The project builds on the attributes of a true talent hub; human centred design with clear ownership by the people that make up the tribal society DRC is today. Shaka, a local artist with the potential to become world famous, is the project lead. We work as a start up: lean project management and a diverse team. The initial deliverables towards the end goal – the Mutu Fulu festival – are projects in itself and funded (in kind) by the private sector.

Africa’s got Talent

So far, not much different from place making in other parts of the world. It is a marathon, perhaps an ultra-marathon this time. Talent abounds. In numbers and quality. In medical sciences and fashion the Congolese stand out for their creativity. Never realised. People take care of each other and their families. Salaries are shared. A professional will always teach some ‘élèves’. An informal alternative for secondary education. Heart warming and refreshing at the same time. Finding a workable mix between habits and rationale is the biggest challenge so far.

The Mutu Fulu project is progressing. No festival date is set until we have taken some more hurdles. Managing the role of the government for example because it doesn’t always match well with the bottom-up approach. The roadmap to the festival is built on experiments. Our first one was aimed at children and learning whilst playing.

Betona, beto na beto (we, together)

Old Dutch games combined with a masterclass for mini’s on ‘what to do with your waste’ was a huge success. A sneak preview of the potential of a clean street as a space for play. The parents, all proud. The smiles on the children’s faces, true Place Leaders of the future.

And there’s definitely more traction. ‘The Voice of Africa’ started their first season! There you go! And we have just set up an inspiring 10 day program to visit the Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi and Kigali. A fact finding mission for a capital city in Europe. Checking assumptions on the way to increasing mutual access to talent, technology and market.

Culture of curiosity

To find the skills we need for our economies, other places become more relevant. Second tier cities, non urban, non European, non traditional (talent) markets – even Kinshasa! – are on the rise. In exploring the opportunities for collaboration with those new sources and destinations, it’s crucial to be aware of our (cultural) programming. 

We should check the validity of our assumptions and ideas on a regular basis. ‘Cultivate a culture of curiosity that welcomes dissent, challenges the status quo and unlearns the always-done ways and ideas that have gone off like yoghourt in the fridge. It’s the gap between what you know and what you want to know’, as Terence Mauri, founder of Hack Future Lab suggests. 

And to not make it too difficult: if we adopt a talent central, data driven approach we’re on the right track. Knowing what skills we need, what drives people and how to translate this into a great offer, will make the best and brightest want to come to our cities and stay. To study, work and live. As for my (ad)venture in Africa, the story continues. The Place Leaders I work with are happy to co-create in the broader Place making community. ‘Beto na beto’. We, together.  

Read part 1 of the series here: ‘Talent = Student or Top Performer’

Read part 2 of the series here: ‘Employers are the demand side’

Read part 3 of the series here: ‘We know best why we are an attractive place’

Read part 4 of the series here: ‘Government & Talent Agenda: They shouldn’t, they couldn’t’

Read part 5 of the series here: ‘Hires is all that counts’

Read part 6 of the series here: ‘Place is less relevant’

More Talent Attraction news

The post ‘Place is less relevant’ – Demystifying misconceptions #6 first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

“With the East Africa European tech talent bridge, we will work on behalf of both continents to secure that access to critical skills is accessible in a much wider scope than the local market. African talent is rising and highly motivated. Be it fostering internships, employment, entrepreneurship, there is so much both sides can profit from each other. We want to make these opportunities visible, for companies in Europe and in Africa.” – Burkhard Vollbracht, Head of Unit, Berlin Partner and the great instigator behind the Talent bridge.

Berlin is reaching out to other markets for labour and business partners. The beautiful African continent has caught their attention. Think Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Congo DRC. But South Africa and Egypt too.

Mid February I was proud delegation lead for some 20 people joining on a trip to East Africa to learn more about the impressive developments in this innovative African tech hub. 

Berlin Partner has been keen on strengthening the collaboration between international ecosystems, and the focus in this case was: mobility of talent and business opportunities between startups in both East Africa and Europe. This little word ‘both’ is a big one. The guiding principle in setting up this bridging programme. Whatever or whomever we would visit, there had to be takeaways for all joining the conversation.

It was an incredible couple of weeks:

– Understanding amongst others the motivation and drivers from African tech talent in much greater detail
– Explore the challenges / opportunities within entrepreneurship and scale ups in the region
– Discuss the transition into the labor market for young professionals
– In general get a feel for which activities already exist and how they could be improved

And most importantly how a bridge could support and grow the economies across the 2 continents.

We were lucky to have great service providers amongst our delegation: Martin, CEO of Terrasign, a company that knows ALL about rules and regulations in global mobility of business and people. Julian, a seasoned expert in enabling ecosystems, founder of a India – German bridge. Andie from Propel, a pro with worldwide experience in matching digital talent and scaling companies. And David shared a concrete proposal to exchange health professionals at the academic round table with three Kenyan universities joining forces.

The trip would not have been as inspiring without the impressive contribution of the people onsite. A no brainer perhaps but you cannot build a bridge without a solid foundation on the ground. Put Katherina, Brian, Mariam, Kenny, Eric and Laura in the colours of your city and doors open to extraordinary initiatives and contacts in East Africa. We loved to be part of such a diverse team. Study trips – 3 countries (Kenya, Rwanda & Uganda) in 12 days – are very intense by definition. So at the end of a trip like this if you still have energy left for more, you know you are part of a dream team. Talking about two continents creates distance, however all we experienced was great closeness. Cultural differences for sure as well, but in the end we all want the same: be seen and heard. Great ideas deserve nothing less.

Our very own Morten (Director, Talent Attraction) also joined the troops in Kenya, and together we took part in Africa Tech Summit, the Nairobi edition. Who would have thought this study trip would end up in the media? It did! Morten and Stefan Franzke, CEO of Berlin Partner, featuring prime time at second biggest Kenyan TV News, the KTN News!

Read more about the Talent Bridge initiative here.

In partnership with Future Place Leadership, Berlin Partner is a founding member of European Talent Mobility Forum along with city, regional and government leaders from Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. As such, Berlin Partner is already heavily invested in global mobility of talents to and from the startup scene in Europe.

Would your region be interested in looking into a Talent Bridging initiative (maybe starting first with a Study Trip)? We’re ready when you are! Happy to start the dialogue for your region if interested in innovative tech hubs in the less usual suspect parts of the world. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

The Berlin – Africa bridge is definitely under construction!
More news to follow soon…

Ta!

Nicole van Haelst

Senior Consultant, Innovation Hubs and Talent Acquisition

Phone:+31 654980909

E-mail:nvh@futureplaceleadership.com

The post Trip: East Africa European Talent Bridge – Reporting From Nairobi first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

With such an accelerating rate of change, the importance of keeping track of and understanding trends and future scenarios have never been more important, for organisations and places alike.  

This year’s Nordic Place Branding Report will therefore focus on discussing topical trends for places in the years to come, with a view to help you and your place to navigate in a complex, volatile world.        

Here’s a taster of some the trends that the report will look closer at. 

What will we see happening now and in the coming years? 8 trends: 

One: Places will increasingly focus their attention on the good life. Places that are sustainable, healthy, car free and safe, combined with attractive living environments, culture, experience and opportunities for personal development and learning will thrive in the coming decade. The extensive interest in the 15-minute city – where we can reach everything we need in our daily life within a 15-minutes bike ride or walk – can be understood in this context. The pandemic surely gave this trend a push, by changing our values to become more community and family focused.

Two: Place development and digital storytelling need to merge to create a holistic experience of the place. We are approaching the so-called “spatial internet” at a fast pace, meaning that internet will become an increasingly three-dimensional space, not the least through an accelerating use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, and further into the future, metaverse applications. This means that a talent, an investor, or a visitor will be able to experience the place before they move, invest or visit. Places thus need to craft a seamless and coherent place brand identity that looks and feels consistent and credible across the boundaries of the physical place and digital space.   

Three: ChatGPT creates your content and becomes your personal travel guide. Have you heard about ChatGPT? You probably have. It is by now the fastest spread application in the history of the internet. It reached 100 million users in 2 months (it took TikTok 9 months and Instagram 2,5 years to do the same). What impact on places can we expect? First, ChatGPT and image create AI apps will make content creation for marketing and storytelling much easier and cheaper. Anyone can now create great stories, texts and images that can be used to market the place. Secondly, ChatGPT can with ease become your local, personal travel guide, challenging Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs), tourist information centres and travel guides. Imagine strolling around in, say Helsinki, you can ask ChatGPT to give you the story and history of any place or attraction of your interest in the city.  

Four: A desire for digital detox and “Joy of Missing Out” creates a demand for authentic places. Yes, we will see many digital trends accelerate in the years to come. But also trends pointing in the opposite direction. Sometimes we want to unplug and get off the grid. Booking.com’s trend study 2023 shows that many travelers (55%) are looking for off-grid style vacations to escape from reality, and almost half (44%) want their travel experiences to have a more back-to-basics feel. Also, travelers are craving nostalgia and authentic experiences. In the words of Booking.com: “We found that 88% of travellers want nostalgic getaways in 2023 – things like visits to retro film locations, or bus travel to evoke school trips. While almost a quarter (23%) want to disappear into the romanticism of a pre-digital era – even Millennials and Gen Z traveller who never lived it”. 

Five: Place brand, service level and hospitality are becoming the winning recipe for landing big investments. The last few years, a range of Nordic and European locations have landed mega-investments, such as data centres or battery factories. This has triggered a renaissance for investment promotion at the local and regional level, and more and more municipalities and regions are now professionalizing their work with investment promotion. Proactively making land available, and packing the information and data the investor needs, are measures taken by many locations. When everyone is stepping up their game, what will be the deciding factors for investors? Most likely softer factors, like place brand image and which locations that can provide the best service and hospitality to the investor.     

Six: Investment reshoring continues to grow – creating new opportunities for Nordic regions. Reshoring, meaning that corporations bring back production and other functions from remote markets started accelerating in 2020, driven by effects of the pandemic. Other accelerators have been the accumulating perception of risk driven by geopolitical forces of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rapidly changing supply chains due to the growth of clean energy and the risk of China decoupling. Figures from the US show that the total value of reshoring exceeded general foreign direct investment in 2020 and 2021. A study published in the beginning of 2022 showed that over 60% of European and US manufacturing companies expect to onshore or re-shore part of their Asia production in the next three years. What does this mean for Nordic regions? That investment promotion activities should not only focus on firms that are not already in the region but also companies that have operations elsewhere in the world.  

Seven: Talent retention is the new attraction. With accelerating talent shortages in most part of the economy, more and more places invest in helping their employers attract and retain talent. Quite often, there is a one-sided focus on attracting new people, and too little focus on welcoming and integrating those that come. In a study of international students in Sweden that we did for the ‘Switch to Sweden’ project last year we could conclude that the students’ experience of the place during first half year plays an enormous role for their staying prospects and their willingness to spread the word to others. If they are happy, they will gladly communicate this to their peers – meaning that retention is becoming the new attraction.    

Eight: Culture and experiences are replacing retail in city centres. We’ve all heard about the death of the high street. Malls, e-commerce and the pandemic have all contributed to lining up traditional city centre shops for a massive knockout. This begs a very serious question: what are we going to have city centres for, in the future? But there is salvation. A study in Sweden showed that more culture and experiences in the city centres create more turnover for shops, as well as bring social benefits, such as more safety. Investing in more culture and experiences will create both a livable but also more prosperous place.    

Excited to see you at the Nordic Place Branding Conference in May and discuss more!

– Marcus Andersson,

CEO

Future Place Leadership

The post 8 Place Attractiveness, Development and Marketing Trends for the Coming Years first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

One breakthrough in AI (Artificial Intelligence) that has captured significant attention is ChatGPT, which is a powerful language model. ChatGPT has gone from being a fun tool for artificial intelligence enthusiasts to becoming one of the world’s favourite talking points, to soon being a powerful tool incorporated in many different sectors around the world. To make this complex topic more understandable, we will try to provide a simplified overview on the topic and discuss potential applications.

We are already using some of these applications with our clients, so do let us know if you’re interested in leveraging any of them in your region/organisation.

This article is by Sam Khosravi, Future Place Leadership‘s Data Analyst, and resident smart guy.

How Does ChatGPT Work?

When ChatGPT receives a text input (i.e. your question), it identifies the most likely word or phrase to follow, based on the context and its prior knowledge. This process repeats, enabling the model to generate coherent and contextually relevant text. Through repetitive feedback on different answers on different prompts, ChatGPT can learn what answers we like and what answers we don’t.

Examples of ChatGPT in Action in our field

1. Virtual Assistants

ChatGPT can be employed as a virtual assistant, answering questions and providing assistance in a conversational manner. If the user knows how to ask the correct prompts, ChatGPT can be an invaluable time-saver particularly when doing research and swimming through massive amounts of data.

2. Content Generation

ChatGPT can be utilised to generate written content for various purposes, such as articles, blog posts, or social media updates.

In conclusion, AI and ChatGPT hold a lot of potential for transforming the way we communicate, access information, and create content. By understanding the basics of AI and ChatGPT, we can better appreciate and harness the power of this groundbreaking technology.

Ok, so to the good stuff then:

Talent Attraction with AI and ChatGPT

Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT can help organisations find and connect with talented people in new and exciting ways. By using these smart tools we can better engage with potential employees and showcase the opportunities they offer. From screening resumes, scheduling candidate interviews, and supporting onboarding, AI can help at each stage of the candidate experience. Here are some strategies for using AI and ChatGPT to attract top talent:

Customized Job Listings

Generating personalised job listings targeted towards candidates with specific skills and interests. This ensures that job seekers find positions that align with their goals, increasing the likelihood of a successful match and long-term job satisfaction.

Career Path Exploration

Employees can interact with AI chatbots to learn about potential career paths within the organisation. By providing insights into the progression of colleagues in similar roles, AI helps employees visualise their own professional growth and explore opportunities for advancement or lateral moves.

Interactive Company Profiles

AI and ChatGPT can help create interactive company profiles that show off an organisation’s culture, values, and mission. By showcasing what makes a workplace unique, job seekers can get a better sense of whether they would fit in and enjoy working there.

Streamlined Application Process

ChatGPT can be used to create a user-friendly application process, guiding job seekers through the steps and answering any questions they may have. This makes it easier for people to apply and reduces the chances of them giving up halfway through.

Customized Follow-Up Communications

AI-powered tools like ChatGPT can help organizations create personalized follow-up messages for job applicants, making them feel valued and appreciated. This can improve the overall candidate experience and increase the chances of top talent choosing to work for the organization.

Furthermore, after attraction and recruitment, AI can help with the onboarding and development processes of new employees as well, making companies and places more attractive as they receive the proper treatment.

Skill Development Support

AI can identify the skills and education needed for employees to transition into new roles. By offering resources and training opportunities, organizations can invest in their employees’ growth and foster a culture of continuous learning and development.

Personalized Employee Experience

AI-driven tools can help create customized onboarding and training programs for new employees, catering to their unique learning preferences and needs. This tailored approach leads to a smoother integration into the workplace and increased retention.

By using AI and ChatGPT to attract and engage with talented people, organizations can build stronger connections and find the right employees that cater to their needs. These tools can make the talent attraction process more efficient and enjoyable for both job seekers and employers.

Coming soon!

Part 2 of the article will explore the topic of: ‘Elevating Regional Promotion with AI-Generated Content and Targeted Messaging and the impact ChatGPT could have on Place Branding’

The post An Introduction: How to Leverage AI & ChatGPT in Talent Attraction? first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

The last 15 years or so has witnessed intensified competition between places and regions for investments. New places have entered the competition, at the same time as the global pool of investments has been shrinking. European locations have shown a considerably poor inward investment performance in the last decade, but we see the trend slowly changing.

Thus, more proactive pro­motion of incoming investments on both local and regional level will be needed in the future and it needs to take new forms.

Business Attraction Management is an approach to meet the challenges facing place-based investment promotion for cities and regions. As opposed to traditional sales and transaction-oriented investment promotion, Business Attrac­tion Management is a holistic approach to the strategies, processes and activities, aiming at attracting and making full use of inward investment activity. It also integrates the investment promotion efforts of the place with the general growth and innovation agenda.

The cornerstones of Business Attraction Management are four phases, intercon­nected in a cycle. The phases are: Branding, Attracting, Establishing and Growing.

1. Branding of the place can be seen as both the beginning and the end of a self-reinforcing cycle. Building the brand of the place needs to take business attraction into consideration, and the impact that the brand has on the specific target group – potential investors.

2. The Attracting activities are directed at making contact and developing a relationship with specific investors, as well as facilitating the investor’s visit to the locations, and include marketing and packaging, sales and lead generation and one-stop-shop solutions.

3. An agreement to invest leads to the next phase, which is the Establishing phase. Tradi­tionally labelled as after-care, it entails activities like soft landing, and strategic and administrative support such as access to office space and land, networks, talent, innovation hubs and clusters and assistance with permits and licences.

4. Successful establishing, in turn, leads to the Growing phase, which means giving investors access to additional talent, innovation networks and projects and social and professional networks. A thriving and growing investor will make further in­vestments and also become an excellent reference for business attraction, which, in turn, strengthens the brand.

Figure 1: The cornerstones of Business Attraction Management

One key success factor of this approach is to develop the relationship and dialogue with the investing business in all four phases. The more trustful and productive this relationship becomes in each phase, the more effective business attraction activities will become, not only in the given phase but in subsequent phases – and the better the reputation of the place as a preferred location for investment will become.

Investment promotion as a discipline plays an integral role in Business Attraction Management. However, Business Attraction Management is a broader concept, not only focusing on attracting an investment and giving the investing firm due after­care, but also drawing on local and regional strate­gies and policies for making the place attractive to investment-led growth and innovation. As such, policies and strategies for innovation and growth, cluster development and talent attraction play an important role as enablers for business attraction.

More information

Contact Marcus if you want to talk more about how you could improve Investment Promotion in your region.

The post What is Business Attraction Management? first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

In contrast, the Nordic countries have stable and developed economies, access to capital, well developed digital and physical infrastructure, and highly educated and skilled workforces. The Nordic countries are the providers, not the beneficiaries of Official Development Assistance.

It is time to drop the use of the term FDI in the Nordics, since none of the warranted conditions apply. Let’s simply settle for Investment Promotion as a term. Nordic countries still need investments, but if they are foreign investments or not is not the issue.

This is the spirit in which the Nordics can approach Investment Promotion, looking at what we do best, and how investments can ensure that we have sustainable businesses and societies in the future.

Does it make a difference if investment is foreign or not?

Using the term FDI can mistakenly lead to the association that our advanced and stable Nordic economies require foreign capital to start functioning, and that a foreign investment is somehow better than a domestic investment. This is not a truism. However, there are instances when foreign investments make perfect sense. Take the example of a new international technology which can be introduced in the Nordics with a suitable investment, giving the economies access to the technological benefits and the know-how which comes with it. Or the international investment which, once made, opens up export market opportunities enabled by the new investor.

Nordic municipalities and regions need to be aware of why they are seeking foreign investments. Could other Nordic or domestic investors yield the same results? Might we paraphrase the Roman emperor Vespasian, ”domestic money does not smell”?

As the Nordic countries are exploring sustainable investments, the question arises regarding which investors can best cater to the needs.

Investment promotion – Why Nordic municipalities and regions need to do some soul searching

While it is sound advice to municipalities and regions to take stock of their assets and strengths, to formulate clear and attractive place value propositions to potential investor segments, it is also wise to see behind the question of ”what can we offer?”. That other question in terms of investments, is ”what do we need?”.

In the perspective of a local or regional business ecosystem it could be that there are gaps in the value chain/value network which an investor could fill, a new technology which could boost a specific industry, or an infrastucture investment which could enable new processes or business models. The cap in hand approach to Investment Promotion should make way for a more discerning and strategic approach based on what benefits the place.

Especially when it comes to sustainable business ecosystems and societies we need to be more scrupulous and revert to the question of ”what do we need?”.

The role of public sector in investment promotion

The purpose of investments, be they foreign or domestic, is to develop and boost the economy. A healthy and vibrant business environment creates the conditions for good jobs and improved quality of life for citizens, and resilience and competitiveness for businesses.

While the businesses are striving for success with the means at their disposal, they are also part of business ecosystems which can impact their progress. The public sector (national, regional and local governments) is not a party to corporate strategy, but it does have a significant role in the policies and investments which are critical to the development of business ecosystems – investments in digital and physical infrastructure, the availability of skilled labor and talents, and the access to demo sites, R&D and technologies, for example.
The public sector has a unique position when it comes to enabling the systems level of society, in a way that the private sector does not. Most utilities are a case in point, as are nationwide infrastructure for electricity, water, digital access etc.

The public sector has a role when it comes to the sustainable and long term development of business ecosystems by enabling solutions on the systems level.

Mats is the resident consultant in Business & Innovation at Future Place Leadership

The post Opinion – Is it time to drop FDI in the Nordics? By Mats Segerström first appeared on Future Place Leadership.