Talent Management, Recruitment, and Retention in Brazil

As one of the rapidly growing Bric nations, companies are targeting Brazil as a key vehicle for future growth.

This is driving a corresponding increase in recruitment at all levels. According to figures from the latest Antal international recruitment report, all countries in the Americas are currently registering at least 60 percent hiring activity at a professional and managerial level.

Finding and retaining the talent needed to fill these positions is not an easy task. HR departments consistently report a lack of skilled workers, while turnover rates have traditionally been high.

Although signs suggest this is improving, companies still have a challenge on their hands to build the human capital which will allow them to capitalize on the growth being seen in the Brazilian economy and its future potential.

Finding Skilled Workers

In contrast to developed markets, where high unemployment has opened up a large pool of skilled workers, emerging markets are struggling as growth rates rise and unemployment falls.

According to figures from Grant Thornton, more than two in five businesses in the Bric countries think the lack of skilled workers is affecting their growth, compared to 23 percent in the G7. In Brazil, 50 percent of firms see the lack of skilled workers as a major concern.

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This sentiment was echoed in the Annual Global CEO Survey from PwC, which found 76 percent of CEOs are worried about skilled labor and how this equates to their overall talent management strategy.

Seventy-four percent of those polled said a lack of career progression was holding their organization back, while 66 percent said greater efforts should be made to integrate young people into the workforce, IT Decisions reported.

To combat this, 74 percent of respondents said they were looking to employ a greater number of financial benefits, such as training overseas, 60 percent were looking to put in place stronger talent retention strategies and 60 percent looked to create partnerships with the government.

Holding on to labor remains a continuing challenge, with Brazil having among the highest rates of employee turnover in the world, according to figures from the recruiter Monster.

Boosting Recruitment

For some, the answer to the challenge of finding skilled workers is to look outside of Brazil.

More Latin American companies are looking to bring talent in from India, Mydigitalfc reported. The trend is particularly being seen for professions in the construction and oil and gas industries, the latter of which is poised for significant growth in Brazil in the coming years.

Sunil Goel, director of executive search firm GlobalHunt, told the news provider: "A lot of new age businesses have taken a large shape in Indian market and experienced Indian professionals from these new areas are very much in demand and are very valuable in different countries, particularly these newly developing countries.

"So, in totality, demand of Indian managers has been increasing by 15-20 percent every year

However, Brazil has traditionally been largely closed to foreign workers, which make up a much smaller proportion of the workforce, and there are also advantages to bringing local skills into the organization from the off to make the transition easier if the enterprise is just starting out.

Those organizations hoping to attract the top talent must also use the latest recruitment techniques and present the right employer brand.

Latin America has firmly embraced social media and Brazil is leading the way in terms of online friends, according to data from TNS. The global average is 120 online friends, while Brazilians have on average 231 friends.

"For social networks, Brazil continues to be the leader in the use of almost all forms of social media, not just in Latin America, but the world," the report said, adding local network Orkut is named as the most popular.

HR departments must realize the potential this holds for opening up a new line of communication with top talent in the country, as jobseekers move online and look to engage with companies before they even submit a CV.