Volatility in the career marketplace has been immense following the pandemic, from unemployment comparable to the great depression, all the way to “the great resignation” where large percentages of workers changed jobs, roles, or managers.
This has caused the work world to see an unprecedented renaissance, and in turn, has driven employers to recruit help for their employee recruitment—explaining why over 98% of fortune 500 companies use recruitment software. This isn’t the only growing trend, as the job market has also become amalgamated and globalized because of the increased normalcy of remote and hybrid work. According to a Mckinsey survey conducted this past June, when people have the chance to work flexibly, 87% of them take it.
This is blending the lines, and making for a global employee/employer ecosystem where a person could be employed in one country, and live in another. As a result, digital nomad cityscapes are growing across the globe, and recruitment platforms are rooting down to help tap into this increasingly international employment market that they can be a conduit to, helping both employees and employers explore new opportunities.
Let’s take a look at how one of the largest sources of employment in the world, Talent.com, is developing its global recruitment platform by expanding its coverage to Colombia, and what that will mean for the career market in the country.
Colombia: A Growing Market
Colombia’s growth in the past 20 years shows that the country has both a solid and diversified economy, and in 2021 its economy skyrocketed with a 10.6 % increase in Gross Domestic Product. Traditional products such as coffee and oil had much to do with this noteworthy jump, but services, consumer goods, technology, and logistics are some of the industries that are growing at a healthy rate as well.
The Colombian economy has a lot of fertile ground thanks to its higher education system. The quality of the Colombian higher education system stands out compared to other countries in the region and salaries are also more competitive against other Latin American (LATAM) countries. With better education, there is a better talent pool which leads to healthy competition in the job market. As companies from all over the world are looking for Colombian candidates to join their teams, the remote work world is steadily growing in the area.
Today, the Colombian job search market is concentrated in a few cities, one of which is its bustling capital city, Bogota, followed closely by Medellin—which is a growing digital nomad metropolis in its own right. The Colombian job market is still in need of country-wide accessibility and diversification, and this is where hiring platforms can come in and make a difference.
Image Credit: Joel Duncan, Unsplash.com
“In Colombia, we see companies spreading their job vacancies across many websites (job agencies, job boards, and ATS) with no control over where these opportunities are being distributed,” said Sebastian Dominguez, VP of Sales LATAM for Talent.com.
As one of the largest sources of employment in the world, Talent.com’s platform aims to centralize all jobs on the internet and improve the job search experience with personalized search results and an easy application process. For candidates, this translates into a better, more streamlined experience, for free. For businesses, it helps them find candidates no matter their budget, number of job openings, or technological capabilities—something that will drastically help Colombia’s market which is still developing and lacking resources.
Available in 77 countries and working with an extensive network of publishing partners, they have adaptable solutions that are applicable to the needs of small businesses all the way to enterprise clients. This allows Colombia, which is one to watch in business in LATAM as well as globally, to make up for lost ground and catch up with its more mature counterparts.
“With Talent.com, companies have all their job postings are aggregated in one place able to see across channels as their jobs are distributed in a way that ensures they are seen by the right candidates,” Dominguez continued. This will help evolve the practices of recruitment marketing in Colombia, opening a door for growth in the business sector that could even lead to more success for growing enterprises and increased opportunities for entrepreneurs.
A New Stepping Stone in The LatAm Career Market
Education will be key to growing both small and large players in the Colombian business market and several initiatives have already been made to help improve education and resources. Back in 2009, the city of Medellin established Ruta N—a program aimed at improving the quality of life of its inhabitants through Science, Technology, and innovation. These efforts by the government are being made to try and help Medellin catch up with the capital city Bogota. Even more recent endeavors such as the Software Valley Centers that are being placed in different developing neighborhoods are also being used to help improve employability conditions in underserved areas.
But having access to technology doesn’t mean that business-driven individuals and companies know what to do with it, and Talent.com hopes to be an entity to help accelerate education for Colombia’s talent acquisition realm. By hosting events such as forums and speaking events that educate on the importance of recruitment marketing, the company plans to train businesses in the best practices of recruitment marketing. Lessons will include the differences between an ATS and a recruitment market platform, orientation on the management of recruitment marketing campaigns, and much more.
“In order to be able to become an authority on the subject, Talent.com is willing to educate the main players on the importance of strategies for their recruitment techniques so the rest of the market will follow,” continued Dominguez. “Education is key”.
With a vision to grow a bigger presence in Colombia, they have been participating in events like the Talent Acquisition Summit hosted by LHR, which was the first conference in Latin America focused on talent recruitment. With efforts to connect with influential players in the industry, the company hopes to foster relationships with different parts of the Colombian business ecosystem and not only grow its presence but help energize the country’s career marketplace.
Talent.com started with a soft launch via a cocktail event in Bogota to officially launch their product in Colombia. The event was an opportunity to interact with the biggest and most influential enterprises in Colombia such as Teleperformance, P&G, Itaú, GBS Scotiabank, Banco Falabella, Makro Group, as well as players already existing in the HR ecosystem. With this lay of the land, they hope to help LATAM’s still young and developing market familiarize itself with the importance of recruitment marketing for a growing business landscape.
Image Credit: Talent.com
This landmark event was only the beginning of Talent.com’s presence in Colombia, however.
They plan to host many more networking events in the future to become the #1 reference for the recruitment market in LATAM, especially in Colombia as it is one of the top, and one could argue most rapidly emerging, markets. Already present with an office of more than 200 employees in Medellin, Talent.com should be on local and international companies’ radars as a next-generation leader for talent development and indexation in Colombia.