by Gary Reeman

Contributing Editor - WIIE

North American wireless solutions vendors entering the European market face a number of challenges in implementing an effective human resource plan in Europe. Successful entrants to the European market have:
 
1.      Communicated a motivating, yet realistic, regional strategy and plan
2.      Articulated the company's differentiators to help win the war for talent
3.      Hired individuals who excel in a remote or virtual working environment
4.      Adopted localized remuneration policies
5.      Implemented an effective onboarding process
 
Taking each of these points in turn:
 

1.      It's crucial that you have a clearly articulated plan, with explicit milestones, to build a business in Europe. And this plan must be pragmatic: considerable time and energy is needed to develop relationships across European carriers and local partners. The European mobile sector is large, diverse and complex - your plan must help your local team to prioritize their efforts.
 
2.      In the war for talent, you must develop a compelling value proposition to explain to potential hires what really differentiates your offering from the multitude of other VC-backed start-ups selling new wireless/multimedia/web 2.0 solutions.
 
3.      Track record and personality traits are key pointers to a successful hire. Competency-based interviews supplemented by detailed verbal reference checks will provide vital guidance on the candidate's ability to thrive in a remote or virtual team.
 
4.      Successful companies have developed remuneration packages suited to the European market. Remuneration packages tend to be structured in Europe with less emphasis on equity participation (as there are fewer tax incentives for stock options in Europe) and with more emphasis on fixed salary than on variable/performance-related pay.
 
5.      Onboarding: As Joe McCool points out in his book "Deciding Who Leads" (www.DecidingWhoLeads.com), integrating new hires into your organisation is one of the key criteria all successful firms need to address. And this is even more crucial when you are hiring one or two individuals who live and work 9-14 hours away from your Head Office by plane (and in a time zone 5-9 hours ahead off you) with no local support network. McCool recommends a 100 day programme encompassing for example training; mentoring; identifying key internal stakeholders; short-term goal-setting to enable some quick wins.

Gary Reeman is the Managing Director at AlpinaSearch www.alpinasearch.com a boutique executive search consultancy who have helped dozens of North American wireless and multimedia solutions vendors to build successful teams in Europe. Gary can be contacted on +44 870 770 1624 (fixed), 44 7752 371330 (GSM) or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it