For 9 years of my life, I worked in the talent brand and recruitment marketing side of talent acquisition for global companies. Yet I did it from the comfort of my hometown in Guadalajara, Mexico. I had the chance to learn from some of the best in the industry. However, I knew my region was different. I always knew that there was something special about being a talent brand professional in Latin America.

As I’ve been looking for my next career opportunity and doing freelance consulting in the region, I’ve realized just how different the realities were of being in employer brand in this part of the world compared to other parts across the globe. Resistance to innovation, a profound love of the past, and misunderstanding how people work has curbed the growth of our industry in my neck of the woods.

Looking for Jacks and Jills of All Trades

Though my first search for employer brand roles near me turned out a few results on LinkedIn, I was surprised that none of them featured the words “talent brand” or anything similar in the job titles. They were all titles such as “HR Manager” or “HR Director” with job descriptions that were a laundry list of tasks associated with HR — everything from payroll to learning and development. Only toward the bottom was there some mention of employer brand, almost as an afterthought. I spoke with some industry colleagues in Mexico and learned that talent brand is something they sometimes do.

Sometimes they remember to post on their social channels. They admit that their content is lackluster because it’s made by overworked HR professionals trying to be designers and social media managers while also tending to a myriad of HR tasks. 

So, can we build effective talent brands in Latin America?

Creating the Value Proposition

I recently did some consulting for a local tequila distillery with over 200 employees. Their main problem was that they had a lot of openings, but their time-to-fill for anything not production related was up to six months. I asked a simple question. “Where are you publishing these openings?” The answer? “We’re not.” Recruiting for them is done entirely through employee referrals and word of mouth. This is probably because their talent acquisition team is one person trying her best to deal with up to 50 to 60 job openings at the same time. The owners have preferred referrals because they come with a built-in reference.

The company assumed that because they are an up-scale brand people would flock to them, which was not true. This particular brand of spirits was a luxury product, so even most Mexicans would hear the name and say, “Who?” I’ve worked for some very up-scale companies with a very wide level of influence. I learned that if you’re not putting your brand out there, both as a consumer brand and as an employer brand, and if you’re just relying on referrals from the employees you already have, some roles will be impossible to fill.

My advice? They need to trust people outside the borders of their confident circle, and they need to start marketing.

To address the company’s current opening for a developer with experience in Python, I started by talking with two people from the IT team and three people from other areas of the company. The IT employees knew people, but none of them were really in the job market. People outside of IT had no idea what Python was. One person even asked why we were looking for snake handlers. I then did a quick search on LinkedIn. In three seconds I found hundreds of Python experts in the area. 

The company is finally expanding their TA team; and I’m continuing to train them on attracting and finding the talent they need.

Ditch Discrimination

When I started looking for this type of job, I created a new resume that includes a picture. A lot of my US-based colleagues asked why. The answer made me sad. I told them that in Mexico some people believe that the way you look has something to do with how good you are at your job. Similarly, job descriptions and job postings often include an age limit such as “25 to 35 years old.” For industry-research purposes, I’ve asked hiring managers if they would hire a great candidate who also happened to be 36 years old. The answer is always “Yes!” If that’s true, then why include it in the job descriptions?

Surprisingly it’s because HR professionals are overworked jacks-of-all-trades that honestly don’t have the bandwidth to review job descriptions that are, at times, more than 10 years old.

When I see an age requirement on a client’s job description, I share that it is completely unnecessary, and l also flag it for being awfully discriminatory. Being inclusive is good for business and good for everyone. Down here, we are just learning that.

Provide Above the Law

It may be surprising, but a lot of Latin American countries have very good protection and worker’s rights. For example, profit sharing is a law in Mexico. However, these apparent benefits are not benefits at all. Yes, being employed guarantees you access to the public healthcare system, but the reality is that it’s a system that’s lackluster and where it can sometimes take months to see an appropriate doctor.

Therefore a company has to ensure that their benefits package is better than the ones guaranteed by the law. Candidates will run away from roles that only offer government-endorsed benefits but will stay for proper medical iInsurance or work/life balance.

Once a company goes above the law for you, you never forget. Though I was recently laid off by Oracle because of cost-cutting due to COVID-19, I’d still recommend them as a great place to work. Here’s just one reason: They went above the protection that the law guaranteed me by offering an outplacement program to help me find my next role and created a great experience in these trying times. That’s something nobody forgets, and that’s what builds a brand.

So, while EB in Latin America is still basically in diapers, global exposure to the field and a selected group of talented professionals are slowly building up in order to create something that benefits both the business and the employees. Shall we go for a part 2?

About Our TBA Member Manuel Angel

Manuel Angel is a talent brand and marketing professional based out of Guadalajara Mexico, with nine years of experience in the business. He’s helped companies such as Hewlett Packard and Oracle create, grow, and evolve their employer brands. He is passionate about building great teams, elevating people so they reach levels beyond what they ever imagined and innovating in the field of candidate experience. He also thinks he’s funny and does stand-up comedy from time to time.