Beyond its economic and political implications, globalization is having repercussions on the executive talent market not only in Venezuela but in the whole region. On the one hand there is a great demand for executives; however it’s very difficult to attract them. This makes talent search a complicated task for both companies and consulting firms.

What competences are required to work in environments like the Latin American one?

The executive work environments present contradictory situations: rationality mixed with irrationality, old-fashioned with novelty, futurism with backwardness, and uncertainty and lack of visible rules. The executive must be in keeping with those tendencies while he works in both a local environment and a global one. He needs to have not only technical competences so as to assure business profitability or achieve organization objectives but also a good knowledge of his environment and its different actors.

A study carried out by Antonio Frances, professor at the Administration Higher Studies Institute (IESA, www.iesa.edu.ve) in Caracas (Review Debates IESA, Vol. XI, Number 1, January-march 2006) presents some key competences the executive must possess:

• Multicultural knowledge. The executive must understand a multinational enterprise’s culture and have the ability to adjust it  
  to local requirements.

• Fluency in English, in addition to his native tongue, as well as knowledge of other languages.

• Know how to deal with the gap between global high-tech and local needs.

• Know how to adapt products and services to meet the market’s different segments’ requirements. In Venezuela and the
  whole region there is a very high percentage of low-income families. The executive needs to implement mechanisms to reach
  those markets.    

• With the global market’s dynamic decisions to take advantage of the countries’ competitive advantages, such as labour
  force and raw material, the executive must be able to take part in those decisions using his knowledge, contacts and
  judgement. He must absolutely be able to make decisions to reach the required objectives. Many of those decisions require a
  great deal of intuition.

• Work mobility is a reality, weather geographically or changing employers. The executive must be able to adapt to those
  changes; he must inspire confidence quickly and overcome cultural barriers. He also has to create and cultivate a world-wide
  network of contacts.

• The executive must be well aware of the company’s social and environmental impact and of each country’s regulations.
  Executives who work in multinational companies have to face many ethical dilemmas on the road to profitability. They must
  find a balance between profitability and social/environmental impact.

• To work in Venezuela the global executive must know how to deal with a very particular environment: large oil incomes
  (yield/revenue); this is a volatile economy with a huge fall in the production capacity and a rise in the expenses; it also
  involves a more and more impoverished population, a government that promotes a socialist model, and intervention in the
  corporative government by the country’s leaders.

The value of education

Work experience is without any doubt a key element in the search for executives. However, in competitive markets having a MBA is definitely a plus, even more if the degree was earned in a world-wide known institution. Earning an international degree requires more time, more effort and a greater investment than earning a local degree, so this group is very small in comparison with the whole number of applicants. Even if the qualifications are the same, having an international degree gives the candidate an advantage.

Sectors with greater demand and talent search

Telecommunications, the entertainment industry, medical-pharmaceutical products and services, the financial sector, mass consumption and the oil industry are expanding sectors in great demand. The sectors with more available positions are marketing and sales, finances, operations, corporate affairs, human resources and information technologies. Companies hire well-known international firms to take care of the search for executives. Employment searches most often take place in the country where potential applicants live, which may also imply associated costs that sometimes make the hiring difficult.    

Age     

The ideal age for a candidate in a multinational firm varies according to the sector. In telecommunications, entertainment and advertising, the candidate must be young. In the bank sector and mass consumption the, candidate’s age is not an issue.

Compensation

The Venezuelan business magazine Dinero (www.dinero.com), its April 2006 edition refers to a study carried out by the firm Mercer Human Resource Consulting, focusing on executive compensations in Latin America’s 30 most important private firms. In this study we can see that American CEOs have the highest salaries. The compensation program’s goal is to foster dedication. Nevertheless there is no obvious relationship between dedication and compensation. Latin American’s economic instability has had an impact on attractive salaries in the long run. In the local environment, because of the country cost (inflation and exchange control) salary is a decisive factor for candidates in search of a new job, above other factors such as culture and career development. Venezuela, with an average salary of US $ 150,000 a year, is among the countries with lower executive remuneration in comparison with countries like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, so attracting talents from other countries is difficult.    

The effects of globalization in Venezuela and its region have been very positive. Nevertheless there are still barriers that make it difficult to see Latin America as a big country without frontiers. Regional integration processes promoted by governments will have a decisive impact on the formation of global executives.  

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