What positions to hire first when starting a company?

The Tesla’s new gigafactory will be installed in Nuevo León. As has happened with other large foreign companies that have come to Mexico to expand their operations, opening a company in another country raises a question: who gets hired first?

Specialist in headhunting agree that the recruiting talent it is one of the most important tasks when you are building a company from scratch in another country. In the case of Tesla, the company has already announced the first vacancies for its gigafactory in northern Mexico on its official website.

Juan Domínguez, partner and director of True Search for Latin America, believes that the three key positions They are the Director of Finance, the Director of Human Resources and the Executive Director or CEO. “The general director is in charge of developing the landing strategy, the financier manages the investment flow and the People He is responsible for hiring.

The new Tesla plant, where the brand’s next-generation vehicles will be assembled, will create about 35,000 direct and indirect jobsaccording to estimates by the authorities.

In the experience of Gerardo Macías, partner of the firm DHR Global, the first position covered in plant openings is that of greenfield engineer, a position that is in charge of the analysis of the “new terrain” and the permits, among other elements. “He’s a management-level service engineer who reports to the director of operations, who is usually in corporate.”

Among other profiles, says the specialist, is the HR directornot only for new hires, but also for the management of labor relations and even with the unions that may appear.

The first position that the automaker, owned by Elon Muskofficially promoted for its gigafactory in Nuevo León was the associate of financial planning and analysis of business operations (FP&A Business Operations).

In recent days, the company added more than 30 job offers in Nuevo León for positions such as Human Resources manager, recruitment manager, construction safety manager, facilities senior manager, project control leader, management-infrastructure advisor , civil engineer, among other positions focused on his new project in Mexico.

In the case of companies that start from scratch in another country, emphasizes Juan Domínguez, many times the key positions tend to be filled with profiles that are already in the company, and “a battalion of people” does not show up. The following contracts that are made are usually at the managerial level as they are required.

In addition, adds Gerardo Macías, to start a business in a new destination you can find positions such as legal representatives, administration directors and even government relations staff.

Estimates from the Hays firm indicate that a bad hire can cost the company between 1.8 and 2 times the employee’s salary who joined the company. In the cases of expansion to new markets, a bad incorporation can define the success of the objectives of the company that lands in a new country.

First hires, what to avoid

From Gerardo Macías’ perspective, a frequent mistake in expansion plans to new markets is not trusting the local talentnot having a strong government relations area or ruling out the provision of specialized services.

“Many times you want to look elsewhere for support, but the solutions may be in the new market. In the case of Monterrey, it is a first class city for the manufacturing sector”, he adds.

For his part, Juan Domínguez points out that an important aspect that should be avoided is assuming that there are no differences in terms of ideology and labor regulations. The second frequent mistake is not anticipating the cultural adaptation to the country where you arrive.

Also, another point that should not be ignored is counting with cultural ambassadors that help permeate the brand’s organizational culture to local talent. “In the case of Tesla there is an advantage, the northern part of Mexico has a great North American influence. And what will also be interesting is that there may be a return of migrant workers to look for opportunities, because there are also assembly plants on the other side of the border.”