'˜Recruit across the planet', digital firms told

Karoli Hindriks, founder and chief executive of international recruitment business Jobbatical, told The Yorkshire Post that cities like Leeds are attractive places to grow good tech businesses due to their modern features and good quality of life.

The Estonian business woman, who has launched seven television channels in Northern Europe, including MTV and Fox and who was recently named one of Europe’s 50 most inspiring tech entrepreneurs, was speaking during a visit to Leeds ahead of her speech at the FinTech North event as part of the city’s Digital Festival.

Ms Hindriks said that thinking globally when building teams generated more creative working environments that were ultimately more likely to succeed.

And she sounded a warning that potential movement restrictions put into place as a result of Brexit could be counterproductive to business growth and cut firms off from hiring the best people.

“We work on the thesis that you can build a global company from anywhere,” Ms Hindriks said.

“It is a growing trend that tech firms move to a new country for the work.

“Leeds at the moment has many tech companies and that is why I am here, to listen and take a look at the landscape to find out a little bit more about this area and learn something more about the people.

“As someone who travels a lot I can look around and see that the lifestyle here is very modern. “It is a little bit more slower-paced than London but there is a real entrepreneurial spirit.

“You should not forget the privilege of what you have here. This is a place where you can live a happy life doing something that you like.”

Ms Hendriks recently raised $2m to help expand Jobbatical, a business which blends the concept of a job and a sabbatical, matching employers and talent for short-term jobs. Her team consists of people from all over the world including Italy, the US, South Korea, Hong Kong and her own native Estonia.

It is this international feel that Ms Hendriks feels is a secret to unlocking the potential for creative firms.

“We have seen a lot of big changes in the last five to 10 years in terms of seeing much higher levels of mobility,” she said.

“People are moving around much more than before. One in seven people on this planet now is a migrant. And they bring with them different experiences from those places.

“In June last year you saw the immigration issue be very high up the agenda and a closing up.

“This is a challenge for companies. It will make their world more difficult.

“India is producing 1.2bn engineers a year, more than the US and China together.

“A lot of those skills will be put to use outside of India. And talent from there should be an option for all companies if they want to grow.

“It doesn’t matter if you are a in Europe or in South East Asia, the hiring culture needs to change.

“Companies that have creative people from different backgrounds have more possibilities for growth.”

Ms Hindriks said she was aware of issues with skills in the UK workforce but said her perception was that the link between schools, colleges and universities with the workforce was getting better.

One really big advantage the country has when it comes to building a global company, she said, is that English is a universally spoken language.

“If you are trying to build something from France or Spain or Italy you may have a major problem,” she added.