Developing Employees for International Success Ashurt
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Developing Employees for International Success Ashurt Ashurst LLP is an elite law firm with over 400 partners and 1,700 lawyers operating from 25 offices in 14 countries. Ashurst advises corporates, financial institutions and governments, with core businesses in corporate, finance, energy, resources and infrastructure. Communicaid Communicaid is a global culture and communication skills consultancy that assists the world’s leading organisations to mitigate the risks and maximise the opportunities of working in a complex and ever-changing international environment. We work with international organisations such as Ashurst to provide a complete suite of consultancy services as well as targeted intercultural, language and communication skills training. Developing Employees Ashurst Employees for International Success Each year, Ashurst recruits approximately 55 graduates for training contracts, and many, as part of their two-year traineeship, will undertake a six-month seat in an overseas office. Ashurst recognised the need to prepare employees for these international postings by providing pre-departure language and intercultural training. By partnering with Communicaid, the firm provides intensive language training for assignees posted to Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid and Milan. Intercultural training is offered to those assignees sent to Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo. Training Objectives working styles tailored to the • Prepare employees employees’ existing skills The key objectives of this for the practicalities of and experience training initiative were to: living overseas and • Finding an appropriate alleviate any concerns balance between • Raise employees’ they may have about language and cultural existing high level their new environment awareness for language skills to an employees going to operational level and Challenges non-European offices adapt their style and • Delivering a succinct yet register to working in a The main challenges were high impact training legal environment seen as: programme to • Provide employees accommodate the with a more in-depth • Designing a consistent employees’ busy understanding of the training approach with schedules prior to their target culture and content and materials assignment Training Approach Our Solution The cultural awareness and Working closely with • Three-day intensive Ashurst’s Graduate language skills training language training Recruitment & for the Paris, Frankfurt, offered by Development Team, Madrid and Milan Communicaid agreed on assignees Communicaid has two separate solutions, • Half-day cultural given our trainees depending on the awareness training going on destination of the including basic language employee. Most assignees skills for Dubai, international relocating to Paris, Singapore and Tokyo secondment the Frankfurt, Madrid and assignees Milan already had a • Flexible language key knowledge good foundation in the training available on the and skills that local language and ground in the target city make their settling needed to boost their if they were unable to business and specialist complete their three into a new country legal language. They days’ training prior to that little bit less often had experience their departure daunting! All living in-country during university and so their courses have challenges were mostly Results always followed linguistic rather than Feedback on all careful discussion cultural. programmes is consistently positive with each Assignees relocating to individual about Tokyo, Dubai, and with up to 16 Singapore were most delegates trained their level of often complete beginners annually. Due to the language ability in the language and had intensive preparation little experience of the / experience of a target country. prior to their country and are Rather than trying to assignment, perfectly tailored master Japanese or employees have to ensure each Arabic from scratch, been able to hit the Communicaid ground running on trainee really does recommended that these get the most from employees would benefit arrival. Several from a cultural awareness employees have the training training session found their offered. encompassing the basic greetings and phrases to assignment so Katherine Elam aid relationship building. positive that they Graduate Recruitment have extended their and Development stay. Officer, Ashurst LONDON T: +44 (0)20 3370 8500 F: +44 (0)20 3370 8501 Communicaid E: [email protected] Mitre House W: www.communicaid.com 12-14 Mitre Street London EC3A 5BU United Kingdom PARIS T: +33 (0)1 77 71 25 85 F: +33 (0)1 77 71 25 86 Communicaid France E: [email protected] 4 rue d’Astorg W: www.communicaid.fr Paris 75008 France BRUSSELS T: +32 (0)2 808 31 90 F: +32 (0)2 808 31 91 Communicaid E: [email protected] 6th Floor W: www.communicaid.be Rue Guimard/Guimardstraat, 9 1040 Brussels Belgium FRANKFURT T: +49 (0)69 274 015 259 F: +49 (0)69 274 015 183 Communicaid E: [email protected] Mainzer Landstraße, 27-31 W: www.communicaid.de 60329 Frankfurt Germany NEW YORK T: +1 212 618 6369 F: +1 212 618 6309 Communicaid E: [email protected] Rockefeller Center, 7th Floor W: www.communicaid.com 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 U.S.A Experience Innovation ©istockphoto.com/DNY59 ©Communicaid Group Ltd. 2013 Impact.