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An Edinburgh-based company is allowing recruits to work from anywhere in the world in a bid to secure the talent it needs to expand.
Telecoms software provider KSCL wants to recruit 15 sales people, but unlike its current sales staff it will not require them to relocate to Edinburgh to work from head office. Instead they will be provided with the equipment and technology to work from their own homes.
The company is targeting people in Europe and the Middle East, as that is where most of its clients are.
Head of HR Valery Martin said the company, which employs about 800 staff, with 600 in Edinburgh, had changed its approach because it could not find the highly skilled people it needs locally, and the people with the right skills did not want to relocate.
"This is a very competitive sector for recruitment," she said. "In the past we have been relatively successful, but to expand we needed to cast our net further and change our whole strategy in recruiting and locating sales staff."
Recruits will be linked up to the company network allowing them to access the presentations on new products that their Edinburgh colleagues will be hearing. They will be linked by e-mail to other sales people and will have to attend a certain number of face-to-face meetings either at Edinburgh or one of the company's other offices in Paris, Munich, Hong Kong or New Delhi.
Staff will have targets to reach and will have to provide line managers in Edinburgh with regular contacts and appointments lists and progress reports.
Martin said she did not believe that managing the staff remotely would be a problem. "Even our sales staff based in Edinburgh are off site most of the time, so I really don't think it will make that much difference," she said.
The one time they will be required to come to Edinburgh is for the company induction.
Recruitment adverts will be run in the next two weeks.
