How to recruit internationally?4 min read

There are many potential reasons for wanting to recruit internationally. You might be looking at expanding your operations into a new, remote location. But you might as well simply wanting to ensure that you constantly hire only the best candidates, so you cannot focus your efforts on local candidates only.

The global recruitment challenge

In any case to be successful in your approach there is a lot to learn about the unique challenge of recruiting globally. This goes from managing cultural and linguistic differences to dealing with complicated international law. There is no doubt whatsoever that your hiring process needs to adapt to those external factors.

 

“Survey respondents believe that expanding workforces in

new markets – including the identification and hiring of talent

across borders – has been the second-biggest concern for

Hr departments (after talent retention) in recent years and

they expect it to remain so. Nevertheless, only one-quarter of

respondents say that their Hr departments excel at sourcing

key talent globally and 24 percent say the same of their ability

to support the company’s globalization strategies” – KPMG

Tips for recruiting internationally

In its study Rethinking Human Resources in a changing World KMPG outlines a lack of knowledge when it comes to hire internationally. According to them “HR is struggling with the challenges of managing a global, flexible workforce ”. Only 25% of respondents could say their company excels are recruiting and retaining key talents globally. On the same time they rank it among their top 3 priorities.

We think this is of strategic importance foor recruiting proofessionals and present you with some tips successful recruiting around the globe.

1. Use Jobboard Finder

The leading job board comparator is by its very nature the place to start when you want to understand how to best address candidates in a foreign country.

Jobboard Finder is a website gathering tools and services that recruiters can use to search and compare employment websites from all over the world. The recruiters also have the possibility to purchase job advertisements for the job boards they selected and then manage their postings directly from this unique platform.

2. Tailor your social-media recruitment strategy to the local market.

We spoke previously about Social Network Recruiting.

LinkedIn seems the first choice for European recruitment. Nevertheless, its strength ends when entering the German-speaking borders. If you want to recruit in Germany you should use Xing as this is the dominant player in that country. In France LinkedIn has a competitor called Viadeo and in the eastern part of Europe other social media companies hold an important position as well (such as Goldenline in Poland).

According to a Nielsen study Orkut is the most visited social site in Brazil. So, make sure you tailor your social-media recruitment channel usage according to the local market preferences.

3. Make sure you understand the visa laws

It is important to understand the visa process as this is a huge part of the international recruitment process. Employment-related laws vary significantly from country to country. You need to make sure that you completely understand hiring obligations for contract vs. full-time employees and termination regulations.

4. Make the hire in person

Doing an interview par skype is more and more common and video recruitment is an emerging trend. However, a meeting in person with the shortlisted candidates should always follow it. This is absolutely necessary to assess the cultural fit between the individual and your organization core values. Ideally, your company could refund plane tickets for interview candidates.

5. Evaluate language competency

You need to be able to determine that the candidate you are going to hire speaks the required language fluently enough. You need to test whether they will be able to speak the language of your industry and if the level of their language proficiency will be relevant to the specific role you are hiring them for.

6. Get a sense of a country or city’s recruiting potential

It is crucial that the recruiters stay on top of shifting trends. For instance, if thiss iss the industry you are in, you should know that Amsterdam has recently become a tech hub. Frequently reading HR reports like the KPMG review mentioned above or this website will help you to be up to date with this kind of information. You should aim at knowing what the average level of education is in the target country, what is the English proficiency level. Good research can also avoid in making costly hiring mistakes.

International recruiting can be a time-consuming, challenging process, but nothing is more essential to ensuring business success than putting together the right team.