Effective international hiring isn’t easy.
It takes hard work, patience, strong networking skills and a market-leading proposition that’s able to turn the head of candidates across the world.
And, of course, every country is different, and the best recruiters know that strategic adaptation is key to successful international staffing.
The best-in-class international recruiters take cultural differences and expectations to heart, making sure recruitment outreach is inclusive, respectful and in keeping with local cultural and governmental requirements.
So what other best practice hiring techniques and strategies should you bear in mind when it comes to hiring international talent?
Prepare, prepare, prepare - international recruitment preparation is more than simply understanding pay expectations or translating job adverts into different languages. The best recruiters make sure their entire hiring strategy is aligned with:
Understanding that talent is available in emerging or new markets is one thing, but being able to approach said candidates with a full understanding of hiring specifics and cultural expectations of work (especially international work) is vital if you want to hire the best.
Sometimes even the best-planned efforts can hit snags in the road, so our advice is never be afraid of leaning on local recruitment stakeholders, talent representatives and specific market hiring leaders to perfect your international talent search.
Embrace the new market in its entirety - sometimes you need an on-the-ground viewpoint to get a better handle on job seeking and talent sourcing in new markets.
Interviews are, of course, incredibly effective tools for vetting the right staff for a tech role. But when factoring in an international element to talent sourcing, we vouch for prioritizing skills testing earlier in the hiring timeline.
This is purely as an administrative/budget benefit - the costs for interviewing and vetting rise exponentially the more people you bring in and the more time you spend on video calls, plus the cost of making the wrong hire is stratospheric when you’ve relocated them.
Good talent is good talent no matter where they are, and you can be sure if you’re dipping into international markets to find staff, so are other companies.
Here’s something you may not know about - tourism is a rich vein of talent magnetism and should be factored into your domestic hiring needs.
How many times have you heard “Oh I’d love to live here!” whilst on holiday? You may have even said it when visiting a beautiful new city or area.
It’s never been easier to work remotely, therefore it’s never (technically) been easier to connect with employers in a region you’re visiting. A simple Google search can throw up opportunities in geofenced areas - so if you’re an employer in a region with high tourism you can be sure talent will be surfing for a “what if” job…don’t you want to be top of that list?
Lastly, adapt your recruitment strategies. We cannot vouch for this enough, and this is especially relevant to industries suffering from extreme talent shortages like tech.
The international talent market is forever in flux. Areas become saturated with attention and investment, and new areas of talent emerge all the time. As these changes occur (for example, eventually talent markets reach full employment and attention needs to pivot to new markets), you need to be prepared to shift recruitment immediately and ahead of the competition to take advantage of new markets, new talent pools and new opportunities to connect with brilliant people.
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