Sourcing Strategies - How to Source International Candidates Effectively

Outsourcing to recruitment agencies and connecting with specialists

• When in doubt, lean on local professionals. This is especially important if you’re moving into a new talent pool or market and have yet to build a local talent candidate base.
• Many companies that seek off-shore talent initially rely on existing recruitment networks to make connections. It can be more expensive than building an organic audience, but it’s proven to work and cut down the time between outreach and connection.

Sourcing from your ATS and re-engaging existing pipeline candidates

• Recruiters often forget that sourcing doesn’t necessarily mean only connecting and communicating with new talent - effective sourcing also means re-engaging talent in your ATS and network and making sure they’re aware of opportunities.
• Crucially, candidates in your ATS will more than likely be qualified - and for international candidates, this is a huge time and admin lifesaver when it comes to understanding visa specifics, relocation, and candidate working expectations.

Conferences, events and job fairs - align your assets and go offline!

• Going offline for candidate sourcing can be an incredibly effective talent magnet tool, especially when it comes to pre-vetting and identifying niche talent pools like graduates and school leavers.
• The added benefit of sourcing candidates from offline events like job fairs is that, inevitably, interested candidates will jump online to research your company and potentially connect with a hiring manager. So alignment of digital and non-digital assets is critically important if you want to convert a candidate from a sourced to an active applicant.

Utilize employee networks and advocacy

• Leaning on employee referrals is one of the most effective methods of engaging with talent, and actually works in your favor as a pre-sourcing and pre-vetting talent tool.
• This is because good people know good people - and good talent will have connections with people who share the same interests, the same goals, the same skills and the same passion for work.
• Employee advocacy is also a vital tool in helping new candidates understand who you are and why working for you is so good for career growth, stability and opportunity. Encourage your staff to help define your company to their network!

Be agile and be empathetic to local hiring cultures

• Finally, sourcing is never done in isolation - you are bridging a professional gap between yourself and a new hire from a different country, city and culture. You need to be mindful of how different cultures approach recruitment, and how professional relationships arise in the context of communicating with a new employer.
• Be empathetic, be understanding, and be mindful of how local hiring cultures may clash with yours. You’ll find you have far more local employee buy-in and trust from international talent pools if you respect cultural differences to recruitment.

Remember that hiring is not static, and recruitment should never be linear.

You never know where your next star hire will come from, so operate with a discreet open-door policy for staff, and make sure everyone knows how and where to contact the right hiring manager for information on an opportunity.

Align your people and operations and the staff will come!