So You Want to Hire International Employees - Where Do You Start?

Identify key recruitment needs

Your first port of call is understanding your unique talent and workforce needs - you need to create a strategic workforce plan that takes into account the following:

• Skills requirement - what skills do you need, and why do you need them? Segmentation of skill requirements (breaking down hiring priorities by skills needed) is a prerequisite to successful hiring, both domestically and internationally.
• Short and long-term hiring needs - who do you need and when do you need them by? How do these hires meet your short-term and long-term business needs?
• Potential for market expansion - are you looking to only hire internationally, or are you looking to expand into that market utilizing your new international hires?
• Business development - are you hiring to fill a gap or because of business expansion?
• Budgetary and financial imperatives - do you understand the financial implications of hiring and do you have the scope to stretch into international markets?
• Visa and sponsorship requirements - do you understand the required legal certifications/credentials for hiring international staff in your country?

Once you’ve mapped the above you’ll have a clearer indication of the type of worker you need and why you need them.

Create an international hiring strategy and plan

An international hiring plan is like a domestic hiring strategy turned up to ten. Broader talent reach and the benefit of borderless communications are contrasted by budgetary pressures, relocation costs, language barriers and the potential for cultural clash.

Your international hiring strategy needs to take this all into account and more, including:

• Segmentation of skills and talent requirements (as above) and how it impacts the potential for hiring short- and long-term.
• Outreach and advertisement budget and costs.
• Relocation budget and timescales.
• Who will take leadership of marketing, outreach, vetting, sourcing, interviewing and onboarding?
• How much “in-country” support is required?

From country to country and region to region the answers to the above plan will change. But creating an international hiring framework based on the above means you can rapidly adjust hiring to each market on a whim.

Determine compensation and relocation packages

Ahead of the advertisement, you need to understand what you’re offering international hires and how much outlay will be required for relocation from specific regions.

The most important thing to consider (especially if you’re remote hiring staff before relocation) are your legal and remunerative responsibilities to international staff, and how your job offer meets regulatory requirements such as:

• Minimum wage, salary bandings and what’s considered competitive market-specific pay.
• Holiday and sick pay requirements.
• National/health insurance prerogatives and legalities.
• Maternity/paternity rights and expectations.
• Regulated pension contributions.
• International hiring visa particulars.

Sponsorship, visas and legalities

A vital stage in converting a prospective international hire into a member of staff is making sure all sponsorship, visa and legal working arrangements are organized prior to relocation.

For example:

• The UK offers a “Skilled Workers” sponsorship scheme that employers must adhere to for hiring both full time and temporary workers.
• In the USA, there are strict rules on sponsorship of hiring internationally; employers need to be approved for Labor Certification and register staff as Immigrant or Nonimmigrant Labor.

Every country and economic region has their own rules regarding hiring foreign talent. It is crucial that all international sponsorship hiring rules are met prior to engaging with any international hires!

Write a market-specific job description and advert

The trick to hiring international staff is understanding that talent “segmentation” is as much about culture, expectations and personality alignment as it is skills matching.

This is where leaning on a domestic or international staffing specialist can help - your job advert will more than likely be the first thing your prospective new international hire will read, so it needs to sing employer branding, and take stock of local language customs and quirks that will compel international talent to apply.

Primary job advert considerations:

• Make it clear and obvious you are accepting international applicants.
• Emphasize the desire for “universal skills” over education - remember that international schooling and exam outcomes vary from country to country. Hard, verifiable skills are easier to process and provide more accurate skills matching, plus it’s more inclusive!
• Outline your relocation package or hybrid onboarding process and provide detail on how, where and when you expect new international hires to integrate into your company.
• Lean on company culture and inclusivity where you can - this is where employer branding stories make all the difference. Allow your international hire to explore your brand via social media, career pages and talent case studies and make it apparent you value international workers.
• If in doubt, lean on an in-country recruitment expert to make sure the language is inclusive and correct.

Remote onboard - speed is of the essence

The rise of digital collaboration tools (such as Zoom, Slack, Trello, Monday, etc.) means that borderless hiring is achievable even on a budget.

Prior to relocation, companies have the opportunity to have international staff start work from their country of origin whilst plans are put in place to move staff.

This not only guarantees a rapid hire (and speed is truly of the essence in industries suffering from talent shortages) but helps ingratiate new staff quickly into the company ecosystem and culture ahead of relocation.