Global Recruiting – Eight Tips to Keep in Mind Before Hiring Job Candidates Abroad

Global Recruiting is a challenge. Hiring your employees from other countries will give your company the chance to find a motivated and skilled workforce, particularly if your country is suffering from a shortage of skilled labor on a national scale in certain job sectors. But sourcing your workforce from another country is difficult if you have never done it before.

Here are eight tips that you should think about before you consider hiring from abroad:

1. Traditional and Online Marketing

Every country has its own set of laws that dictate how marketing and advertising are to be conducted. These set of laws are also applicable to online advertising and traditional recruitment marketing so make sure that you as a global employer follow all the laws of the country where you are sourcing and recruiting your workforce from.

Other than abiding by the country’s regulation when recruiting employees, you also need to ensure that your advertising and recruitment campaigns are non-discriminatory and follow the employment-related quota requirements required in multinational markets. Maintain clarity by mentioning the language requirements for the job postings, so nothing is lost in translation.

2. Job Applications Should Comply with the Local Laws

All written job applications have to abide by the laws of the country where you are recruiting from, which may vary from country to country. This indicates that you should be sensitive to asking certain questions that may be prohibited according to a country’s laws.

Another factor that you as a global employer should bear in mind is whether your job application complies with the law as well as whether you need to draft it in multiple languages before using it in your global recruiting process. You can hire an interpreter to help you with your recruitment process if your recruiting managers are not fluent in the same language as the job applicants.

3. Study the Compensation Packages

Ensure that the total compensation package that you are offering is enough to challenge the competition in the local market to attract the right candidates.

Make sure that the perks and benefits that your company offers other than the basic salary should also meet or exceed the candidate’s expectations in each country. You can set up a compensation baseline on a global scale.

Consider the following factors when deciding on compensation:

• The labor market demand
• Specific range of salary according to post
• Cost of living
• Exchange rates of foreign currency
• Your benefits package should be in the same range as the ones offered by local companies

4. Conduct Your Research Using Online Recruitment Software

It is important that you understand what overseas job boards can target your potential candidates in the most effective way possible. You can then streamline your recruiting process by implementing an applicant tracking software to advertise job availability to your overseas job applicants.

5. Structure Your Interview Process

You need to be careful about how you go about structuring your interview processes as it may include adjusting to the different time zones, making travel arrangements for candidates for in-person interviews as well as seeking the help of an interpreter.

You can also make use of technology such as video calling or conferencing if you want to conduct an interview if you and the applicant are not in the same location.

6. Conduct Pre-Employment Screenings

Recruiting on a global scale requires a vigilant approach to pre-employment screenings with the help of applicant tracking software which can help you navigate through the recruiting process with ease. Before attempting to screen your job applicants, make sure that you check with the local labor laws to know what measures are permitted in that country.

7. Verify the Work Permit Requirements in Your Labor Market

Make sure that you verify and abide by the work permit requirements of the country where you are recruiting your labor force from as the work permit restrictions tend to vary from country to country. These work permit restrictions can limit your employee’s mobility and as well as further hindering the employment of your employee’s spouses as not all countries issue work permits to the spouses of employees.

8. Support Global Mobility Policies and Work with Spouses

Try to meet dual-career issues for your candidate’s spouse or partner while hiring your employees in another country. Ensure that your employees are aware of the immigration requirements and global mobility policies that may or may not permit their spouses to follow them.

Ensure that your company’s mobility policies are updated and in tandem with the host country’s mobility policies to provide spouse support services for your employees.

Kelly Barcelos is a progressive digital marketing manager specializing in HR and is responsible for leading Jobsoid’s content and social media team. When Kelly is not building campaigns, she is busy creating content and preparing PR topics. She started with Jobsoid as a social media strategist and eventually took over the entire digital marketing team with her innovative approach and technical expertise.

Editor’s Note: Check out “Eight Major Barriers to Expat Spouse Employment”.