4 Tips to Make Global Recruitment a Breeze

Global expansion was, for a long time, the undertaking only of very large companies. Now, technology has made the world a smaller marketplace. Businesses of all sizes seeking new revenue, diversity, customers, and employees can go global as well.

Some companies may just be looking to sign up international clients or ship products to foreign markets. However, if you want to establish a presence abroad, you’ll need to find, recruit, and retain local talent. That can appear to be an extremely daunting task for companies of any size.

If you want to venture into new talent territory, though, dare to be intrepid. Don’t let the fear of the foreign confine your company to only the familiar. Here are four tips to make your company’s global recruitment a breeze.

1. Get Help From Someone Who Has Boots on the Ground

The first challenge you will face in international hiring is figuring out new laws regarding operations and human resources. If you fail to comply with local laws, you can find yourself in a heap of trouble from the outset. Nothing will dash your hopes for global expansion more quickly than becoming a business non grata.

While a big company may establish a local presence that rivals corporate headquarters, most businesses operate on a smaller scale. Perhaps you can’t afford the investment it would take to establish a business presence in a country where you hope to hire workers. The good news is that you have a pretty terrific alternative.

Contracting with a reputable employer of record (EOR) that operates in that location is sound business strategy. The EOR will officially employ the talent, but those individuals will work for you just like your domestic employees do.

A good EOR takes all the guesswork and the legal risk out of employing international workers. You attract the best employees and let the EOR handle compliance. That frees you up to focus on achieving your global expansion goals.

2. Offer the Best Talent What They Value

To attract the best and brightest stateside employees, companies must add value to their lives. That may come from the company culture, commitment to causes, and opportunities for advancement. Talent in other countries will be seeking value as well, although the specifics will likely be different.

Cultural differences will largely determine what is and is not important to an international workforce. You may rely on your EOR to recruit employees abroad. However, it’s your job to adjust your company values to align with those that are meaningful to the people you want to attract.

For example, a U.S. company’s commitment to fair trade may help attract employees at home. When recruiting workers in Brazil, fair trade may take on far greater significance. A company may need to increase that commitment in a country where people routinely suffer from unfair employment practices.

Certainly, your EOR should be able to help you ascertain what matters to workers in your expansion market. It will be up to your company’s leadership to instill those values into your culture and convey them honestly. Be of value to employees where they live, and your company will benefit as well.

3. Make Global Hires Feel Part of the Team

Even when U.S. companies expand domestically, there is a risk that those who work away from HQ will feel minor league. The risk is even more substantial when a company expands globally. A culture that reinforces this inferiority complex will have a difficult time recruiting top talent.

There are a few ways the head office can make the company’s arms and legs feel connected to it. On a personal level, there should be interaction between company leadership and overseas employees. Leaders should foster interaction with global hires during periodic site visits.

Of course, communications technology is key to team building and interaction no matter where employees are located. Fortunately, technology stepped up its game significantly since the onset of the global pandemic, which forced many employees to work remotely. That makes it easier for global companies to keep their team members connected in real time despite geography.

The best global talent is going to work for companies that go the extra mile to bring them into the fold. No matter what country employees may be citizens of, they’ll never feel second class.

4. Have a Strategy Before You Make a Move

Your company might have successfully recruited workers throughout the U.S. using the same strategy as when you initially launched your business. Attempting to rely on the same routine when expanding in another country will fail. You need to invest the time and resources required to create a global recruitment strategy before your first international hire.

Although your HR team can take the lead, a global recruitment strategy requires input from many areas. Your IT staff will play a crucial role in communication and onboarding technology solutions. Existing teams focused on diversity issues can provide valuable input into recruitment and hiring to maintain a healthy employee mix.

Your EOR should offer insight into recruitment challenges and the types of workers you’ll have access to. You can, of course, use your domestic strategy as a basic template for the issues you’ll need to address. But don’t let what works here get in the way of what will work in a new talent pool.

There will be a learning curve for everyone to scale before you can finalize a global recruitment strategy. Once it’s ready, you can begin executing it, but do so prepared to adjust the strategy as needed in real time. Then, get ready to do it all again when you’re ready to expand somewhere else.

Global recruitment is not for the faint-hearted. Do the right work and work with the right people, though, and you’ll land the right global talent to help grow your business.