There are a couple of reasons a brand might want to hire globally. You might be expanding your business overseas, or due to the competition for local talent, you may want to implement an international recruitment strategy.

But it isn’t as simple as it might seem. There are some huge differences between hiring locally and hiring people from countries around the world. Here’s an in-depth look at some of the things you will need to do to establish a successful international recruitment strategy.

Remote Control and a Larger Talent Pool

Perhaps the first thing to remember is that through remote work, you can draw from a much broader talent pool, but there are factors to consider. Crossing time zones can mean that working together in real-time can be challenging.

For example, when working with someone in Australia from the United States, your 4 p.m. meeting will occur the morning of the next day with that person. The primary issue this raises is the amount of control and type of contact you can have in a remote working situation. This can be impacted by:

• Where the employee lives and works
• The type of work they are doing for you and your company
• The need for training and support required on the employee’s timeline
• Any tasks that require oversight by management

There are a variety of ways to navigate these challenges, but the first key is to understand what they are, and how they can impact your employee relationships. This leads us to the importance of research.

The Importance of Research

Before you start hiring in a new area, there are some vital things you must understand about where you will do the hiring. Don’t rely on what another business or manager might tell you. Instead, do your own research:

• What is the job market where you will be hiring? Is it an employee or employer's market, and what does hiring there look like?
• Who are your competitors for talent who might also be hiring in this space? Note that these are not your direct commercial competitors, but other companies hiring for the same or similar roles.
• What is the culture like in the area, and how are those who take on new roles viewed? We’ll examine this more closely in another section.
• Look for those in the area who are already a part of your network. Ask questions and seek advice along the way. As you develop new connections, be sure to leverage what they know about the market in that area, and how to hire and retain employees competitively.

In-depth research will certainly cost you time at the outset but will pay off in the long run. Once you have started your research, it is time to take some other things into account.

Language Barriers

Language barriers are not simply related to whether or not you speak the language of the person you are hiring, or they speak your language. There are nuances in every language and idioms that just don’t translate well. And clear communication is a vital part of hiring, training, and retaining great talent.

Be sure that you and your potential employees have a solid understanding of the language you will use around the things you do, and that there is no confusion. This can prevent misunderstandings further down the line.

Ideally, have a translator of sorts, someone in your organization who knows both languages well, can ensure clear, concise communication, and can clarify any questions that might arise.

Knowing the Culture

A part of knowing the language is also knowing the culture of the area where you will be hiring. What would be considered a compliment to an employee in your home country might be offensive elsewhere.

For example, in some cultures, a very casual tone attracts employees and lets them know you are easy to work with while delivering a more human touch. However, in some cultures around the world, such familiarity from someone in charge is considered unprofessional and even insulting.

Failure to understand these differences and show respect for them can cause not only misunderstandings with an employee but damage to your employer brand in that area.

This relates to everything you do, from interview questions to any testing you might do. If you are hiring in an area where English is most often a second language, you may need to adjust your expectations for grammar, punctuation, and make accommodations for English fluency (unless that is a job requirement).

Cultural differences can provide you with the advantage of another perspective if you embrace those differences and make accommodations for them through both your hiring process and the employee journey.

Money Matters

There are a few aspects to compensation when hiring in a global market, and it is important that you understand them from the start:

• In some countries, it is illegal to ask an employee about past salaries and compensation.
• The default should be to ask about salary expectations rather than past earnings.
• Know the conversion rates so you can offer an appropriate salary that will translate well to local equivalents.
• Do your research on local compensation rates for this position, so you can make a competitive and compelling offer from the start.

Salary is an important consideration for local hiring, and it is equally important for hiring internationally. Be sure you are prepared before you even begin the interview process.

GDPR and Labor Compliance

To keep this as simple as possible, if you are hiring anywhere in the EU, you will need to be aware of and comply with GDPR, the data privacy regulation that now governs most of Europe. Violations come with steep fines and consequences, so it’s not worth the risk of not knowing.

Also, keep in mind the number of employees you will be hiring in a certain area. For some tasks, it may make better sense to hire contractors rather than employees. However, every country and area will have its own standards of who is eligible for what type of employment.

Because of the potential consequences for getting it wrong, this is where a consultation with an attorney familiar with local laws and standards will pay off in the long run. It’s important that no matter where you do your hiring, you are on the right side of the legal fence.

Those you employ may or may not know the law well enough to give you the right information, and in the end, you are responsible for knowing the boundaries and staying inside of them.

Define Skills and Develop Structured Hiring

When we talked about language above, a part of what we were talking about also involves defining skills and providing the candidate with an accurate job description that they fully understand. A simple way to do this is to develop a hiring structure for your international recruitment strategy.

Quite simply, you use skills to define the job you are hiring for, and then you hire for those skills regardless of what they might be called in that area. Be sure to create classifications for different jobs, definitions of skills complete with translations when needed, and provide every candidate and recruiter with a set of your expectations.

Structured hiring also enables you to embrace diversity and inclusion without judging the candidate on anything but job requirements. You might not even know the different marginalized groups in a given area, but you can ensure that you are never unintentionally biased by establishing a structured hiring system.

Embrace Technology

Finally, it is important that you embrace the technology that will enable you to establish a successful international recruitment strategy. There are several tools to consider:

• Communication: Other than email, you should look to chat programs like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and others to send quick messages in real-time without requiring a long email thread.
• Video Conferencing: Whether you use Zoom, Slack, or some other platform, video communication can be very powerful. We get a lot of our communication cues non-verbally, and it also helps your new hires feel more connected with your team.
• Project Management: Programs like Asana, Basecamp, and Trello are all good for working with a team, setting up assignments and calendars, and much more. Which one is right for your team? Much of this may depend on availability in the area where you are hiring, and the languages available in various software solutions.
• Payroll and Payment Solutions: Of course, you will have to pay your employees somehow, even if you hire contractors, and there are a lot of options for handling currency conversion and even taxes in a given area. You’ll definitely want to consult a local accountant for advice to make sure you comply with payroll requirements as well.

You may also want to consider other kinds of software depending on the tasks your employees will need to perform. Make sure to track the time they spend on each project and what they spend that time doing. You can share files through various cloud or file transfer services and even work on documents simultaneously through OneDrive, Google Drive, or other services.

Essentially, whatever methods you need to collaborate and run an international team, there is likely an app for that. The more you embrace technology and the more processes you can automate, the better.

Going Global

Going global makes sense on many levels in this changing job market. However, companies must understand the requirements and challenges involved. It’s important to understand the challenges of remote work and coordinating through different time zones and the issues that can create.

It’s also important to research the area where you will be hiring, determine the language barriers if any, make a plan to overcome them, and understand and embrace cultural differences. These can even work to your advantage. These differences extend to compensation, and you must also be aware of the legal restrictions around hiring in a global market.

This often means getting local counsel, from attorneys to accountants, to make sure you are operating inside the legal requirements of the country where you will be hiring.

But if you define skills clearly, develop a hiring structure, and embrace the technology available to you, hiring globally can even be the secret to taking your company to the next level.

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