Barriers for International Recruitment

Being from an Indian family where 80 percent of men are working in the Middle East and some others in the U.S., I pretty much know how their international job search process was.

It was a choice that my family members preferred considering the broader experience that they can get and prospects for career development. But more than that the obvious factor is the opportunity to obtain a more lucrative salary and benefits which can be almost four times more than they can get from their home land. Now you know why they sacrificed their time with family which is n whole other story that I can pull in another blog. But here, I would like to target the barriers that recruiters face when they do international recruitment.

Here is blog from Workforce that says that companies struggle to recruit, internationally, based on a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, on behalf of KPMG, titled “Rethinking Human Resources in a Changing World.” Three out of four executives say their workforce is becoming increasingly global, but just one in four believe their HR teams excel at sourcing and retaining international talent. 

Not knowing the audience

Unlike domestic or local recruitment where you know your established talent pool, you may not necessary know how to find your talent in an international market. The recruiting techniques that worked in U.S. may not necessarily work in India or any other country. When a decision to work overseas has been made, a majority of the job seekers rely on online job boards, very few of them contact recruitment consultancies. Now social recruiting might be highly successful for a developed country like the U.S., but what if other countries are not as advanced as yours? Where is their talent? Where do they seek jobs? That’s worth some research!

Cultural Barrier

When you decide how best to publicize a vacancy it is vital to know that candidates don’t automatically think to look at a job boards. Everybody is tied with their cultural rituals and attached with the way they live and they make decisions based on that, which can vary from country to country. And when it comes to creating a willingness to work abroad, an enticing job board can really attract them, but it’s really all about tailoring the job board according to the factors that motivate your target applicants. .

Language Barrier

Languages spoken in international countries are different. For example, in India they speak almost 29 different languages. So if candidates are not well versed with English language, or the language of your home country, that is a big gap in letting the recruiters communicate to candidates and vise versa.

Legislative Problems

Dealing with immigration laws and regulations, getting sufficient work permits for the targeted candidates and having them work in your country for a longer period of time is always a challenge and most often a tiresome process to go through.

Background Checking

Verifying whether the experiences that candidates present are legitimate or not, checking the company and verifying its existence, the details mentioned about the salary, and most importantly, has the candidate been involved in any felony in his home country. Finding answers to these questions are highly necessary to avoid fraud representation and avoid future problems. This involves cost and time.

To deal with all these barriers, it is good to consult with the local experts in the country you are targeting and get the process in line with local norms, too.

Have you faced any other barriers while doing international recruitment and how did you solve those?