It’s a Small World

With the shortage of quality workers in the United States and the number of companies expanding beyond the U.S., many companies are starting to look for talent outside of the country.

"It’s getting harder to find enough qualified people as the work force shrinks," says Ginny Gomez, senior vice president of Peopleclick’s product management group. Peopleclick offers a suite of recruiting products for companies to find talent in the U.S. and abroad. "For the sales industry, it’s even more important to find qualified people because not only are those people generating revenue for your company, they’re also representing your brand. If they’re not doing a good job on both ends, it can actually have a negative impact on your company."

One thing that’s evident when recruiting outside of the U.S. is the culture differences. What may be taboo to ask someone in a U.S. job interview may be expected in another culture. For example, many overseas companies ask about a person’s height and religion. It may be illegal to ask those kinds of questions in the U.S., but when you’re recruiting in other countries and you don’t ask those things, candidates may think of you as a U.S. company who doesn’t know their culture, says Gomez.

For that reason, Peopleclick recommends that companies work with local recruiters or industry analysts who know the country and culture. Peopleclick can put companies in touch with these recruiters. The recruiting firm partners with an international labor law firm, Kilpatrick Stockton, LLP, so they can also offer their customers legal and compliance advice outside the U.S.

"You have to be very careful when you’re recruiting in certain regions to make sure what your messaging and what you’re asking people is appropriate," says Gomez. "Companies are taking their recruiting strategies globally, but culturally they have to tweak them a bit."

Just how do companies reach overseas talent? Peopleclick tailors technology and information for its customers. They can also put customers in touch with the appropriate foreign experts.

Expertise may come in handy when companies need to answer some typical questions about hiring overseas. For example, do you send out an offer letter or a contract? Should you ask a candidate for a photograph? How long of a lead time do you need to find a candidate?

"We have customers doing image campaigns by putting full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal or a publication in the E.U. or Asia Pacific to entice candidates to work for their companies," says Gomez. "We have companies looking to recruit people when they’re freshmen in college. We have companies sending recruiters to target larger universities in the E.U. and Asia Pacific; customers come to us for university statistics."

"It’s not a one-size-fits-all," adds Gomez. "If you’re looking for sales positions in Germany, you have to know what periodicals you need to target and which social networks to send information to. It’s all very different. And if we don’t have the expertise in-house, we reach out to experts who do."

Peopleclick can also set up customers with assessment partners in various countries. Assessments are needed to see if candidates have the necessary skills, personality, or cultural fit. Depending on the country and position you’re hiring for they may recommend three or four different assessment partners to help you narrow down resumes. Another way to find overseas help is to network with other companies in your industry and again, Peopleclick can help.

"Because we have such a wide range of customers globally, you’d be surprised at how much our customers network with each other," says Gomez. "We just had a meeting with about 25 customers to discuss global best practices. We set up these meetings so that customers can network with each other and put them in touch with industry analysts and the labor law firm."

As another option, companies are searching within their own walls to find qualified candidates who want to work overseas. They are posting international positions, complete with relocation packages, internally to see if people are interested in living abroad for a couple of years. This is a viable alternative for many companies who want to expand their global work force. One thing is for sure, companies are seeing the benefits of global recruiting.