What is a global recruitment strategy?

A global recruitment strategy is a plan to attract and secure talent from different parts of the world. Companies often embark on these international efforts to expand their hiring pool, find candidates who possess highly coveted skill sets and enter new markets. When conducting a global recruitment strategy, it is necessary to navigate diverse cultures and differing employment regulations across multiple time zones.

What are the benefits of a global recruitment strategy?

There are several reasons why organizations choose to introduce an international business level strategy to their hiring mix. Some of these include:

• Widening the talent pool: By seeking candidates from multiple locations, your organization can expand its talent search, enabling you to hire the best fits. International hiring may also help you to overcome skills gaps within your region.
• Securing specialized talent: Broadening your talent search can help you overcome skills gaps within your region, particularly if you require unique expertise or experience with cutting-edge technology.
• Cultivating diversity: Hiring talent from multiple regions can create a team that possesses valuable cultural insight and different perspectives. This can enable your company to form a deeper understanding of your customers, adopt new problem-solving techniques and potentially gain a new position in the competitive marketplace.
• Entering new markets: If your organization wishes to expand into new corners of the earth, this form of recruitment strategy can help to secure the talent required and gain a foothold in these regions.
• Expanding hours of business: Depending on the nature of your business, you can benefit from entering different time zones in order to enable 24/7 operations.

What are some important considerations when developing a global recruitment strategy?

Devising a recruitment strategy that will transcend borders and incorporate talent from diverse backgrounds can pose challenges. Here are some important things to consider when developing your plan:

• Differing cultural norms: Not only may your organization encounter language barriers, but you could be required to navigate cultural intricacies, different work styles and novel ways of collaborating.
• Navigating time zones: Global hiring requires operating in different time zones. For instance, your company may have to schedule interviews for hours well outside your typical workday schedule.
• Varying labour laws: When securing talent from multiple regions, your company will need to become fluent in the employment rules and regulations and tax implications for each area.
• Team-building challenges: You will likely be required to brainstorm and introduce ways to foster a harmonious team that embraces each other’s cultural differences.
• Honing technologies: It is imperative that your recruitment team is comfortable using the technology required to embark on an international hiring effort. For example, they may require extensive training on an applicant tracking system before moving forward.
• Budgeting concerns: While some international markets offer lower expenses associated with salaries and benefits, the costs associated with hiring in far-off regions can be higher. Furthermore, these expenses can rise exponentially if you are required to relocate a new employee.
• Worker eligibility: If you wish to recruit an international candidate to work in Canada, you will need to determine their eligibility and secure a work permit. Ensure that you fully understand the steps required to hire a foreign employee.
• Lengthier hiring process: Hiring someone from another country can be a lengthier process than hiring locally, particularly if the prospective candidate will be relocating to Canada. Moving takes time, as does acquiring the necessary documentation. This is an important consideration when you urgently require a position to be filled.

How can you develop a global recruitment strategy?

Creating an international business-level strategy for hiring may, at first glance, appear daunting. It’s simpler than you may think. By breaking the process down into doable, bite-sized steps, it can be more easily managed. While you may be required to customize your approach to your organization’s unique situation, here are some steps to consider integrating into your plan:

1. Define your requirements. Before developing any strategy, it is imperative to identify your needs and what you hope to achieve through this hiring endeavour. What skills gaps do you wish to fill? How many positions are vacant and where are they located? By identifying your needs and priorities, you will be equipped to move on to the next step and take more effective actions.
2. Know your markets. What regions possess the talent and knowledge that you require? What markets does your company wish to enter? Identifying the locations you wish to target through your hiring strategy is a good starting place. Once you have pinpointed them, you will need to research the region, learning their cultural norms, hiring and employment laws, compensation expectations and what they value most in a workplace.
3. Develop a budget. How much will it cost to bring your recruitment strategy ideas to fruition? When embarking on any business endeavour, it is prudent to identify anticipated expenses, set a budget and develop contingency plans to ensure that your company yields the best return on its investment.
4. Select recruitment methods. How can your organization reach talented candidates in faraway regions? It is wise to identify the digital platforms that appeal most to your targeted locale, such as social media platforms and professional networking sites. You may also wish to partner with universities or professional organizations within those markets.
5. Identify technologies to be used. Are you planning to use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) or roll out AI in your recruiting strategy? If so, you will need to ensure that your human resources or recruiting team is adept at using this technology. You may be required to schedule training sessions. Other considerations include video interviewing platforms, resume databases and online assessment tools.
6. Standardize the process. Ensure fairness and equity in your interviewing and hiring process by maintaining consistent standards. Thoroughly design the entire recruitment process, including establishing what tools you will use to locate, evaluate and choose candidates, developing interview questions and determining the modes of communication. By adhering to a plan, you can better ensure that all applicants are treated equally.
7. Measure your strategy’s success. Before embarking on another global recruitment strategy, it is prudent to measure the success of this one. Develop a plan that quantifiably determines the effectiveness of your efforts, including the cost per hire, the time to hire, the usefulness of different hiring sources and other valuable metrics. You can then use this information to adjust future endeavours.

What techniques and tools can you incorporate into your recruitment plans?

When designing your international business-level strategy for recruiting, you may wish to incorporate some time-honoured techniques, such as skills-first hiring and smart recruitment tools like an applicant tracking system. Here are some examples that may be worth considering when brainstorming recruitment strategy ideas:

• Candidate relationship management: A smart recruitment tool, CRM software strives to foster a positive relationship between your company and prospective hires throughout the entire recruitment experience. CRM tools store candidate information, send e-mails, schedule appointments and follow-ups, and keep track of your company’s talent pool.
• Applicant tracking system: Applicant tracking system (ATS) software is a centralized database for everything hiring-related. This valuable smart recruitment tool can advertise jobs, review resumes, create job descriptions, book interviews, perform background checks and store candidate information.
• Targeted recruitment: This purpose-driven approach is used to seek out and identify candidates who possess the precise skills and abilities that your company requires. Targeted recruitment involves researching markets and data and creating an effective message that attracts these potential hires.
• Culture fit or culture add: Both of these hiring focuses accomplish goals related to your company culture. When hiring for culture fit, you strive to hire team members who will integrate easily into the current culture, strengthening the status quo. The culture-add approach seeks new hires who will introduce new skills, perspectives and backgrounds to the company’s culture.
• Skills-first hiring: This hiring model focuses on a candidate’s skills instead of their educational and employment background. Debbie Dyson, the CEO of OneTen, told Indeed that skills-first hiring is “a business imperative,” as it allows employers to expand their talent pool beyond the constraints of the previous model.
• Job boards and aggregators: Online job boards and aggregating websites enable you to post your company’s openings across a broad audience, reaching potential applicants from far-flung locales.

Why is global hiring becoming more common?

Increasingly, companies are looking beyond their nation’s borders to secure top talent. Why has the practice of global hiring become more common? Here are a few reasons that explain this shift:

• Labour shortages: Many regions are experiencing labour shortages, and Canada is no exception. According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 700,000 skilled tradespeople are set to retire between 2019 and 2028. 28,000 agricultural jobs remained vacant in 2022. And by 2035, it is projected that the transportation industry will be short 70,000 to 130,000 workers. As a result, businesses are looking outside the nation to fill these roles.
• Preference for remote work: Thanks to the introduction of new technologies, working from home has become easier and more effective. As such, organizations can seek talent abroad without needing to relocate them or provide a workspace in their country of origin.
• Focus on DEI: Many companies seek to promote a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, motivating them to seek talent across the globe. 
• Government programs: There are several programs offered by the Canadian government that help employers find both temporary and permanent international hires.
  • Federal skilled worker program: This program is geared towards people with work experience outside of Canada who wish to become permanent residents.
  • Federal skilled trades program: Individuals who possess construction, transportation, manufacturing, industrial, natural resources or agricultural skills and wish to live in Canada permanently may be eligible for this program.
  • Atlantic immigration program: Designated employers in the Atlantic provinces that are unable to meet their hiring needs locally may hire international candidates to fill positions temporarily. If certain requirements are met, the hire may then apply to become a permanent resident.
  • Rural and Francophone community immigration pilots: Employers within participating communities may apply to this program if they have been unable to fill positions locally.

Now you are better equipped to commence planning for your global recruitment efforts. Initiating an international hiring strategy is a matter of following some prescribed steps, researching your targeted labour market and identifying the skills and positions you need to hire for. 

FAQs about global recruitment strategies

How can you ensure that your company offers a competitive salary when hiring internationally?

Before setting a salary for an international position, it is necessary to conduct research. Salary benchmarking involves comparing the salary and benefits offered by other companies for the same job in the same locale. It is also prudent to examine the region’s cost of living, the level of competitiveness within the labour market and the demand for your desired skill set.

How can you foster a cohesive global team?

Some methods for nurturing a tightly knit international team include engaging in open communication, regularly touching base with team members, utilizing collaboration tools and technologies, employing team-building exercises, promoting cultural awareness, identifying shared goals, celebrating accomplishments and milestones and choosing leaders who model the desired behaviours. Creating a company culture that embraces cultural differences and establishing effective diversity, equity and inclusion programs can reinforce these efforts.

What tools can you use to navigate hiring in different time zones? 

First and foremost, flexibility is imperative. This means scheduling interviews and other meetings outside of your traditional business hours. You can use scheduling technologies that coordinate time zones and allow potential hires to choose their optimal time slot. Video conferencing tools allow for face-to-face interviews. Using e-mail enables you to communicate when convenient, whereas instant messaging can enable you to share urgent matters when both parties are available.