International recruiting: how to find talents abroad

Finding the right talent for your company is the biggest challenge for every HR manager. A rule that also applies to international recruiting.

But what distinguishes this activity? What are the principles to follow when looking for professionals abroad?

My experience at Matchplat has confronted me with a process that is both challenging and rewarding: finding the best person in a foreign country is both an exhausting and exciting search that can turn into a real journey.

Of course, we do it from our desk and from behind a computer screen: but just like a journey, we have to study the context in which we are about to venture. The goal? To arrive prepared in front of the ideal candidates, to understand their needs and to present our reality in the best possible way.

For a company aiming to grow abroad, it is a question of winning the trust of people from a different country where we are not yet known.

This is why the local work culture and market characteristics are elements to be considered with the utmost attention: only in this way can we offer the right place to talented professionals in the right way.

The steps: what is needed for international recruitment

Having clear in our minds what it means to search for new resources, we can’t help but wonder what steps are needed to achieve our goal.

Of course, mastering tools such as LinkedIn and other recruiting platforms is essential, especially at a time when labour supply and demand are increasingly meeting in digital channels.

Beyond tools, however, what really counts in these cases is the ability to develop a structured process.

First of all, we have to ask ourselves which markets are most suitable for the growth of our company. In other words: where can our product or service make inroads? Who are the consumers or companies that might need it most?

Once this has been clarified, we need to understand what professionalism is required to achieve our goals. Depending on the area and what we are aiming for, we will need different figures at different times.

Once we have identified the profiles needed, we have to ask ourselves what the expectations of those professionals are: how are they used to working? Is remote working already a habit for them? Are they already familiar with solutions such as those offered by our company?

There are many questions, and we will have to know how to answer them all in order to be able to offer a position that is coherent with what our interlocutors expect: it is a question of studying that work culture I mentioned at the beginning.

Once this is done, we come to one of the most important steps: writing a complete job description, which communicates first of all our values and not only what we are looking for. A detailed description of requirements and tasks is important, but it is not enough: we need to make people from a different environment understand who we are.

That is why it is essential to give space in the job posting to your mission: clear, explicit, capable of conveying the role we want to play in the market. Innovators, revolutionaries, institutionalists or traditionalists: it doesn’t matter what you look like, what matters is that you let it shine through to attract the foreign talent that is most like you.

The importance of follow-up: reducing the distance

Once we have found the right people, our job is not over. At this point, it is essential to reduce the distance between the headquarters and the people we have hired abroad.

In a delicate phase such as entering new markets, the HR department plays an essential role: to be a point of contact for people, capable of supporting and guiding them at a time when the company is growing.

This is where the importance of follow-up comes in: maintaining constant contact, being able to take on board the observations of each resource and being ready to respond to their doubts.

This is essential for a cohesive team, not only in the domestic market, but also in foreign markets where cultural, linguistic and distance differences seem to make everything more complex.

This is why every HR Manager involved in projects should find the time to dedicate to foreign staff by scheduling meetings where they can discuss things transparently.

There is no shortage of difficulties, but being prepared to listen to those who work with us is the first step towards solving problems, improving processes and achieving our goals. At home, but also in the new markets where we aim to grow.