There is much talk about hiring talents abroad and the advantages your company stands to gain from it. While we are not against anyone with such an opinion, selecting the right candidate for the job is the main decider of whether hiring talents abroad would be worth it.
In reality, it could be more challenging to find the perfect talent outside your country than within if you do not know what to look for when screening prospective employees. While these things would vary with company type, there are some universal signs to know you have the right person. Here are seven things to look for when hiring talents from abroad.
1. Cultural Adaptation
You need to know how prepared your prospective employee is prepared to adapt to the cultural changes. Ask if they’ve made any effort to read about your country and what they think would be most challenging about their migration. Candidates with prior experience in other places with shared attributes with your country are more likely to find it easier to adapt.
2. Matching the Work Requirement
Ensure you sort candidates by their knowledge, skill capacity, and ability to execute the required roles successfully. Where possible, create life scenarios and ask them to proffer solutions. Another way is to ask them to share work situations where they had targets, the actions taken, and the results that followed.
You want someone with an excellent grasp of the work you are hiring them to do. Even if there will be training for new employees, it should be to familiarize them with your methods and improve on what they already know. You cannot afford to start training from scratch.
Also, you should consider that immigration law may change depending on the country. As an example, we might take UK immigration law changes, which have raised minimal income for UK skilled worker visa in 2024.
3. Long-term Potential
Be sure your potential employee is willing to work with you for a good while. People may look for foreign jobs first to get a visa into the country. Such persons would not stay for long, and knowing the cost of sponsoring their entry into the country, hiring them would be a bad deal.
The good part is any canny member of your interview team can spot workers with a long-time prospect from their counterpart. Look out for traits of longevity in a prospective employee’s resume. Candidates with passion and enthusiasm for the job are more likely to commit for a longer time than those that are not.
4. Team Player Spirit
Although some jobs require working alone, there’ll always be reasons to interact with other workers in the organization. You want your foreign employee to blend with already existing staff in your company and not stick out like a sour thumb.
Ask questions about how well they work with others. Ask about their achievements and note their reply. Team players often speak the “we” language. They are not afraid to declare how good they are, yet they appreciate the effort of others who make their task achievable. Team players are not afraid to point out they did not accomplish their goals alone.
5. Willingness to Learn
When hiring foreign talent, you should look for people that are also willing to learn. You do not want someone that is accustomed to their ways of doing things and unwilling to change. You can deduce this trait from the candidate’s resume and during the interview stage.
Candidates that have attended conferences and other workshops are more likely to love learning than those with only professional qualifications. During the interview, see if they also ask questions. Ask how they wish to accomplish certain aspects of their work in the company if given the opportunity.
6. Motivation and Drive for Success
Any employee that only wants a job isn’t enough. You should hire talents that are motivated and driven to be successful. Such ones would be easy to manage as they always think of the best ways to carry out their duties. They are innovative and would be willing to go the extra mile for the company.
7. Willingness to Relocate Their Family
Foreign talents willing to bring their family over are more likely to be committed to your work. Sometimes, foreign workers with families overseas can be distracted by the thought of going to check on them during the holidays. Since they would come into the country with a skilled worker visa, they can also bring their family along as dependents.
Final Thoughts
Hiring foreign talent is expensive, so employing the wrong candidate can be harmful to the growth of your company. You can’t afford to be indifferent to some signs during the interview stage. Do not make assumptions about the interviewee. Be clear about everything you want from your prospective employee, and pay attention to the questions they ask.
Most importantly, get people or possibly an agency with experience employing foreign talents on your hiring team. Tell them what you want. They can be helpful in helping you pick the perfect candidate.
