International Recruitment and Selection Meaning

International or global recruitment is simply the process involved in the searching and hiring of talented candidates from anywhere across the globe. The recruitment and selection process has a long history with man. We’ve always been involved in nominating and selecting representatives for sports, politics, associations, leadership, etc. Oftentimes, we always desire and opt for the most capable, skilled, efficient, and qualified individuals to champion the specific course as to which we are selecting people.

International Deployment of Staff:

Skills shortages in the home-grown market mean that certain sectors are looking outside the UK to fill posts. Other international companies are looking to scale up very rapidly overseas, to shift resources and develop talent in unknown markets. as a result in selecting assignees for alternative forms of international assignments, MNCs should be aware of the limitations associated with more traditional forms of international assignments and should work toward more sophisticated recruitment and selection techniques. An international assignment is a process whereby an employee is sent/ transferred overseas for a certain period of time.

With the increase in globalisation, it had become inevitable for organisations to be involved in the international transfer of staff. Due to globalisation, MNS’s are in a competition to groom managers to meet the challenges and demands of strategic global human resources management according to Mendenhall and Oddou (1995) expatriation comes as a result of the lack of skilled manpower within organisations.

International transfer of staff or expatriation is a tool to enhance exchange as well as transfer of knowledge thus enhancing organisation learning. Borg and Harzing (1995) perceives expatriation as holding advantages of transferring technical and well as administrative knowledge.

Edstrum A. and Galbraith J. (1997) explain the reasons why organisations engage in international assignments. They believe that the following three reasons are the key factors:

To fill a position ( Also to take into consideration that this can be for the purpose to train managers who can gradually take up more advanced posts with the parent organisation or at subsidiary abroad)

Management development; By giving the managers an international experience and training them for future important tasks in subsidiaries abroad or with the parent organisation. This kind of transfer often takes place when qualified host country national are available.

Organisational Development (the idea is that managers become less ethnocentric once they come into contact with a variety of culture. It is assumed that the large-scale transfer of managers of different nationalities between the parent organisation and its subsidiaries abroad will create international communication networks)

Hiring and selection of candidates internationally have a different twist when compare to local or domestic recruitment processes. The variation in market, culture, languages, policies, etc have given global recruiting of talents a new perspective. For instance, the rules and regulations binding employees’ hiring in Europe will have a different taste to the system used in America. For instance, the resume/CV format for job hiring in America doesn’t need information like date of birth, marital status, etc compared to how this information is required in some countries. Also, in America, most job CV/resume must be skill and result-driven compared to the duty-based resumes/CV required in some regions of the world.

Several factors are attached to international recruitment, and companies need to be aware of these factors. One of these factors is identifying and working with the best and reliable recruiter. The selected recruiter must have a good understanding of selection processes, compliance, foreign laws, and other global distinctions. Another factor company has to take note of is the development of a good understanding and expertise of foreign recruitment and selection. Furthermore, recruiters must be familiar with the company’s required skill sets and ideal candidates to aid the selection of the right candidates at the right time for the required job.

International recruitment and selection involve major approaches asking which are ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric, and regiocentric. The ethnocentric approach involves companies hiring only talents that are citizens of their home country in their business locally and overseas. Polycentric involves companies hiring the citizens of a particular country as an employee where the company subsidiaries are located, for example, a California company, hiring Ghanaian citizens to manage its Ghanaian subsidiary. The geocentric approach is the most popular and it involves companies hiring talents across the globe without any nationality clause. Finally, regiocentric is a method that is used to hire talents from a specific region with a particular environment.

These are the major steps involved in international recruitment and selection

• Preparation and planning
• Development of recruitment strategies
• Talent sourcing
• Candidate interviewing
• Screening and examination
• Selection and recommendation

Reasons

Growth

When you desire to hire workers across borders, you are directly and indirectly positioning your organization for a robust phase of growth. This is because hiring internationally will provide you with candidates of different perspectives, innovation, and expertise. They will give your organization a reliable and trusted brand in foreign markets, thus increasing your market base.

An expanded community of talents and experts

Organizations are exposed to an expanded community of workers when they leverage global recruitments. Limiting your workforce to locals within your home country is not a recommended idea because it will limit you of the diversified benefits in which foreigners will bring onboard. Thus, exploring global recruitment will just give you access to specialized talents with exceptional skills and innovations.

Cultural Diversity

Hiring workers overseas will increase the power of diversity in any business. Diversity adds value to the team’s culture and structure. Foreign recruitment allows organizations to bring together people of different cultural background to enhance change, adaptability, working environment, and innovation.

Global Market Integration

Internationally hired workers will give your business better leverage in the new markets. These workers help in branding your business within the standard of the new market. They also provide you with a deeper understanding and knowledge of the ways through which you can boost and grow your businesses.