As the world shifts to a temporary period of remote work, many recruiters are likely to look beyond their own cities or countries to fill talent gaps. Competition for the best talent is tight, and global workforces are becoming the norm for many of the world’s most successful companies. If you aren’t already, now is the time to begin posting to international job boards.
Hiring global talent is the most effective way to diversify your workforce, which leads to a whole slew of benefits for your company and co-workers. But attracting global talent and starting an international job search is easier said than done.
In this article, we’re going to discuss why you should hire global talent, some considerations you should be aware of, and we'll share some tips for how and where to post your global recruitment ads.
Why hire global talent?
A global workforce usually leads to greater diversity and inclusivity at your company. There are many known benefits to diversity recruiting, including enhanced creativity, stronger productivity, and outside-the-box problem-solving.
But hiring global talent also benefits recruiters and their companies in a variety of ways, spanning logistics, cost, and competitive advantage. Here are a few reasons why you should be looking outward and hiring globally:
- Any company can do it, regardless of size or resources. Thanks to advances in virtual hiring, video interviewing, and real-time collaboration software, any recruitment team can connect with global talent.
- It can save your company money by:
- ~ Reducing the need for physical office space.
- ~ Avoiding hotly contested talent markets.
- ~ Minimizing the risk of bad hires due to lack of choice.
- It widens your recruitment net. You can now look to the entire world for talent, rather than hoping the best candidate lives in your own city.
- It unlocks new company knowledge and skills by:
- ~Bringing in new perspectives and backgrounds.
- ~Giving insights into new markets.
- ~Reducing “echo chamber” mentality.
- It’s good for your company brand. Being a strong, international brand gives you a competitive edge when attracting top global talent.
Now that we’ve talked about the benefits of international job searches let’s look at some key considerations.
Key considerations when hiring global talent
Hiring globally brings a whole new set of considerations and challenges that local recruiters may not appreciate. What works for recruiting in your city or country likely won’t work for all audiences globally. So, your strategy needs to shift according to your target candidates.
Here are some key considerations you should be aware of before committing to hiring global talent:
- Business considerations:
- ~ Global recruitment strategies need to be supported by overarching business goals, IT, and legal support.
- ~ There needs to be a commitment, both strategically and monetarily, to growth in global markets.
- Operational considerations:
- ~ You’ll need to streamline and standardize technology and processes globally.
- ~ You’ll need to take into account time zone differences, local laws, holiday schedules, and so on.
- Sourcing considerations:
- ~ You need to consider local needs, wants, and expectations for each location you’re targeting.
- ~ You need to structure your ads and sourcing strategy in a way that appeals to unique demographics.
- Work life considerations:
- ~ You’ll need to encourage a culture of inclusivity to ensure global talent feels welcome.
- ~ You’ll need to standardize onboarding and development across all locations.
- ~ Learning should be a two-way street, rather than an expectation that global talent assimilates to the headquarter’s way of thinking.
These are just a few basic considerations to be aware of before starting your international job search. Once you’ve formed a clear picture of what recruiting and supporting global talent will look like at your company, then you can start executing a strategy to find international candidates.
But, before you start posting to international job boards, you should understand how to write job descriptions and ads that appeal to global talent.
How to write job ads that attract global talent
Writing job ads that appeal to international applicants comes down to understanding local business customs, and what your target candidates value and look for in a company. This dual understanding will help you tell potential applicants the right thing, and in the right way.
If there’s one takeaway from this section, it’s that you should avoid using a one-size-fits-all approach to global recruitment. What works in North America may not work in Asia. Take the time to know your audience and appeal to their wants and desires.
Here’s how.
- Consider your audience. Global recruitment means taking into account cultural differences and knowing what’s relevant to your chosen demographics. You should be considering what your audience values, how they speak, and what they expect when writing any job ad or recruitment collateral.
- Adjust your employee value proposition. Because of differences in culture and values, how you position your company will need to be altered depending on who you’re talking to. “Value” means different things to different people, so you should adjust your employee value proposition to focus on the most important things for your chosen targets.
- Showcase your employer brand. Likewise, employer branding will play a big role in how a global audience perceives you. Upgrade your brand messaging to show that your company is globally minded and a desirable place to work for an international audience.
- Consider your language. By this, we mean the tone, word choice, and structure you use to write your recruitment ads. The tone you choose will be perceived differently depending on where the reader is from. While casual and friendly might work well for North American audiences, it might come across as unprofessional for international audiences.
- Speak the candidate’s language. If you’re trying to recruit global talent, you should be speaking the same language as them: literally. Localize (not translate) your recruitment ads into the native languages for your target countries. This will help demonstrate your commitment to the reader and their cultures.
- Provide a fully localized experience. But, it’s not enough to localize a recruitment ad and call it a day. If you’re going to commit to international recruits, you should strive to localize your entire applicant experience from job ad to application form to follow-up emails. If the hiring manager or recruiter doesn’t speak their native language, be upfront about it while still offering a localized application process.
- Consulting with existing global talent. The best way to improve your job ads is to speak with existing talent or connections from your target demographics. Ask then what works and what doesn’t. Take their recommendations and incorporate them into future recruitment campaigns.
- Explain logistics and benefits. Be upfront about how the candidate would integrate and work with your existing team. Explain how you’ll support them and what they can expect when they join your team. Always be clear and transparent so that the candidate doesn’t have “buyer’s regret” if they accept your offer.
- Be clear on expectations. Lastly, be clear about what you expect from global workers, especially if they are remote. Are there travel requirements? Do you expect them to work outside of their time zone’s working hours? Be honest about this upfront.
Now that you understand how to write job descriptions and ads for global talent, you might be wondering where you can post them. There are many options to choose from when recruiting globally, ranging from international job boards to local ones.
If you’re looking to maximize reach, then international job boards are definitely the way to go.
Here’s why.
Why you should be posting to international job boards
Large, international job boards help you maximize your reach and target candidates in a huge number of different countries simultaneously. Supported by solid recruitment ads, sourcing through global job boards helps you attract the most suitable candidates from anywhere in the world.
This is the core benefit of international job boards. Recruiting on a micro level in each of your global markets can be tedious and time-consuming if you don’t have dedicated resources on the ground. Being able to widen your scope internationally, however, removes that burden.
You just need to ensure that your targeting is sound, your language appeals to your ideal candidates, and that you have a solid Applicant Tracking System (ATS) in place to handle the larger influx of applicants.
But where to post? Here’s a round-up of the top international job boards.
Top 5 international job boards
When it comes to choosing an international job board, there are two key considerations to keep in mind: reach and cost. Depending on your resources, you may have to pick and choose which, and how many, international job sites you target.
Luckily, there’s no shortage of options to choose from. And, most of them should be pretty familiar names.
Here are our top five international job boards for global recruitment, chosen for reach, cost, and flexibility of targeting.
- Indeed. Gives you access to the most talent in virtually every field, with 200 million monthly visitors from 60 different countries.
- Glassdoor. The world’s largest career community, with 64 million job seekers from 190 countries visiting monthly.
- CareerBuilder. A global, online employment website with deep networks in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia.
- Upwork. A global resource for freelancers and gig workers.
- CareerJet. A global search engine targeting 90 countries in 28 languages.
Remember: recruiting globally requires a different strategy and mindset than local hiring. If you haven’t expanded to international recruitment yet, then you should take the time to meet with your company’s key decision-makers to ensure that you have the systemic and monetary support to be successful.
When done correctly, global recruitment can lead to diversified workforces that give you a significant competitive advantage, and help to position your company as a world leader in your industry.
