Why (and When) to Recruit Internationally for Your Business

Immigration is a hot topic in the political arena, with anti-immigration proponents known to parrot the unfortunate sentiment that “they [immigrants] come over here and steal our jobs.”

However, in the business front, foreign workers have over the years been the missing cog in the system that when hired drive unprecedented success for many businesses than is often reported.

Whilst there is a minority of people in the general population who suggest that available jobs should remain open only to the domestic labor market, international job candidates are a viable option that you should consider in your business.

And there are many strong reasons why it is advisable to consider recruiting international employees and immigrants in your business or startup.

Here are some of the top reasons why (and when) to recruit and hire workers internationally:

1. Your talent gap isn’t being filled by the domestic job market

There continues to be a skills shortage in several industries across the U.K. and U.S., simply because those are highly competitive markets.

Whereas in some industries job applications arrive left, right and center, other industries are becoming seriously strained from resources and talent. This is where international candidates could be a life-saver in filling these job gaps.

For example, India reportedly has a booming number of qualified candidates within the engineering sector. Likewise, Poland has a growing talent pool that can fill computer programming roles. In these two cases lies an opportunity to tap into a vibrant labor force for your business.

Whilst there are plenty of qualified candidates in the said sectors in those two countries, they aren’t necessarily needed in their home country but would be invaluable elsewhere.

2. Studies suggest international employees work harder

The concern that many employers tend to have with hiring internationally is that it can cause more problems than solutions to their internal processes. Language barriers are the biggest risk, whilst other concerns involve their efficiency in the workplace.

However, research has actually suggested that the complete opposite of what many employers fear about hiring international workers is true. Immigrant and expat workers are actually known to work harder, at least in the U.K., than their British counterparts.

Considering international workers have moved from a different country, you’ve arranged their travel arrangements, sorted their visa application and contract, their aims are always to impress on the job. They generally tend to dedicate longer hours and are more proactive with their tasks and responsibilities than other workers to ensure that they’re earning their keep.

3. Valuable Global networking opportunities could become available

It’s likely that whilst the international candidate was working in their home country, they build relationships with many valuable contacts and have a well-established network in a sector.

Each of the individuals they would have come across would have their own expertise and knowledge within their specialized sector. Hiring such an individual would suddenly make available their networks and professional circle of friends from their native country to your business.

As you may already know, networking is crucial for businesses all over the world, which means hiring an international candidate can open the doors for greater global networking opportunities. This could help your company to expand in different markets and make new relationships with business partners and clients overseas which you wouldn’t have had access to before.

4. Expand your business into multi-national markets

Not only can international candidates potentially provide new clients and business relationships to you, but there’s also a new-found knowledge of markets that you wouldn’t have had before. They’ll be able to provide ideas of how you can break into markets overseas and provide insight into different cities and cultural differences that you’d need to be aware of.

Moreover, international hires bring with them the experience of working and living in countries that are relatively new to your market, which could be extremely valuable to your business.

5. Bring a diverse culture to your business and how it operates

We’re not saying that hiring international candidates will completely influence the structure and culture of how your business operates. It’s likely you’ll already have methods and processes in place that help to create your company ethos and values.

But if you think about it, how one business operates in the U.K., for example, the same business could operate completely different in Beijing. International workers can bring with them their experiences of unique working cultures they’ve had and potentially improve how your original business model works if they’ve felt it’s worked well where they’ve been previously.

Recruiting workers from across the world can be the key to your business’ international success.