Increased production, the desire to establish a presence abroad, creating a diverse team, or launching a new product/service are just some of the factors that can justify hiring new staff. But how can you, as a foreign entrepreneur, clearly identify your needs? How do you know if you need to hire a foreign worker? Here are some practical tips for smoothly running a business in a new country.
Defining the reasons for recruitment
The first step is to identify the reasons for recruitment, so it's important to analyze your company's current performance. How is it performing in the market? How is it coping with the economic environment? Prepare a detailed assessment of your company's strengths and weaknesses to determine if hiring is justified. Include in your assessment:
- The company's turnover;
- The catchment area (geographical area from where your customers come);
- The sectors/zones/goods where you make the most profit;
- Company staff: number of employees, managers, job function, type of contract;
- The proportion of local and foreign employees in your company.
Identifying the changes and the company's goals
Understanding your company's goals will help you set up strategic workforce planning. Companies often react in emergency situations. A sudden increase in production may push them to hire more staff. However, companies should learn to anticipate rather than just react. Many employers have an operational planning department that is responsible for assessing short-term needs. This department should be combined with strategic workforce planning, which targets long-term needs and helps to visualize company goals better.
Determine the changes noticed in the company: increased production, sustained pace, larger catchment area than before, competitors slowing down or, on the contrary, becoming more aggressive, and lack of competitors. Update your company's goals: desire to expand abroad, opening a new branch abroad or in your own country, increasing production capacity, launching a new product/service, upgrading a product/service, etc.
Do these changes and goals justify hiring one or more employees? Do they justify hiring foreign employees?
Evaluating the current team's skills
Recruitment is not always the solution. Strategic workforce planning allows you to visualize all your staff to determine if hiring is justified. Sometimes, reorganizing services can address the company's new challenges. Internal recruitment might also be a more advantageous solution than external hiring. It is essential to review your teams to avoid unnecessary recruitment and be sure of hiring the right people. What skills are currently being developed in the company? What is the state of productivity? What is team spirit like? If you already have foreign employees, how are relations with local employees?
Assessing missing skills in the current team
What do you need to achieve your goals? Where can you find these skills? Your employees may have talents not considered by managers. Could internal training address the recruitment need? Could an employee be tasked with training their colleagues? Again, a careful examination of the skills and gaps in your workforce will refine the recruitment project.
Define the position to be filled
No company wants to risk hiring the wrong person, especially when hiring a foreign employee. Immigration procedures are often cumbersome and require great rigor. Start by carefully defining the position to be filled. Keep in mind that it is not yet the advertisement that will be published on job search websites (and other channels). Involve managers, HR staff, and the department where the new employee will work.
Your internal file should include the position's tasks and objectives, the contract (temporary, permanent, etc.), whether training is provided at the start of the contract, the essential skills for the position, and the required education level. Also, list the specific skills you expect for the position (always in line with company objectives): proficiency in one or more foreign languages, previous experience abroad, team spirit, eagerness to learn, etc.
Understanding immigration procedures for hiring foreigners
Are you actually allowed to hire foreign employees? States are constantly reviewing their immigration rules to encourage the recruitment of locals. However, companies explain that they do not find the ideal profile among locals, who sometimes shun certain sectors of activity deemed too challenging.
Hiring a foreign worker should not be improvised. Before publishing your job offer, you need to ensure that the future foreign employee has the right to work in your country. Depending on the contract you offer, you will need to request a work permit from your host country. This step applies if the job offered is not on the country's skills shortage list (if it does have such a list). If it is on the list, the recruitment procedures will likely be streamlined. Indeed, many states have eased immigration procedures for foreigners coming to work in sectors with a labor shortage. If the position offered is not in shortage, the job offer must first be published on official job search websites. You can only hire a foreign worker if no local worker fits the description.
Should you hire a local or foreign employee?
The answer to this question is partly found in the preliminary assessment. The precise drafting of your job description and the establishment of your company's objectives, strengths, and limits have allowed you to carry out strategic workforce planning. If these objectives are confronted with administrative and/or financial constraints, employing a local worker may be a solution, as hiring foreign talent will be more expensive. Restrictive reforms voted in some countries have made it even more expensive (for example, in the United Kingdom, Sweden, or Australia), pushing many companies to choose from the local workforce.
Hiring a foreign employee is justified, for example, in case of labor shortages. It is also justified if the employee has rare and/or exceptional qualifications (professional experience, in-depth knowledge in a field, etc.) sought by your company. Hiring a foreign worker may also represent your long-term vision: to build a cosmopolitan team where locals and foreigners learn from each other. In line with the "borderless world" touted by the socio-economic market, this vision promotes international mobility while contributing to business growth. Far from being competitors, local and foreign employees learn to work together for the company's development.
