For businesses focusing on international projects, finding effective labour is one of the major decisions an organisation has to make. Employers need to determine if they should employ local talent or look for workers abroad.
Just as there is no singular recruitment method suitable for every project, local recruitment gives speed and expertise in the local market, while international recruitment gives access to bigger talent reservoirs and rare skills.
Making the right choice is influenced by the availability of labour, size of projects, required skills, estimated expenditures, as well as location regulations. Understanding these factors helps human resource managers implement an effective labour strategy they can use for both current activity and long-term business objectives.
Local Hiring: Strengths and Limitations
Local hiring refers to employing people living in the country or area where a company is active.
This is the first choice for employers since local candidates have an understanding of the working conditions, language, market, and local regulations.
One major benefit of hiring locals is that the newly hired workers can be available sooner than workers who need to be recruited from a foreign country.
Local hiring is useful when only a few workers are required, and in cases of urgent staffing as well as for supervisors and customer service positions.
However, this kind of hiring may have some disadvantages.
For employers operating in labour-scarce markets, finding enough applicants may be a problem. The competition for skilled employees might lead to a rise in salary expectations and employee turnover.
In particular, in the case of big projects of corporations and construction and production companies requiring a large workforce, local workers might not be enough.
Hence, it is quite relevant to consider which option is better: international recruitment or local hiring.
International Recruitment: Strengths and Limitations
International recruitment includes looking for candidates in countries other than the employer’s country.
It opens up access to more workers and skills compared to the local labour market.
In particular, employers facing shortages of some speciality workers might use international recruitment successfully.
This method works best for large projects requiring many employees within a certain timeframe.
Employers have an opportunity to look for a concrete trade or skill instead of being limited to local availability.
However, the process of recruitment requires additional preparations.
Employers need to think about documentation, visas, work permits, and medical requirements if needed.
Talent Availability and Skill Scarcity
One major distinction between local recruitment and international recruitment lies in the size of the talent pool.
Local recruitment restricts companies to employees available in the workforce it intends to target. Local recruitment can work well when desired potential candidates are easily available.
However, when companies require a large number of employees in specific areas of expertise, slowing down the process may become inevitable.
For instance, the contractor involved in several undertakings may require hundreds of employees in different skill areas. Another example is a manufacturing company that opens a new facility and needs to recruit machine operators, technicians, maintenance staff, and supervisors.
If the demand for these specialities is great locally, the recruitment process will be delayed.
International recruitment enables employers to tap into international markets and look for employees with the required skills rather than competing for limited talent.
By taking a broader approach to the hiring process, employers can fill hard-to-recruit positions.
The main task is not just to have a lot of candidates.
What is needed is to find candidates with the right competency and appropriate level of expertise.
Dynamic Staffing Services offers help to companies willing to calculate workforce needs before searching for appropriate markets for recruitment to be able to use the international employment process more efficiently.
Speed, Scale and Project Timelines
When starting the recruitment process, companies should be concerned about speed but also take into account the number of employees hired.
However, in the case of local recruitment, speed is often a more significant factor since the candidates have already arrived in the country.
For example, if a company needs one supervisor urgently, it can be easier to find someone locally than by searching in other countries.
However, bulk recruiting is more challenging.
Let us say that a project demands 300 qualified employees, and there are only 50 qualified applicants present locally.
In this case, repeating searches in the same market can prolong the hiring process.
However, the international recruitment process needs time, which involves such steps as searching for candidates, selecting candidates, issuing documents to hired specialists, and their relocation to the location of work.
However, when planned ahead of time, international recruitment should allow offering candidates in bigger numbers.
Hence, it is necessary for project managers to work backwards by starting from the date of required mobilisation.
Consequently, it is important to decide what positions are critical, how many specialists will be needed, and what the timing between different project activities is.
Cost and Compliance Considerations
While comparing costs related to local and international hiring, it is important to take into account more than just recruitment expenditures.
Hiring locally decreases costs of relocation, visas, and mobilisation. The lack of talent can make salaries higher, and it can cause repeated hiring and more intense competition between companies.
Recruitment of international personnel entails expenses on sourcing, assessment, documentation, travel, and mobilisation as well. The advantage of international recruitment is that it allows access to more workers and makes workforce planning more predictable.
When calculating the total hiring costs, it is necessary to include:
- Recruitment and selection
- Salary and costs of employment
- Training costs
- Employee turnover
- Hiring replacements
- Mobilization
- Delays in project performance because of vacancies
- Compliance is another important issue.
International recruitment involves employment, immigration, documentation, and worker mobility processes. The exact process varies from country to country.
Employers should not consider international recruitment merely as relocation from one country to another.
A structured approach should be applied starting from the selection of candidates up to their deployment.
Skilled providers of international employment solutions assist employers in organising and managing these processes effectively.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Both hiring models have clear advantages depending on the situation.
Local hiring is generally stronger when:
- Workers are readily available in the local market
- Immediate joining is necessary
- Only a small number of vacancies need to be filled
- Local language or market knowledge is important
- Roles require direct experience in the destination market
International recruitment is generally stronger when:
- Local skills are in short supply
- Employers need workers in large numbers
- Projects require several technical trades
- Businesses are planning long-term workforce requirements
- Employers need access to wider international talent pools
Many global employers do not need to choose only one model.
A blended workforce strategy can often provide better results.
Critical local roles can be filled within the destination market, while larger technical or operational workforce requirements are supported through international recruitment.
The right mix depends on the business.
How Dynamic Staffing Services Helps Employers Choose the Right Approach
Dynamic Staffing Services collaborates with international companies in the development of workforce strategies tailored to their actual business needs.
The process begins not by suggesting one particular recruitment solution but by understanding the project implemented by the clients.
This process entails evaluation of:
- Workforce numbers
- Job categories
- Required skills
- Project deadlines
- Destination country
- Recruitment volumes
- Mobilization requirements
When the option of international recruitment appears reasonable, Dynamic Staffing Services engages in supporting employers with a methodical candidate search and assessment process.
The recruitment function includes sourcing candidates, the first screening, checking of the experience and necessary documents, skill assessments, trade tests if needed, and interviewing candidates on behalf of the employer.
For the needs of employers with established recruitment patterns, recruitment activities can be structured according to trades and project stages.
Dynamic Staffing Services supports documentation and planning mobilisation processes. It handles visas, work permits, medical, immigration, and other issues following the requirements concerning the destination and worker’s category.
The goals of Dynamic Staffing Services include supporting employers during the whole recruitment and relocation processes of their employees.
For clients with regular requests, Dynamic Staffing Services also provides services related to the long-term development of the talent pool so that the workforce is prepared in advance before any deficiencies in the labour force arise.
Thus, employers may benefit from the latter’s services in relation to global workforce solutions, international recruitment, blue-collar recruitment, white-collar recruitment, and other relevant industry-related recruitment services.
Choose the Workforce Model That Fits the Project
The discussion on international recruitment versus local hiring should not centre on finding the preferred method.
A better question is which one of the methods suits the specific workforce needs.
Finding local hiring brings significant benefits when qualified candidates are present and need to join immediately; however, international recruitment is useful once the employer is dealing with staff shortages, lack of required skills, mass hiring or needing candidates for projects with longer duration.
In many cases, proper use of the two approaches combines local knowledge and international workforce capabilities.
Founded in 1977 by Major SP Khosla, DSS is a part of the 1800-people-strong Dynamic Group of companies, a diversified conglomerate with business interests in Oil & Gas, EPC, Manufacturing & Information Technology. Over the last three decades, DSS has earned a strong reputation and built domain expertise in the Human Resources industry. Do not know whether to recruit locally or internationally? Contact Dynamic Staffing Services today at clientservices@dss-hr.com!
