Try These 5 Tips to Make Your International Expansion Seamless

Your startup business has grown. And with the increasingly tight talent market stateside, the message is clear. It’s time to start hiring internationally. But where do you start? Most organizations are set up to hire domestic employees, and most often they work on-site.

With a deep pool of talented candidates across the globe, your business may need to consider broadening its horizons. But if you haven’t hired talent internationally, it can be hard to know where to begin. Check out these five tips to begin your hassle-free international expansion.

1. Determine Your International Hiring Strategy

Blindly going after international talent won’t cut it. Do your research to determine which areas of the world have top talent and align their strengths with your hiring needs.

For example, If you’re working in IT, you may find the saturation of developers is in India. Likewise, you may find talented creative professionals in Canada. Targeting talent hotbeds for your industry can make international expansion more approachable.

Once you’re comfortable with where you want to hire, link up with your human resources department to identify workforce planning needs. Consider international payroll platforms and project management software to support onboarding.

This may feel overwhelming at first, but once you get rolling, you’ll be grateful you planned your strategy on the front end.

2. Link Up With an Employer of Record to Make Your Paperwork Painless

If now is the first time you’ve heard of an employer of record (EOR), it’s time to get familiar. An employer of record employs workers in other countries on your behalf. This is essential if you don’t have a legal presence in the country where you hope to hire employees.

An EOR will take care of the hassle of navigating international rules and regulations. Working with an EOR can help you streamline your paperwork and navigate foreign customs, benefits trends, and pay variables.

You don’t need to become an international hiring expert on day one. An EOR can guide you through the process of creating compliant job postings that are also attractive to international talent. You also wouldn’t want to hire an amazing developer only to be derailed due to faulty hiring practices. Link up with a pro and get it right the first time.

3. Engage Your Stateside Team as You Adopt New International Team Members

Before onboarding international team members, make sure your stateside crew is solid. Nobody likes to be blindsided by new staffing changes. When you have different time zones, customs, and languages at play, you need to be clear with your communications.

To support your efforts, create an internal communications strategy. Set the stage with your current employees before you post your international roles. Engage your employees so they understand the goals your organization is trying to accomplish by bringing on international staffers.

Devise an engagement strategy to earn the support and trust of your current employees. Bring them into the discussion and empower them to support your new team members by serving as hosts. With the assistance of their stateside colleagues, your new international employees will integrate into your organization faster and more successfully.

4. Create a 360-Degree Feedback Practice

Your organization can’t improve if you don’t know where it stands. Before you get started on your international hiring efforts, develop a 360-degree feedback protocol involving all relevant parties. Engage your current staff, HR team, and job candidates to assess each step of the process when it comes to recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding.

Capture the experiences both positive and negative to assess for potential improvements and what processes or parts to keep. Don’t miss out on the feedback a dismissed candidate can offer. There may be gaps in your hiring process that you’d like to address. Make a practice of viewing this feedback during your monthly metrics meetings.

Add check-ins for your new international employees and their supervisors and their teams to your process. Consider 30-, 90-, 180-, and 365-day checkpoints to gather insights as staffers become more confident and engaged in their roles.

As you come across improvement opportunities, adjust your process accordingly. You’ll gather valuable data, and your employees will have the opportunity to confidentially share their perspectives. In a feedback-oriented culture, team members often cite improved trust, which can create positive ripples for your organization.

5. Assess Your Efficacy and Adjust as Needed

In business and life, continuous improvement often paves the way from being “good enough” to being truly great. Have a dose of humility as you embark on this new international hiring venture. Just as with any new endeavor, there will be hiccups along the way.

Willingly admit missteps and adopt a practice of radical candor. Your colleagues and your new international employees will thank you for your willingness to share both failures and successes.

Focusing your attention on improvement opportunities will help you be nimble as you pursue ambitious goals. You may also earn the respect of your new international employees, which can help your business thrive. After all, your purpose is to do meaningful work with the support of dedicated employees, both stateside and abroad. When your fully staffed team is empowered and engaged, you can accomplish great things.