In recent times, the concept of recruiting overseas staff has gained
momentum. Many businesses have joined the bandwagon in their attempt to
meet the unprecedented and increasing skills shortage. To keep afloat
and to stay ahead of competitors, it is important that you recruit
skilled staff to deliver what the business stands for. Recruiting
overseas staff is a boon for many small and medium sized businesses to
meet this challenge. International recruits may possess the skills and
attitudes that will prove beneficial to you and your business.
It is a known fact that to have a migrant worker is a financial
decision. It is less desirable to have this worked out wrongly. You need
them as an asset to your business rather than a liability. A wrong
choice will result in lost visa space on which you spent your time,
money and effort. Hence, it is required that these international
recruitment agencies are more diligent in choosing the right candidate.
The exercise to bring in overseas staff will be rewarding if you are
able to choose an appropriate overseas staff recruitment agency. There
are numerous businesses claiming to be the best in the industry. How
would you differentiate the good from the bad? This write-up is
essentially to give an insight to the key aspects, which you need to be
aware of when engaging a recruitment agency for overseas staff.
Choosing a Recruitment Agency for Overseas Staff
Recruitment is a dynamic industry and it becomes overwhelming and
confusing for prospective employers and candidates. In this maze, to
choose the right recruitment agency for overseas staff becomes even more
daunting. Some of the characteristics that you need to look out for
when availing the service of a recruitment agency, especially for
Overseas staff, is listed below.
Global Presence
A well-established recruitment agency with numerous clients and offices
in different locations across cities, provinces or countries is a safe
bet. Be cautious when signing up with a start up agency or one with a
single office location.
There are international recruiters who claim they have offices in
different countries. To affirm their claims are true, request for the
business registration documents for the respective countries. This could
be beneficial, as it will quickly tell you whether they are being
honest or misleading you with false claims. They may be in reality
working with an associate agency and this might cost you more dearly.
This also means that the recruitment process and most importantly
screening of the applicants are not under their control.
Experience
It is important that the recruitment agency has the relevant experience
in recruiting international staff in addition to guide and lead you
smoothly through the transition process. It is advisable to choose a
recruiting agency, which has been continuously working with Overseas
recruitment and with good reputation.
An experienced recruitment agency is more likely to be aware of the laws
of the countries from which the applicant hail from. As they are
empowered with this knowledge, this will quicken the process to get them
to your country after visa issuance. This requires experience in visa
and immigration rules of both countries. This is a salient feature to
look for when engaging a recruiting agency for overseas staff
recruitment.
Reference Check
It is wise to carry out a thorough check on the recruitment agency that
you wish to engage for recruitment. You should request for client
testimonials and case studies to confirm their authenticity. Ideally,
they should provide these without much delay. Needless to add, this
should be followed up with a background check of the testimonials to
ensure they are clients and not pseudo businesses.
Some shady recruitment agencies are famous in providing Client contacts
with a foreign sounding name. Do not hesitate to insist in getting a
reference from a client in your own country or in a similar country.
This way you can verify the legitimacy of the referred Business entity.
There could be occasions where an international recruitment agency might
pass their relatives or friends as client or business references. They
would impress you with their polite, feasible and article manners.
However in reality they might not be a business. Easier way to ascertain
this would be to do a search on Google maps. If they are a listed
business, the chances are very rare that you wouldnt find them on
google maps or other business directory.
Brand
Websites depicts the degree of professionalism maintained by an
organisation. This platform serves as a tool for interaction and serves
as the public face of the business. Being part of the social media such
as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the like is a clear indication of
whether they are with the flow.
Reputation
Website would be a good start to obtain information about any
prospective recruitment agency. Other sources to check their reputation
would be through newspapers, magazines and word-of-mouth. This will give
you information on how the business is viewed in the public eye. Review
their website to see whether they are informative, articulate and
influential with a reputation in the industry.
You have a reputation and brand name in your industry. You are gauged by
the way you conduct your business and especially your HR practices. You
definitely will be concerned that your reputation is upheld in all
circumstances. There are occasion where international recruiters
overcharge their applicants. This in turn would mar your reputation. It
would be advisable to get them disclose how much if any they charge
their applicants for their services. What has been portrayed as free or
low cost could actually cost the applicant. This in turn can damage your
brand identity with the unassuming applicant believing that it is being
charged rather than the agency itself.
Consultation
A genuine recruiter is ready to offer good, helpful and honest advice
and is foresighted. It would be beneficial if your international
recruiter is capable of providing relevant information that you need to
know, preparing you what to expect and assist you in making the right
decision drawn from their past experience. However, this is possible
only with recruitment agencies that has a global presence and/ or
networked with industry partners, to source skilled staff from different
countries.
The recruiting consultant would work out options in the best interest of
the client drawing from previous work experience. He/She would be
willing to spend atleast 30-40 minutes of friendly and professional
initial consultation to gain a complete understanding of your
requirements and follow-up for further information as and when the need
arises.
Response
Recruitment agencies that provide quick turn-around-time for emails and
telephone queries, is a good sign that they take their profession
seriously. This can be anything from phone calls being answered quickly,
politely and in a professional manner; email etiquette; regular updates
on websites etc. It would be advantageous to have your queries answered
quickly so that you have a smooth sail in this entire process.
Turnaround time is an important feature to look-out when choosing a
recruitment agency.
Staff
How the recruitment agency consultants conduct their business is a
reflection of the business image and principles. Evaluating and
assessing all aspects of the consultants performance is important.
Acting professionally in all circumstances, being knowledgeable about
their clients and industry, keen to listen and offer advise accordingly,
are some of the desired qualities in a recruitment consultant. It is
crucial to ensure that they will be able to represent your business
values and thereby attract skills appropriate to your business.
A combination of these key traits will help you zero down on the
appropriate recruitment agency that will provide efficient professional
service and from where you can build a lasting business relationship.
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