Reaching a Global Talent Pool with Your Recruiting Program
Hiring new members of your team is a time-consuming process. We invest time and resources in to ensure we find the right fit. We also find you need to be creative and expand your borders when it comes to a talent search.
Our industry is a niche business and finding good recruits can be a challenge even when the job market is not so competitive. When we need experienced people, we use all avenues available to us and often source people through direct referrals and partnerships.
We do not limit ourselves to hiring locally but rather the best candidate for the position at the time. And sometimes, we find the right candidate on the other side of the globe.
There are advantages to hiring locally but there are also some positives for hiring from abroad. Our team members from other countries provide different perspectives based on their unique experiences and further expand our firm’s reach.
But there are some challenges when hiring talent from overseas. If you are looking to bring a recruit in from outside of Canada, here are some of the challenges you may face:
1) Be patient
The length of time from the beginning of the application process to the time the individual arrives in Canada varies for each person. For some, it can be a few months but for others it can take over a year so manage your expectations on a start date. The Canadian immigration process does not make it easy for employers to bring people from abroad, so we often leave it to the candidates to manage their own immigration. This means we choose to hold a position open for the candidate that we want to hire.
2) Time to go back to basics
While their experience and exposure broadens our own collective experience, they often need to learn the local requirements and specifically the Aercoustics methods. Learning the Aercoustics methods applies for any candidate but those coming from abroad also have to learn the local requirements.
3) Professional designations are worthwhile
Depending on their home country, a new employee may have to rewrite local exams in order to get their credentials such as their P. Eng. This designation is provided provincially and if new immigrants apply within three months of landing, their application fee is waived. Through this process, we learned that securing this designation also helped newcomers to get a substantial reduction in insurance premiums. Consider offering some flexibility for them to study and write the exam in order to secure their designations sooner than later.
4) Plan for an adjustment period
Even if you move locally, employees need time off to deal with details and set up their new home. The work involved when you move from another country or even continent is even more intense. Though you may have been waiting a long time for them to arrive, allocate time for new employees to adjust. Jetlag aside, they will need time to find a place to live, get a cell phone, learn how to get to and from the office, set up a bank account and utilities. They won’t have any vacation days to use up front, so consider giving them time to get set up so they can concentrate on the job once they start.
5) Provide support on arrival
Beyond the obvious culture shock of adjusting to a new climate and perhaps even snow, there are many factors that can make moving to a new country overwhelming. Encourage your employees to support newcomers so they can give local insights on services such as financial institutions, rental rates and cell phone providers. Providing local insight may help them get their footing in Canada sooner.
Newcomers can be a valuable addition to your team and worth the wait, particularly when the talent market is tight. Employers need to have patience for the process and the support mechanisms in place to make a new immigrant a successful employee that stays.
