How to Attract International Talents for Your Startup
Attracting ambitious and hard-working talent to your startup is one of the most important things you can do throughout the whole process. Having the “right” people in your organisation will give you a greater chance of sustainable growth and down the line, profitability. Recruitment needs to be carefully strategised throughout the startup process because these roles will lay the foundation from which the business develops and grows.
The domestic talent here in the UK is typically a very high standard. However, to truly elevate your recruitment and chances of success, you may want to recruit from the global talent pool. In this article, we’ll explore why international talent can be so valuable and how you can effectively attract it to your business.
What can international candidates offer?
You may be questioning why you would want to attract international talent instead of domestic talent – but ideally, you should be looking for both. International talents can bring fresh perspectives, cultural insight, diversity and much more to your business. Diversity enables a healthier and more progressive company culture which is hard to manufacture.
Recruiting international talent can be beneficial in the long term too – providing insight and background knowledge on international and regional markets that you may want to expand or diversify into. There may be additional steps to the recruitment process such as sorting visas or work permits, and assisting candidates with temporary serviced apartments in London while they find more permanent accommodation – but the benefits could far outweigh the additional efforts.
How to attract international talents
Have a dedicated careers page on your website
If your product or service is revolutionary enough, candidates will find you instead of you finding them. Candidates are much more likely to make contact if you have a dedicated careers page on your website, rather than just a standard vacancies section. You may hear from someone that can fill a position that you didn’t even know you needed yet. International candidates are much more likely to follow a career with progression opportunities than a standard advertised job.
Clearly state your vision and mission
Candidates of all sorts want to be a part of something with purpose and ambition. International candidates, in particular, will be looking for something new, unique or noteworthy if they are going to uproot their life and move to a different country. As such, make your vision and mission as clear as possible on your website and all your recruitment materials.
Use professional networking platforms
When looking to attract international candidates, you should take advantage of your existing professional networks and create new connections in your industry across the world. Professional networking sites will do most of the hard work for you and all you have to do is make your company and advertised role as appealing as possible.
Make the job specification and progression opportunities clear
International candidates want clearly defined roles and responsibilities if they are to risk a move to another country. Not only this, but they also want a clear indication of pay structures, benefits and progression opportunities to make their move worthwhile. Advertising as offering a ‘Competitive Salary’ is just another way of saying you pay as little as possible – so don’t mess around with numbers because these will be key if you want to attract the best of the best.
