If you’ve ever been in the job market, you know about recruiters. And if you know about recruiters, chances are you probably don’t like them.

As a new graduate of Software Engineering from the University of California Berkeley, the #2 ranked school in computer science in the United States, I probably received every kind of recruiter email and phone call trying to get me to use their services or interview at their company.

To give you an idea of what I mean, while I was still in college and had zero work experience I was receiving several inquiries per day from recruiters.

Yes, you read that right, zero work experience.

I just had classes posted on my LinkedIn profile. While this may seem wonderful, it eventually drove me crazy because I realized the majority of recruiters didn’t know one thing about me other than my ‘soon-to-be’ job title. I was a commodity. They were the consumer and I was going to be used up until the job market didn’t need me anymore.

Many of my colleagues complained of similar experiences with recruiters. However, as I continued into my career working at various startups, large corporations, and later on my own company, I began to see recruiters in a different light. I began to know them on a more personal level, which is where I found out that they are some of the nicest, most caring and considerate people I have ever met.

So how did this message get confused? Why aren’t recruiters seen as nice, caring and considerate people?

I pondered over this question for quite some time. Eventually the question led me to talk to hundreds of recruiters and engage in hours of study in the field of psychology. I eventually arrived at a concept I thought was worth sharing in this article.

This concept is called the Humanification of Companies.

What is the Humanification of Companies?

It’s an idea that in today’s world we expect a more humane approach from companies. Corporations are known for their faceless, money-driven facades that have no consideration for the individual other than as a resource; a revenue producing product.

However, more people implicitly desire companies that are relatable, friendly, and inevitably – real. In other words: humane. We may have seen this with marketing where 62 % of millennials are more loyal if the company engages with them.

This difference can be boiled down to the way people in those companies address the world through the concept of ‘I-You’ vs. ‘I-It’. Many recruiters relate to candidates as ‘I-It’, making the candidates resent recruiters instead of being grateful that someone is in their corner trying to help them find their dream job.

These two terms were originally popularized by Daniel Goleman in his New York Times bestselling book Social Intelligence. In his book, Goleman reveals the term ‘I-It’ is the way people relate to one another via the other’s social role. On the other hand, ‘I-You’ relations have complete regard to the individual’s reality.

Essentially, ‘I-You’ is having empathy for the other person’s reality while ‘I-It’ is addressing someone in the role that they play in the market.

For me, I was the financial commodity for the recruiter instead of a young professional trying to make it in the world.

The humanification of companies covers many verticals such as marketing, recruiting and branding, but here I’ll address recruiting.

While this may seem a plain and simple concept, it is actually very often misunderstood. I’ll break the recruiting pipeline down into two aspects and indicate where sprinkling a bit of ‘I-You’ could make a huge difference. Those parts are the:

• Initial Outreach
• Value Proposition

And my suggestions are:

• Using the power of video
• Using copy that reflects how you talk in person

1. Initial Outreach

Here is a LinkedIn email I received several months ago.

This is a typical message that I receive from recruiters. Essentially it follows the format ‘who am I?’, ‘why am I reaching out?’ and ‘why you should care.’ While it’s written in a professional way and the copy is on point, it lacks the recruiter’s humane vibe. If I were a recruiter I would attach either a video or a GIF saying hi while the candidates name is on a board.

In this case you may be wondering, ‘Why go that far?’ Well, you are going for a more personal experience. If you think that this approach may take too much time, you may want to check out useloom.com or giphy.com. You can put together videos and GIFs in a matter of seconds. Remember, candidates receive several messages each day from recruiters, so you need to stand out. SmallBizTrends states that 80% of user internet traffic will be through video by 2019, so why don’t you communicate in a method that people prefer to consume?

2. Value Proposition:

Below is another email I received on LinkedIn:

It’s always tricky for non-technical recruiters to write technical value propositions. Usually when someone creates a value proposition who is non-technical, they will search on a few blogs, choose a few buzzwords, put them in an email/inmail and hope it resonates. Very often the recruiter copies and pastes parts of the LinkedIn profile into the value proposition to build rapport.

I doubled-checked to see whether anything about building ‘non-technical user-friendly products’ was in my LinkedIn profile, and it wasn’t. The unfortunate thing is that ‘non-technical’ in this sentence is actually insulting. It is technical because it was code so you lost me there. Plus, the use of ‘javascript fatigue’ here is just silly. It’s more of a Medium.com buzzword at this point which I assume is where the recruiter found this word.

My suggestion is either run a value proposition by the technical team before you send it out, or just talk about how you would like the other person to be more humane. Here is my rewrite of the few sentences.

I’m on the hunt for just one amazing Javascript developer, and out of the hundreds of LinkedIn profiles I have read, yours stood out to me. This is why I’m reaching out to you. As I scrolled down your LinkedIn profile I noticed you also worked quite a bit with Javascript at Lithium and Sindeo as a Software Engineer II, which means you are probably ready to make the exciting jump to becoming a Senior Developer.

I hope you can see the difference here. The sentences make the recruiter seem more real and help the individual to relate as though as they were talking in person. Plus, they are staying in their technical lane.

So how does this relate to my industry?

Every industry has a selling aspect that involves convincing a candidate to join their company. Whether you are in import-export, finance, logistics, marketing or other industries, the process is the same.

By becoming more humane and relating to the candidate’s reality rather than putting on a professional corporate facade, you will find it’s much easier to sell the position you are trying to fill as a recruiter.

My end goal is to help you realize that using your innate humane qualities  is one of the greatest recruiting tools to build amazing teams in the workplace. I hope you catch on to the trend of the humanification of companies. Being human has so much potential for finding great candidates by leveraging the power of ‘I-You’ in the technology-filled world of today.

The post Find the best recruits for your business with the power of ‘I-you’ appeared first on Trade Ready.

For managers in smaller companies, some of these challenges can be resolved by imitating (in a scaled-down form) the practices of larger companies. Certainly managers in small firms can learn a great deal from the global management experiences of larger firms.

In other cases, challenges must be addressed by entering into and managing partnerships, either with larger organizations or with a network of suppliers. Here are 6 strategies SMEs can consider if they want to overcome these challenges and enjoy success in international markets.

1. Niche marketing

By virtue of their size, small companies do best when they specialize. Either they can occupy a unique niche that has not been noticed or addressed by other firms, or they can distinguish and differentiate their product from anyone else’s.

For example, Artailer is an online gallery and retailer of original art. It deals in several kinds of paintings, photography, printmaking and other new media. It also offers customers the option to commission a custom work and hire an artist to complete their dream project directly through their website.

The website also gives people the chance to create custom boards of their favourite works, view the favourites of others, view recommended ideas to gift to others or use as décor, and has its own blog and magazine.

2. Using technology to level the playing field

Much of the technology available to large companies for communicating with customers and managing logistics can also be put to use by small companies. Small companies can use advanced design, manufacturing and information technologies to enjoy economies of scope. Base products can be readily customized to suit the particular tastes, conditions and applications of each market.

This is the idea underlying the business of WSI, which uses digital marketing techniques to help small and medium sized businesses establish their presence online. In this case, advanced digital technology is both the channel through which the company operates and the product that it offers its clients, helping them adapt the Internet to their own business objectives.

3. Adapting organizational models

Managers in small companies can also adopt some of the organizational structures of larger firms. For example, Jamesway Incubator Company has built a solid reputation based on the design, marketing and sales of world class chicken incubators.

Since the majority of its sales are now made outside of Canada, the firm is organized on a global basis, according to regional world markets. They operate a network of agents and representatives covering all of the world’s continents.

Their website offers a clickable world map where users can locate the nearest sales office by region and by country. For example, clicking on Africa and then on Egypt yields the contact information of the Jamesway representative in that country. Using this flexible structure allows the company to offer global coverage without incurring unnecessary overhead.

4. Becoming an insider

Small companies can become “insiders” just as many large international firms have done.

One way to do this is to make the company reflect the markets that it wishes to target: it can hire people with roots in the target market or hands-on experience working there. If it already has operations in the target market, it should find local managers with appropriate skills and experience. In both cases, the company can benefit from their knowledge and intuition to improve the way in which the firm deals with that market. In some cases, a firm may even wish to consider appointing nationals of key strategic markets as corporate directors.

If the right people are chosen and drawn in, this approach can add credibility to the firm in the target markets, provide it with a useful sounding board when determining its direction and strategies, and generate contacts in the respective government, supplier and customer circles.

5. Alliances between small companies and larger corporations

Both large and small companies can derive significant benefits from an alliance. Larger firms spend millions of dollars establishing worldwide distribution and marketing infrastructures, which are dependent on new and innovative products. Many small firms characterized by entrepreneurial spirit are leading technology developers but lack capital and market reach.

These different perspectives can constitute a fertile ground for alliances that can take advantage of complementary capabilities.

Some companies actively search out partners. For example, Dell manages a program to identify partners able to provide a wide range of services upon which the company depends. Its websites set out the specific qualities that it is looking for and encourages smaller firms to apply.

6. Developing supplier networks

When positioning themselves in global niche markets, smaller companies must use the most efficient and productive means possible. One way of achieving this is to develop their own network of dependable, cost-effective suppliers who themselves use advanced technologies. Among the key strategic services that managers can outsource in the interests of efficiency are design, engineering, production, marketing, servicing, transportation, and telecommunications.

By specializing, a manager can focus the organization on what it does best.

In addition, outsourcing from specialists instead of carrying out all the work in-house allows the manager to get better quality services at lower cost, while retaining multi-skilled workforces able to respond to new opportunities. Effective outsourcing, however, also requires effort and time on the part of the manager who must keep communication flowing, maintain good working relationships and coordinate an expanded supplier network.

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“Well,” I told him, “I could do it but I don’t think it is really necessary.” I reminded him that I just hired a Supply Chain Analyst for him in San Francisco without setting a foot in San Fran.

The recruiting and hiring process is the same for each and every role, and for each and every location. You just have to follow the right steps.

The most important thing to remember during international hiring

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of steps when you are hiring internationally. However, the most important thing to remember is that it is essential that you follow the labor and employment laws in that area. It’s also crucial that you have a good understanding of visa sponsorships and regulations, should you be hiring someone to work in a country where they are not a resident.

As an example, should you transfer a current employee who is a U.S. citizen to live and work in this position in China, it is necessary to ensure that the Chinese employment rules are followed, or both you and your employee could find yourself in a very bad position.

If you are a large corporation, chances are that you have an HR representative in each of your major markets who handles your international hiring process from that market.

But, what if you are a startup or a mid-market player finding yourself in growth mode? Increasing your business brings the potential for expansion into new market territory domestically or internationally. What then?

Smaller companies can hire global employees too

Let’s break down the process so you can see that it’s not really that complicated.  You want to make an out-of-the-area hire, so what do you do first?

First, the most important step in any hiring process is establishing a solid idea of what you need this person to do; tasks, skills, responsibilities, etc.

Then, you need to decide who else will be involved. Who will they report to, and who else needs to be involved in the hiring process?

If there is more than one person involved in the hiring decision, it’s important to establish that you are all on the same page as to what you are looking for in a candidate.

Sometimes this is an easy task, and sometimes it is necessary to enter in to a mediation-type process like job benchmarking. This is an even more worthwhile exercise if you are hiring outside of your typical market reach, or for a role that is new to your organization.

If you aren’t familiar with job benchmarking, it is a process where the company decision makers agree, in advance, what the job will be, what skills are needed to perform the job, the experience needed to be successful in the role and lastly, an idea of what the perfect person for the job might look like on paper. Then, when everyone is in agreement, you hire to that benchmark.

We help clients hire the correct person using scientific assessments to ensure that we are hiring within the target benchmark. You can find more information on the products and tools available here.

You will also need to do some research to assess salaries for the employment market you plan to target, and decide on an appropriate pay for your new employee. Doing market research on the country where you are planning to hire is the best plan to find a competitive salary range. Searching for similar jobs online should give you an idea of what the job is currently paying. An additional step is to visit the Economic Research Institute where they have a calculator for international salaries.

You want your offer to be on the higher side of the scale and perhaps above the scale for an excellent candidate. Remember that you are depending on this person to be an independent self-starter, and now is not the time to save money which may result in hiring a person who cannot do the job.

Once you have decided on the role, you need to come up with a timeline to search, interview and hire the right person so that they are on board right when you need them to start. If you have an HR team, they need to know what your target hiring schedule looks like.

If you are partnering with an outside, independent recruiter, this is a very important part of the process as they are also working on other positions with other clients. Having a schedule established ahead of time makes for a better experience for everyone, especially if you will be dealing with long distance and multiple times zones.

The most effective way to interview candidates remotely

Now that your schedule is established and you have carved out a target hiring date, you need to determine how you will review and interview this person from across the world.

Perhaps you can start with a phone interview to get a general sense of the person. We use Spark Hire, a video interviewing tool. Our clients choose the interview questions and the candidate tapes themselves answering those questions. Once a candidate sends their videos, we’ll share the video link with the client’s hiring team. This is a useful tool for this process, as it gives you a strong idea of how the candidate presents themselves, and how comfortable they are with technology. Surprisingly, you can also usually tell who prepared their answers and who was comfortable answering from the cuff.

As a next step, Spark Hire has a live interview mode, or you can conduct an online interview via Skype or any other video call service. At this point, you may have an employee in the area who you can task with conducting a face-to-face interview and report back their findings.

Your HR team or your recruiter will also check the candidate’s references, and there are numerous assessments that you can easily administer online which will further indicate their abilities, aptitudes, skills and talents.

Making the final (and best) decision

By now you’ve narrowed the pool of candidates down to those that will be a great fit. If there is one stand-out candidate, fly them in to meet with your core team and use that time to introduce them to your company culture and philosophies.

If there are still two or more candidates, it makes sense for you to travel to meet them in person. Once you’ve made the hire, you may want your new employee to come to visit you after the start in their new role.

Having your new employee visit your established operations is a good way to impart in them your company culture, philosophy and mission. It will also open the doors for communication between the new employee and your established team, which should help with the immediate onboarding. It will help the employee navigate through the new role, office, location, plan, etc.

Depending on your situation, you may still have a lot of questions once you’ve made your hire:

• How do I provide them with benefits?
• What payroll and tax issues do I need to navigate with international employees?
• How do I train employees in other countries?
• What’s the best way to manage employees who are working abroad?

Stay tuned for a future article, where we’ll cover those questions and more, to help you get your new international employees up to speed as quickly as possible.

The post Find the superstar candidates for your global business without leaving your office appeared first on Trade Ready.

While incorporating and outsourcing are two popular options that have many advantages depending on your needs, using contractors is another option that many companies use.

There are benefits to doing so, but there are also risks that many companies may not be aware of. So, make sure you have a strong understanding of contracting labour laws before deciding to go in that direction.

Am I able to use foreign independent contractors?

As a result of the complexities related to directly engaging employees in a foreign country, many organizations will utilize independent contractors. While in some cases this is a feasible option, organizations need to be very careful here not to misclassify the worker.

A major risk of using foreign independent contractors is that you could be unintentionally creating an employment scenario for the contractor, which opens you up to the roles and responsibilities of being an employer in that country.

It’s quite surprising to learn how many organizations unknowingly put themselves at risk with contractors.

Contractor definitions and legislation can be grey in some countries, but common factors to consider when thinking about using a contractor are: degree of control, exclusivity of work, and compensation.

Are you directing their daily tasks and activities? Are you enforcing company policies on this individual?

Contractors are typically given a goal or an overall task, and the paying party is unable to manage the contractor’s daily activities or the means they use to achieve that goal.

If the contractor is reporting to a manager who directs their daily tasks, schedules, or requires them to wear a uniform, for example, they could be interpreted as an employee.

Is the contractor working for your organization exclusively? A contractor by definition will be offering their services to the public and working for multiple organizations throughout the year.

How are you paying this contractor? If you are paying a regular salary or hourly wage, this too could be interpreted as employment.

Many organizations use independent contractors as a means to avoid paying costly employer tax burdens, like social security, statutory bonuses, vacation time, retirement plans, and other social programs.

What can go wrong?

Organizations often use contractors because they don’t know of any other options, or even to avoid paying the social costs in that country.

Many countries are beginning to catch on to the fact that their governments are not getting paid for business being conducted in-country, and are auditing foreign businesses.

Because a bank account cannot be established in-country by an unregistered foreign business, many will pay their contractors with direct, recurring wire transfers.

This is a big red flag that can catch the local government’s attention, and they could eventually begin to ask questions about the purpose of the transfers.

One of the more common causes for a government audit is a dispute between a contractor and the paying party, where the contractor ends up claiming that they were an employee based on the terms of the engagement.

When this happens, the paying party could have to back pay all social contributions for the length of the engagement, as well as a possible fine. In extreme cases, the organization could even be barred from operating in that country, or even jailed for tax evasion.

Another common cause is if the contractor fails to file their taxes after the end of the contract. It is the responsibility of the contractor to pay their taxes as a self-employed person, typically through their own entity.

However in many countries, such as China, the liability falls back on the paying party if the taxes are not claimed. How do you ensure that your contractors are paying their taxes?

Failure to adhere to country specific HR laws and payroll processes could result in hefty fines that could be detrimental to an expansion operation, or a non-profit with limited funding.

An organization’s reputation could also be on the line if there are penalties levied against them, which could have long term effects.

Statutory HR and payroll compliance is different in every country, and these types of issues compound in complexity when you are working in multiple foreign countries.

Just like in your home country, your new country’s labor laws change on a regular basis. Staying on top of these requirements and changes could eat up a lot of an organization’s resources.

What’s the best way to incorporate contractors into my international HR practices?

Contractors could make sense for short term projects, such as construction or any job that doesn’t require the contracting entity to manage the day to day activities.

Establishing the level of commitment and resources available for your foreign trade endeavour, and conducting thorough research, is the best way to decide whether becoming a direct employer or contracting out is the best option for your company’s international hiring needs.

Does your business use independent contractors in its international HR strategy? Share some of your tips on working with independent contractors.

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