What if you could work with the world’s best talent, instead of only people within your city or country? Accessing the global talent pool is a great way to find specialized skill sets, overcome talent shortages, and build more diverse teams. With modern communication and collaboration tools, it’s now easier than ever to build a borderless team. Having an international team may even be a competitive advantage, helping to drive creativity and innovation by bringing together diverse experiences, perspectives, and skill sets.
But even if you’re excited about the idea of building a global team, you may be wondering how it all works. How do you find and evaluate candidates internationally? How do you set them up for success and ensure a good employee experience? How do you collaborate effectively across time zones, and keep your distributed team engaged and happy? How do you ensure compliance with labor laws and tax regulations in different countries?
These are all great questions—which is why we created an Oyster guide to hiring global talent. So, if you’re considering global hiring for the first time but need a little help getting started, this guide is for you. Whether you’re looking to scale quickly, expand into new markets, or need a specialized skill set, below are the key elements to help you take the next step.
1. Sourcing and hiring global talent
There are skilled and experienced professionals everywhere, and fortunately there are many ways to connect with them. There are websites and job boards where you can post remote positions, as well as platforms where you can connect with pre-vetted remote talent. There are also recruitment agencies and talent partners that specialize in remote talent acquisition from various parts of the world. These agencies can help you find and vet candidates that match your requirements.
The hiring process for remote candidates will, in many ways, be similar to hiring locally. It will involve the usual stages of sourcing, advertising, screening, role and skills assessments, interviews, and an offer stage, regardless of the candidate’s location. But there are some key differences. Interviewing candidates based in other countries and time zones will require careful coordination and a greater reliance on digital tools and systems to track applications, schedule and conduct interviews, and more.
2. Evaluating international candidates
To ensure fairness and reduce bias when evaluating global talent, it’s important to create a standardized process with objective criteria focused on skills and competencies. This keeps the emphasis on the candidate’s abilities rather than the name recognition of the companies on their résumé. Job descriptions, too, should focus on the specific skills and experience required to succeed in the role.
When interviewing candidates, ask questions that will help you assess readiness for remote work. For instance, on a global team there might be communication challenges or delays due to time zone differences. Ask candidates how they handle working independently in situations where they might not have all the information they need. The idea is to determine whether they would be able to work effectively and autonomously in a distributed workplace.
3. Classifying workers correctly
When working with global talent, you might decide to onboard someone as a full-time employee or as an independent contractor. It’s important to understand the difference so you can figure out what’s most appropriate for your needs and avoid misclassification risks that can potentially lead to legal headaches later.
Unlike full-time employees, contractors are often engaged for specific assignments or short-term projects. While employees typically work set hours fixed by the employer and use the company’s equipment, contractors are free to choose when, where, and how they do their work. Unlike full-timers, contractors aren’t entitled to benefits, and they are usually responsible for their own taxes.
4. Onboarding remote team members
Once you’ve found your perfect candidate, you’ll need to ensure a good remote onboarding experience that’s tailored to the needs of globally distributed employees. Ideally, you’ll want to design a consistent and inclusive experience across borders and time zones.
The onboarding process might include taking care of paperwork, a checklist they can work through at their own pace, introductory calls to get to know the team, software and security training, and more. You might also assign an onboarding buddy who can answer questions and help the new joiner get up to speed. A well-designed and welcoming onboarding experience goes a long way to ensuring a strong working relationship.
5. Managing teams across time zones
Managing remote teams can present some challenges. There might be information silos or communication gaps, and it’s easy for remote workers to start feeling isolated. However, you can head off these challenges by adopting good remote work practices. Detailed documentation can break down silos, and digital tools for collaboration, communication, and project management can help keep everyone on the same page. It also ensures that people can work autonomously and asynchronously even when their colleagues aren’t available.
To combat isolation, it’s helpful to build social time into the team calendar so that people have opportunities to interact and build meaningful connections. Make well-being a priority and encourage team members to take time off to rest and recharge.
6. Creating an inclusive workplace culture
When your team is spread across geographies, it becomes all the more important to foster a strong and inclusive working culture. Being inclusive of global employees might, for instance, mean leaning into asynchronous communication to share information and updates so that people aren’t left out due to being in a distant time zone. Meetings can be recorded and shared for those who can’t attend, and whenever possible, discussions and decision-making can happen asynchronously so that everyone has a chance to participate.
Prioritizing inclusion also means celebrating the diversity of experiences and perspectives within a team. It might mean ensuring that perks and benefits are accessible for global talent, or perhaps localized for their country or region. People should be able to take time off for the holidays they celebrate in their country of residence, and have the flexibility to fit work around their personal and family needs. In fact, our research shows that flexibility is a top workplace expectation for knowledge workers post-pandemic.
Start building your global dream team with Oyster
Want to learn more about the basics of hiring globally? From talent partners and software tools to best practices for onboarding, team culture, engagement, and more—we’ve got you covered. Check out our guide to hiring global talent so you can feel confident making your first global hire.
When you’re ready to start building your global dream team, turn to Oyster as your global employment partner to help you hire, pay, and provide benefits regardless of location. With Oyster, you can compliantly engage talent from 180+ countries. You’ll also have access to the tools, knowledge, insights, and guidance you need to attract and retain top global talent. Reach out today for a personalized consultation to discuss your needs and goals.
