In the following paper we define the meaning of recruiting and selection in an international context. By showing statistics of some international studies, we try to demonstrate the steady grow of international assignments. Additionally we will show in our study, that recruiting and selecting new individuals for international assignments is a complex task and the company has to focus on a variety of factors. Recruiting and Selection is one of the most important issues in human resource management. It means that the department has to find the most appropriate candidate for the vacancy. The employees, who work in a different country than their home country, are called "international managers" or "expatriates". By application, job interviews, trial work, and so on the staff department tries to select the right person for the job.
With the rapid development of the globalization, international managers gained more and more importance and the human resource management became more complex. To manage the recruiting and selection of expatriates, the international human resource management has to focus on different kind of things: the international taxation, the selection and training of international managers, dealing with different international governments all over the world, international relocation, and so on.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Statistics
2. Criteria for Recruitment
3. Criteria for Selection
3.1 Main criteria of selection
3.2 Evaluation of criteria
4. Gender and Ethnicity discrimination in recruitment
4.1 Discrimination in higher positions
4.2 Discrimination ofWomen and the position of a Women in a Company
4.3 Regulations for discrimination
4.4 Pros with having a mixed culture workgroup
5. The myth of the international Manager
5.1 The two definitions of the ‘international manager’
5.2 Critique of the ‘international manager’
5.3 Future implications on international recruitment and selection programs
5.4 Final remarks on the ‘international manager’
6. Conclusion
1. Introduction
Recruiting and Selection is one of the most important issues in human resource management. It means that the department has to find the most appropriate candidate for the vacancy. The employees, who work in a different country than their home country, are called ‘international managers’ or ‘expatriates’. By application, job interviews, trial work, and so on the staff department tries to select the right person for the job. (Edwards and Rees, 2006)
With the rapid development of the globalization, international managers gained more and more importance and the human resource management became more complex. To manage the recruiting and selection of expatriates, the international human resource management has to focus on different kind of things: the international taxation, the selection and training of international managers, dealing with different international governments all over the world, international relocation, and so on. (Sameer &. Vrinda (2011)).
A failed selection means a horrible waste of time and money for the company. Choosing the wrong person for a job can cause a bad image for the company, reduce gaining’s or being the reason for a bad start in a new organization. So is it very important to hire the right person for the job and minimize expatriate failure. (Edwards and Rees, 2006)
Recruitment describes the process of finding out the needs in a candidate for the vacancy and the practices of how are we able to attract this person. Every job has a different field of activity and responsibility, and every country has different cultural norms and habits. So is it very complex to identify the right needs for the vacant position. For that reason is it very important to find out the needs of the company, with a well-elaborated job description and person specification. Additionally, to attract the right person the company has to do advertising and approaching individuals with the right characteristics. (Edwards and Rees, 2006)
Selection in an international context means to test and evaluate the recruited individuals and choose the person, with the right skills and characteristics for the vacant position. This process should be done ‘effective, efficient and fair’, consistentto the ACAS guidelines, which is an organization with the task to prevent and resolve employment disputes. It should be effective in terms of finding the most appropriate candidate for the job, efficient minimizing expatriate failure and fair in terms of avoiding discrimination. As the complexity of human resource management in an international context is much bigger is it very important to follow those guidelines. (Edwards and Rees, 2006)
In the following paper we define the meaning of recruiting and selection in an international context. By showing statistics of some international studies, we try to demonstrate the steady grow of international assignments. Additionally we will show in our study, that recruiting and selecting new individuals for international assignments is a complex task and the company has to focus on a variety of factors. (Edwards and Rees, 2006)
1.1. Statistics
Expatriates are people, who left their home-country to work and live in a foreign country. In the following graphic of the OECD you can see the expatriation rate accordingto level of education.
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The dark columns show the expatriation rate of the highly skilled people of a country, the lighter ones are the expatriation rate of the total population. As you can see in nearly all listed countries the expatriation rate of the highly skilled people is higher than the one of the total population. Ireland, for example, has an expatriation rate of the highly skilled people of 24 %, which means, that nearly a quarter of the highly skilled people in Ireland goes to work and live in a foreign country. Other notable expatriation rates do we have in New Zeeland, Luxemburg, the UK, Austria and Portugal. This is also due to international assignments, which are a big part of the highly skilled people who has lefttheir countryto work abroad. (Dumont and Georges (OECD), 2004)
The number of expatriates in the United States has doubled from 1991 to 1993. ‘The Conference Board’, a non-profit research organization for businesses, did a survey in 1992 with 130 multinational companies. Half of these companies had sent more than 50 expatriates, 25 % had between 200 and 2000 international managers. (Caligiuri, 2000)
A survey from Mercer, a human resource consulting firm, with 752 companies worldwide found that in 2013 more than 70 % of the requested companies expect an increase of their international assignments. The prime destinations are China, the USA, Brazil, United Kingdom and Australia.
The most important reasons for an international assignment are the provision of specific technical skills, that aren’t available in the foreign country, the education of leaders, the knowhow transfer, problem solving, the fulfillment of project requirements and the provision of management skills, (vgl. Mercer [Online])
According to the survey of Mercer, the average duration of an international assignment decreases. Today’s international manager work and live on average for less than three years in a foreign country. The mean age of this employee is between 35 and 55. Approximately 13 % of the expatriates are women, but the number of female international managers is growing. Due to cultural and religious reasons the percentage of female expatriates is much bigger in Europe and the USA than in Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Later in this paper, when we talk about gender and ethnicity discrimination in recruitment, we describe this problem more in detail, (vgl. Mercer [Online])
The complexity of sending international managers is quite high, because of different obstacles: When it is a long-term stay, the whole family has to move in another country, which creates very serious problems. The family has to find a new house, or a new school for their children. Furthermore, the wife or the husband of the international manager has to find a solution for her or his own job in the home-country. If the assignment is only for short time, the international manager has to live for some time away from his or her family. In addition to those family problems is it in some areas quite difficult to learn and understand the other culture. One of the most important things, when going in another country is the language barriers. Additionally to those problems, are there also some social problems, like finding friends, etc. [vgl. Mercer [Online])
In order to balance the long list of disadvantages and obstacles, international managers get some benefits. As only a few are willing to work in another country, and because of the increase of responsibility the international managers get a significant raise in salary. Furthermore, does the expatriate get a lot of supportto simplify the move in the other country. To be prepared for the challenging task the international manager gets some training, like language courses, cultural courses, and so on. Additionally to that, does the company often give also some family support like finding a school, a house etc. (vgl. Mercer [Online]
2. Criteria for recruitment. (Niklas Schmitt)
Recruiting is not a simple process and involves a lot of analysis and preparation. Internal as well as external factors can drastically influence the recruitment process of a company. When a company recruits internationally, there are four main factors to be taken into account, which all influence the way the recruitment and selection process takes place. These factors include the company itself, the nature of the assignment, the needs of the person and legal issues. (Edwards and Reeds, 2006).
Every company has different values, missions and aims. Depending on the type of corporation, the recruitment processes also vary. Of course, these processes cannot be applied as a universal formula to the corresponding company. However, statistically speaking, more companies of a specific sort tend to recruit an employee with a certain mentality. Multinational companies tend to have a head office focus. This means that employees see the companies headquarter as the most important part of the corporation and that all information must flow to it. Furthermore, all subsidiaries act as a “guiding hand” for the headquarter. Therefore, multinationals are more likely to recruit people with a similar mentality or employees that have previously worked with a similar mindset. Similarly, a decentralized company has a more flexible outlook and looks to recruit eager people with a decision making mindset. Often these kinds of organizations empower all levels within the hierarchy and give them decision making tasks. With this mentality, of course it makes sense to look for enthusiastic intrapreneurs that align with the company’s strategy. A global-oriented company is looking to recruit people who can create a bridge between the home markets and the foreign market, where the person is active in. The mindset requires the employee to be open-minded and to engage in tight communication with companies in the home market. Knowledge is constantly exchanged between different markets in order to reap the best market position globally. Lastly, a transnational company seeks employees who have both a global and local focus. This means that employees should be able to adapt to local environments and still maintain the overall values of the corporation. Being responsive to local markets, while keeping a global focus, is a vital attribute for expatriates working in a transnational corporation. (Edwards and Reeds, 2006).
Depending on the industry, a company might have different ways of recruiting people. In some industries, the firm is not looking for a specific person with a particular personality but for one that is able to integrate him- herself into the company. Edwards and Reeds (2006) described this as a “flexible outlook” towards recruitment and selection. On the other hand, a company might seek very specific personnel for a certain task. This is described as the “regimented outlook”. An industry that very often uses this approach is the hotel industry, in particular hotel chains since they require a very specific type of person to do a certain job. For example, a receptionist at Hilton Hotels must wear certain clothes, be friendly and kind, be punctual and see customers as the most important asset of the company. Another differentiating factor between industries would be the type of person a company hires. While one company might hire an employee with a lot of experience in the job he/she applied for, another company might seek someone (often younger in age) with less experience. The benefit of hiring an expert is that the person knows immediately what they are doing. Therefore, they require less training and need less familiarization time to become acquainted with the new job. A consequence of hiring an expert is that often they are far more expensive than a younger “apprentice”. On contrary, hiring a younger and less experienced person enables a company to pay the person less salary. Furthermore, since the people are often younger, they have career perspectives and could be kept with long-term contracts. Nevertheless, a lot of training and overlap costs are associated with hiring a non-expert. Especially when personnel are needed to complete a short-term task, firms decide to hire expert expatriates over “apprentices”. When tasks are long-term, this statistic varies and companies have a wider choice between hiring experts or apprentices. (Edwards and Reeds, 2006).
The nature of the assignment is another criterion that affects the way in which companies recruit. Depending on the length of the assignment, whether it is short or long-term, a different degree of preparation is needed. Expatriate that stays for few months needs less preparation than once who stays for several years. Furthermore, when the assignment (job) involves traveling to multiple countries, it involves more preparation than if it simply involves ‘just’ moving to another country. When working in an international context, a mix of different nationalities and cultures is inevitable. This leaves room for misunderstandings and behavioral differences. For example, a new Spanish manager was transferred to Germany to work on a project. On his first day of work, he meets his team and invites them to his house for dinner to discuss this week’s goals. However, this manager is not aware of cultural differences and his seemingly friendly gesture was seen as unprofessional and wrong by his German co-workers. In order to avoid these conflicts, companies and workers must identify themselves with the cultures around them. Especially a new expatriate working abroad must know the culturalvalues around him/her. (Edwards and Reeds, 2006).
The third factor that affects the way in which a company recruits is the person itself. (Edwards and Reeds, 2006). A company must consider the incentives and motivations of the applicant as well as his/her personal values. These include career advancements, financial incentives, interest in the area and interest in travelling. When a company advertises a job position, it is important to consider these incentives in order to hire the most adequate expatriate.
Lastly, the legal factors play a huge role when recruiting internationally. Hiring regulations vary across country borders and so do costs of hiring and firing. Figure 1 below shows the hiring and firing cost averages that companies assigned, acting in different countries. It clearly shows that the hiring and firing costs in France and Australia, for example, are a lot higher than in Mexico and Estonia. Therefore, it is very important for a company to become acquainted with country specific laws and to closely hire and lay-off employees. (Edwards and Reeds, 2006).
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https://www.innovationpolicyplatform.org/content/costs-hiring-and-firing
Apart from hiring and firing costs, international corporations must know the VISA regulations, insurance coverage, children costs and standards of living in different countries. VISA regulations can vary drastically from country to country. The United States, for example, have a much stronger application procedure than China. Moreover, often companies are legally obliged to pay for employees’ insurance as well as pay extra wages if the employees have children. Lastly, the standards of living are very different between countries. For example, the salary for a factory worker in Germany might be 2,000€ a month, whereas, in China the worker would only receive 400€ a month. Being unaware of these differences, could make companies pay more money than they should and follow many costs. With respect to recruitment and selection, an international corporation must know employment laws and regulations in the countries where it is active and carefully select candidates. There is no universal formula for recruitment and a company must be able to apply the four criteria to their recruitment processes. Edwards and Reeds (2006) also mentioned three elements that must be looked at specifically when recruiting: the financial budget, the country’s culture and the corporate strategy. (Edwards and Reeds, 2006). When a global company is able to apply the criteria and the elements mentioned by Edwards and Reeds in their recruitment strategies, they are able to minimize mistakes and risks.
3. Criteria for selection (Anne-Soleine BERNARD de COURVILLE)
According to Dowling and Schuler (1990), the selection is "the process of gathering information for the purposes of evaluating and deciding who should be employed in particular job.’’ In the case of international placement, the issues of the selection are different than a classical selection caused the process can be longer; and it is much more complex than only staffing key technical and managerial positions. In order to avoid expatriate failure, HR Management team have to determine specific criteria to select the good candidate for the international position. We will take in consideration the most common methods to select an international position candidate, and we will be able to identify the main issue of this task.
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