Smart business owners seek out the best employees and view them as assets to a thriving business. With the rapid advancement of technology, the best employees are no longer limited to a specific geographic area. The entire world is now a pool of potential workers, raising the bar on talent levels globally. Hiring someone from a different country brings its own share of risks though. Simply looking outside the U.S. borders for workers raises the risk of fraud significantly, particularly when there are no safeguards in place like business owners take for granted in the U.S.  Transparency in a developing country on the other side of the world?  Forget about it.  You’ll need skilled investigators to properly verify your foreign candidates and properly mitigate your risk, and ignoring the risk can be a costly learning lesson.

When you want to make international hires, keep these suggestions in mind:

Do background checks. You may wonder how this is possible without a U.S.-issued Social Security number. While conducted using different information, firms that specialize in international background checks, often with “eyes on the ground” in the country you are inquiring about, can help you check up on your potential hires. This is really the smartest way to ensure that the investment of your time and interest are not for naught when an attractive job prospect comes along.  You need a trained professional who has access to local records, speaks the language, understands the culture, and knows how to investigate.

Understand the language. Or if you do not understand it, hire someone who does. Even overseas employees that appear to understand and speak English may not completely understand what you are offering – and vice versa. Realize that a translator who speaks Spanish, for example, may not be adequate when you are talking about a Spanish candidate versus a Mexican prospect. Find someone who understand the written and verbal language of the specific region where your potential employee hails and then be sure that everything is completely understood and comprehended.  This goes back to the essentials.  Local expertise is absolutely necessary.  Never pay someone in New York or London to try to verify someone in China or India, for example.  Go with an international firm with field investigators where you need them.

Meet in person. If at all possible, fly the candidate to your offices or go visit him or her before agreeing to any hiring. There is a lot that can be hidden behind emails and phone calls that will become evident during an in-person meeting. If the person is uncomfortable meeting in-person (at your cost), this is a red flag for hiring. Don’t let yourself be swindled by a person posing as one thing who actually represents something completely different. The FBI reports a sharp rise in mass-marketing fraud schemes worldwide and these scammers are not above going after the sensitive information of a particular business. Meeting in person greatly reduces the risk of this happening – though a background check is the best safeguard.

What to verify. Each case and company and hiring situation is different, but needless to say checking criminal records alone is not a background check, and certainly not an investigation.  In developing countries, there is no one stop database you can magically plug into.  Even in the U.S. and U.K., checking criminal records is just a small part in the verification process when reducing your risk.  Reputable investigators will tell you that international background checks for employment include checking resume or CV for accuracy, verifying passport or ID samples, verifying date of birth and address, checking and obtaining references, verifying employment and education, screening the case for fraud, and more depending on your needs.

When you decide to hire internationally, you open up your business to greater risk. The payoff though, in terms of the best employees for your business, can be substantial. As long as you take the time to go through the process correctly, you can hire with confidence – even internationally.

C. Wright
© 2014 Wymoo International

© Copyright 2014 Wymoo International.  All Rights Reserved.  This content is the property of Wymoo International, LLC and is protected by United States and international copyright laws.