Chapter 4

Recruiting and Selecting

Staff for International
Assignments

Md. Awal Al Kabir

Associate Professor
Jahangirnagar University
Recruitment

Process of locating, identifying, and

attracting capable applicants

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Recruitment
 External recruiting: managers look outside the
firm for people who have not worked at the firm
before.
 External recruitment is difficult since many new jobs have
specific skill needs.

 Internal Recruiting: positions filled within the

firm.
 Internal recruiting has several benefits:
 Workers know the firm’s culture, may not have new ideas.
 Internal advancement can motivate employees.
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Channels of Recruitment

Internal Recruitment
 Job Posting Programme
 Rehiring
 Succession Planning

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 External Recruitment Channels:
 Walk-ins and Write-ins
 Employee Referrals
 Advertising
 Private Placement Agencies
 Professional Search Firms

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 Educational Institutions
 Professional associations
 Labor Organization
 Temporary help Agency
 Employee leasing

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 Internal Recruitment
 Job Posting Programme:
It informs employees about opening and required
qualifications and invite qualified employees to
apply. The notice usually are posted on company
bulletin board or electronic bulletin board or in the
company newspaper.

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 Succession Planning
 The process of
identifying and
tracking high-
potential employees
who will be able to fill
top management
positions when they
become vacant.

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Succession Planning Process

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 Rehiring:
Rehiring the former employees is fruitful
because employees are known and they are
already familiar with company’s culture, style
etc.

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External Recruitment Channels
 Walk-ins and Write-ins: Walk-ins are job
seekers who arrive at HR Department in
search of job. Write-ins are those who send a
written inquiry.

 Employee Referrals: Employees may refer

job seekers to the HR Department. Its an
excellent recruitment technique.

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 Advertising: it is the most popular and useful way to
recruit employee. Want ads describe the job and the
benefits, identify employer, and tell those who are
interested how to apply.

 Private Placement Agency: Exist in almost all major

cities. They take an employer’s request for recruits
and then solicit job seekers usually through
advertising or among walk-ins.

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 Professional Search Firms: Much more
specialized than placement agencies. They
usually recruit only specific types of human
resources for a fee paid by employers.

 Educational Institutions: Many educational

institutions offer current students and alumni
placement assistance.

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 Professional Associations: Professional groups
of engineers, accountants, and others often
maintain placement roasters and hold job fairs
especially annual convention.
 Labor Organization: Many people with trade skills
such as carpenters, plumbers, electricians and
others use the local union as source of job
referrals.

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 Temporary Help Agency: They don’t provide recruits.
Instead they are the source of supplemental workers. The
temporary workers actually work for the agency and are
‘on loan’ to the requesting employers.
 Employee leasing: whereas temporary employees come
into an organization for a specific short-term project.
When an organization has a need for specific employee
skills, it contracts with the leasing firm to provide a certain
number of trained employees.

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The global manager
Myth 1: There is a universal approach to
management.
Myth 2: People can acquire multicultural
adaptability and behaviors.
Myth 3: There are common characteristics
shared by successful international
managers.
Myth 4: There are no impediments to mobility.
 Current Expatriate Profile
Category PCN (42%) HCN (16%) TCN (42%)
Gender Male (82%) Female (18%)
Age (Yrs) 30-49 (60%) 20-29 (17%)
Marital status Married (65%) Single (26%)
Partner (9%)
Accompanied by Spouse (86%) Children (59%)
Duration 1-3 years (52%) Short-term (9%)
Location Europe (35%) Asia-Pacific (24%)
Primary reason Fill a position
Prior international experience 30%

Source: based on data from global Relocation Trends: 2002 Survey Report, GMAC Global Relocation
Services, National Foreign Trade Council and SHRM Global Forum, GMAC-GRS 2003.
Expatriate Failure
 Definition: Premature return of an expatriate
 Under-performance during an international
assignment
 Retention upon completion
Reason for Expatriate Failure
 US Firms  Japanese Firms
Inability of spouse to  Inability to cope with
adjust larger overseas
responsibilities
Manager’s inability to  Difficulties with the new
adjust environment
Other family problems  Personal or emotional
Manager’s personal or problems
emotional immaturity  Lack of technical
Inability to cope with competence
larger overseas  Inability of spouse to
responsibilities adjust

European Multinationals: Inability of spouse to adjust.

 Costs of Expatriate Failure
 Direct
Direct costs:
costs:  Indirect
 Indirect costs:
costs:
 Airfares  Damaged
Damagedrelationships
relationshipswith
with
Airfares key
keystakeholders
stakeholdersininthe
the
 Associated foreign
Associated foreignlocation
location
relocation
relocationexpenses
expenses  Negative
Negativeeffects
effectson
onlocal
local
staff
staff
 Salary and benefits
Salary and benefits  Poor
Poorlabor
laborrelations
relations
 Training and
Training and  Negative
Negativeeffects
effectson
on
development
development expatriate
expatriateconcerned
concerned
 Family
Familyrelationships
relationshipsmay
maybebe
 Averaged
Averaged $250,000
$250,000 affected
affected
per
per early
early return
return  Loss
Lossofofmarket
marketshare
share
Costs vary according to:
 Level of position
Level of position
 Country
Country of
of destination
destination
 Exchange
Exchange rates
rates
 Whether ‘failed’
Whether ‘failed’
manager
manager isis replaced
replaced by
by
another
another expatriate
expatriate
Factors Moderating Expatriate
Performance
 Inability to adjust to the foreign culture
 Length of assignment
 Willingness to move
 Work-related factors
 Psychological contract/employment
relationship
International Assignments: Factors
Moderating Performance
The Phases of Cultural Adjustment
The Phases of Adjustment
 The U-Curve is not normative
 The time period involved varies between
individuals
 The U-Curve does not explain how and why
people move through the various phases
 It may be more cyclical than a U-Curve
 Needs to consider repatriation
The Employment Relationship
 The nature of the employment relationship
 Relational: broad, open-ended and long-term
obligations
 Transactional: specific short-term monetized
obligations
 The condition of the relationship
 Intact: when employee considers there has
been fair treatment, reciprocal trust
 Violated: provoked by belief organization has
not fulfilled its obligations
The Dynamics of the Employment
Relationship
Likelihood of Exit
Organizational Commitment
 Affective component
 Employee’s attachment to, identification with
and involvement in, the organization
 Continuance component
 Based on assessed costs associated with
exiting the organization
 Normative component
 Employee’s feelings of obligation to remain
What is Selection

Selection is the choosing and hiring of best fit applicant

for the organization.

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 Selection Process
Step- One: Preliminary Reception
The organization selects employees and the applicants select
employers. It usually begins with a visit to the HR office or a
written request for an application.

Step Two: Employment Test

Employment tests are devices that assess the match between
applicants and job requirements. Some are Paper and Pencil
Tests and some are exercises that Simulation work condition

Effective selection depends on:

 Validity and Reliability of Test
 Testing Tools

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Reliability and Validity

Reliability of Test: The consistency of scores obtained by the

same person when retested with the identical tests.

Validity of Test: The accuracy with which a test, interview and so

on measures what it purports to measure or fulfills the function it
was designed to fill.

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Testing Tools

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Step Three: Selection Interview

- Is a formal in-depth conversation conducted to

evaluate an applicant’s acceptability

Through interview interviewer seeks answer of three

questions-
 Can applicant do the job?
 Will the applicant do the job?
 How does the applicant compare with other
applicants?

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Types of Interview

 Structured Interview: rely on predetermined set of questions.

 Unstructured Interview: Develop questions as interview

proceeds.

 Mixed Interview: blend of structured and unstructured

interview.

 Behavioral Interview: Focuses on a problem or hypothetical

situation that the applicant is asked to solve.

 Stress Interview: attempt to learn how the applicant will

respond to job pressures.

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 Interviewer Errors

 Hallo Effect: Interviewer who allow limited

information about an applicant to bias their
evaluation.

 Personal Biases: interviewers who harbor prejudice

against specific groups.
 Interviewer Domination: Interviewer who use the
interview to oversell the applicant, brag about their
successes.

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Tips for Interviewing Effectively

 Decide what you’re looking

for.
 Plan the interview.
 Put the applicant at ease.
 Work from a list.
 Listen and follow up.
 Take notes.
 Close the interview
gracefully

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 Step Four: References and Background Checks
 Is the applicant a good and reliable worker?
 Are the job accomplishments, titles, educational
background and other facts on the application true?
 What type of person is the applicant?

Step Five: Medical Evaluation

The evaluation consists of a health checklist that
asks the applicant to indicate health and accident
information.

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Step Six: Supervisory Interview

Step Seven: Realistic Job Preview

RJP shows the employee the job and the job setting
before the hiring decision is made.
 intended to reduce problems created when applicant

receives information that is inflated

 results in increased job satisfaction and lower

turnover

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Step Eight: Hiring Decision
HR department or supervisor makes the final hiring
decision which marks the end of selection process
assuming that candidate accepts the job offer.
To maintain good public relation employer should also
notify the applicants who were not selected through
issuing consolidation letter.

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Selection Criteria in MNCs
 Technical ability
 Cross-cultural suitability
 Family requirements
 Country-cultural requirements
 MNE requirements
 Language
Factors in Expatriate Selection
Mendenhall and Oddou’s Model
 Self-oriented dimension
 Perceptual dimension
 Others-oriented dimension
 Cultural-toughness dimension
 Harris and Brewster’s Selection Typology
Formal
Open
 Clearly defined criteria
 Clearly defined measures
 Training for selectors
 Open advertising of vacancy
(internal/external)
 Panel discussions
Closed
 Clearly defined criteria
 Clearly defined measures
 Training for selectors
 Panel discussions
 Nominations only (networking/reputation)
Informal
 Less defined criteria
 Less defined measures
 Limited training for selectors
 Open advertising of vacancy
 Recommendations
 No panel discussions
 Selector’s individual preferences
determine selection criteria and measures
 No panel discussions
 Nominations only (networking/reputation)
Solutions to the Dual-career Challenge

 Alternative assignment arrangements

 Short-term
 Commuter
 Other (e.g. unaccompanied, business travel,
virtual assignments)
 Family-friendly policies
 Inter-company networking
 Job-hunting assistance
 Intra-company employment
 On-assignment career support
Barriers to Females Taking
International Assignments

External Barrier Self-established Barriers

 HR managers reluctant to  Some women have limited

select female candidates willingness to relocate
 Culturally tough locations or  The dual-career couple
regions preclude female  Women are often a barrier to
expatriates their own careers by behaving
 Those selecting expatriates according to gender based
have stereotypes in their role models.
minds that influence decisions