Send Your Best People Overseas

Every organization struggles when it comes time to send expatriates overseas. Lets assume that you have an opening in a foreign country that only an American (or any other nationality) can hold. You may have determined that because you need someone with connections to home office, or perhaps you need someone who is up to date with the latest technology, or you need someone who has a good business sense and speaks English (or some other language) fluently. You therefore conclude that an American expatriate is the best person to send. The question is, who should you send?

Small organizations seldom can afford the luxury of sending anyone overseas. Yet, you have determined that the open job can only be filled with an American. Should you hire someone to send overseas? That does not make any sense because you have not developed a comfort level with them yet. Should you send someone who you determine is currently expendable? Should you send someone who is not very busy at the moment? Should you send someone that will be easy to backfill? All of these reasons would be the wrong reasons!

You should make it a practice to send only your best people overseas. Send your stars. Make it a requirement for those rising to the top. Just like advanced education or any other critical factor deemed desirable for your company, international experience should be a critical step in your top performers' career path. Sure, I know it is not easy but if you want future key individuals to serve abroad, they must see that the company values the experience above all else.

Why you ask? Partly because of cost. Today, it costs about three times as much (more in some countries) to send an expatriate abroad than it does to hire a local. Next, because so much of your companies' future is at stake. Doing business off shore is essentially a requirement today in order for you to be competitive. If you can afford to do business abroad, you can afford to send your very best. What method does your organization practice today? Do you send your very best or do you look around to find someone whose departure will hurt your organization the least? Do you do a thorough assessment of the entire family before you make the final selection? If you do not, you should. If a child or spouse cannot cope and has to come home early, you can expect an early assignment termination for the whole family. In foreign assignments, selecting the right family members is just as important as selecting the right employee. It definitely is a family affair and should be part of your selection process.

We have been selecting successful expatriate candidates for many years. Don't be a part of making the same mistakes or creating irrevocable problems for your company by sending the wrong people. Too much is at stake. Taking the easy way out sets you up for serious problems down the road.

Ask us how to go about designing a selection process for your company. We can help!