How to Hire the Top International Talent: An Interview with Tom Schuster

As part of our SEJ interview series, I recently caught up with Tom Schuster from Searchmetrics to discuss how to hire the top talent from around the world.

There’s a lot of good talent out there, but there’s also a lot of competition when it comes to hiring that talent. Searchmetrics has offices in multiple countries, so they are well experienced in acquiring top international talent.

In the video below, Tom explains what it takes to hire good talent in many different countries, and how you go about finding them in the first place.

Here are some key takeaways from the video:

• There are great differences between various countries, which is something companies need to understand when trying to hire talent from those countries. What applies in the US might not work in Germany, for example. But in the end, Tom says they’re all people with the same thoughts and concerns.
• Tom recommends having a structured approach. He believes in using head hunters and thinks they really help you reach into areas you would otherwise not be able to get into contact with.
• In order to acquire good talent, your company needs to have a good reputation as there must be a compelling reason for someone to want to work at your company. Company culture plays into it as well, and Tom recommends projecting the culture of your company to the talent while you’re speaking with them
• You hire good talent when you know what you’re looking for, Tom says. That’s often difficult because you don’t really know what you’re looking for in someone before you hire them. It’s hard to tell if someone is a good fit for your company if you don’t know what you’re judging them on.
• When looking for talent, Tom recommends writing up a list of the qualities you’re looking for and then rank those qualities in order of importance. You can then give this list to a head hunter. If you bring in candidates and they’re not right for your company, then you can go back to your original list and figure out what you got wrong. Through a process of iterating your list you can narrow down the qualities you want and eventually find the talent you need.

For more video interviews please visit SEJ’s YouTube page.