Even amidst the worldwide pandemic, the Dutch economy is expanding. According to new figures from the national statistics agency CBS, the number of unfilled job vacancies in the Netherlands (371.000) reached a new high in the last quarter of 2021. Combined with an unemployment rate below 3% means that every employer and HR team who needs to fill an open position is hiring in a stressed job market – one where the average candidate looking for new opportunities has more than 20 job opportunities to choose from. With odds like these, more and more employers and HR teams are realizing that the talent shortage in the local job market could significantly impact their business outcomes, future projects, and even growth opportunities. Successfully finding and hiring essential talent will be a top priority in 2022 – and among the most challenging tasks facing HR departments.
Rethinking hiring to solve 2022’s recruitment challenges
To effectively respond to a stressed job market and fill open positions faster, it helps to think outside the box and tap into international talent pools. Highly-skilled professionals are rarely known to companies but can offer tremendous value to their long-term success and growth. Unfortunately, many employers and HR erroneously think that they will only benefit from foreign workers when operating in non-local/global markets. Nothing could be further from the truth – in fact, all Dutch employers are eligible to hire qualified international employees to help them succeed no matter what market they target.
Who are these highly-skilled international professionals?
As their name suggests, these are potential employees who are looking for job opportunities that match their skill sets and who are willing to move to the Netherlands to advance their careers and like to contribute to the Dutch knowledge economy. The Dutch government uses an employer-driven system for recruitment which is open to all skill levels categorized by the various migration schemes in the Netherlands.
What are the recruitment benefits of hiring international talent in 2022
Because most Dutch businesses increasingly operate in the globally connected economy, hiring international employees makes sense and offers many benefits to employers:
- It broadens your talent pool for recruiting new employees, which is the most effective recruiting tactic in today’s competitive job market.
- It shortens your time-to-hire in the recruitment process while simultaneously adding value, giving you a competitive edge in your industry.
- It reduces training costs by hiring required skills and needed experience.
- It increases your recruitment return-on-investment by engaging and retaining top talent.
- It adds value to your employer brand by becoming an employer of choice for international candidates.
What are the key steps in recruiting international talent fast?
Recruiting internationally is very different from the traditional approach of posting jobs to boards and spending money on advertising. The first step in recruiting skilled international workers is creating a sustainable recruitment plan – one that focuses on the up-and-coming skill markets of different countries while cognizant of the value of different foreign credentials and international work experience.
Having a recruitment plan will give your team a leg up when trying to successfully land international talent. The second step is building global talent pools, engaging with skilled workers, and managing international relationships effectively. This ongoing process is informed by insights garnered by the recruitment plan regarding everything from transferable skills to whether your international candidate is likely to culturally adapt to the Dutch workplace.
2022 will be a challenging year for recruitment
If you want to keep growing as a company, it’s essential to hire the best-skilled worker fast. Hiring international talent is an innovative approach to rethinking your hiring strategy and workforce that responds to the current job market while meeting your recruitment needs.
Want to know more about hiring the best international talent? Contact us.