Top 10 Tips For Recruiting & Hiring Staff From Eastern Europe

1. WELL WRITTEN JOB DESCRIPTIONS

It is always important to prepare a well written job description – but this is more important when recruiting from Eastern Europe when you consider there will be in excess of ten different languages from which this original well written job description may need to be translated and variances can occur. In addition, the definitions used for different positions varies from Country to Country. Having a detailed well written job description will allow for detailed descriptions to leave candidates in no doubt as to the requirements of the role.

2. COMPLETE EMPLOYMENT PROFILE

The presentation of a complete employment profile is vital when recruiting from abroad and particularly in Eastern Europe – they are suspicious of grandiose claims and offers that they cannot research themselves or do not have the full details to make an informed decision. We work closely with you to advise on all required details, ensuring we provide our team of Eastern European recruiters with the full job description, the experience required, the detailed technical operations, size of company, location within Ireland, Gross to Net earnings calculations, photos and costs of local accommodation, working hours and holidays, and of course, not to be forgotten, wages and contract benefits.

3. ACCOMMODATION

The story of our accommodation crisis in Ireland has reached every shore in Eastern Europe. No new employee from a new country wants to spend the first 6 months of their life in Ireland looking up property websites and queuing to view apartments every evening.
It must also be remembered that candidates that are willing to emigrate from their home country are also receiving competitive offers from other countries in Europe, such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. A factory in Holland knows the number of employees they need to recruit by the number of available beds their HR Department has available in their HR Dept selection of 5 bedroomed houses in the suburbs. This is your competition, not the local country from which the candidate is emigrating. We lose candidates to the Netherlands on lower wages because of this factor alone.
Therefore, potential Irish employers of Eastern European workers should recognise the importance of the accommodation issue and try to assist in reducing this negative impact on the Candidates view of Ireland as a potential location.
This does not mean that the Employer has to provide accommodation for them at additional cost or otherwise. However, the Employers who can use their knowledge and influence in the locality to assist candidates to find accommodation will rank higher with candidates when deciding on which offer is the most attractive.

4. FRESH ADVERTISING

The candidate pool is very vast in Eastern Europe and they are very experienced in travelling and working in neighbouring countries. They are constantly changing their status and the best way to reach Eastern European job candidates who are willing to relocate is by targeted advertising in these countries with your own particular Job Offering. This way you avoid reaching too many candidates who are not yet ready to make the decision to emigrate. With the local knowledge of our team of recruiters we advise clients on relevant job and recruitment advertising in Eastern Europe as part of our overall recruitment service.

5. CV DATABASE SEARCH – NO

Candidates in Eastern Europe are constantly changing their status and those wishing for positions in foreign countries. If they are still searching and still on a database of candidates then maybe this is a warning sign. In addition, CV search can be an expensive and time-consuming method of reaching Candidates with no guarantee of success.

6. TAILORED BENEFITS PACKAGE

The benefits package should be imaginative to the needs of the different candidates and to the overall goals that the employer wishes to achieve. For example, you may wish to attain stability in your business in the next 12 months and therefore it is more important to retain staff for at least this period of twelve months. In this situation you could reduce the monthly salary but include a bonus at the end of 12 months to yield an overall competitive salary comparable to the industry standard in Ireland. That way there is a dis-incentive for the Eastern European employee to leave the company in the first year.

Or, in some cases, the candidates might need assistance in paying registration fees before they start employment and/or assistance with the rent deposit or first month’s rent, and which can be deducted from salary. And assistance like this is obviously very helpful to candidates and can prove to be a final key factor in them deciding to work with your company or an alternative employer or country.

7. PAY IRISH RATES

Employers sometimes think that they can recruit Polish and Eastern European employees at lower levels of pay because they are being recruited from low paying economies. This is seriously flawed thinking. It must always be remembered that candidates that are willing to emigrate from their home country, even though wages are low in their home country, they are also receiving competitive offers from Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. These northern European countries are your competition when recruiting staff from Eastern Europe.

In addition, once they arrive in Ireland, candidates will quickly learn of the market rates with competitors and some other employer will poach them from you in time… and all you will have achieved is to solve your competitors manpower issues and allow them to compete harder against you.

8. WEEKS TRIAL

One innovative measure that we recommend to Employers is to bring Candidates to their factory or premises for 1 week as an on-the-job live test of their abilities and company culture suitability. The Employer would pay the selected candidate’s return flight – and with many low cost airlines flying from Eastern Europe the cost can be surprisingly low. In addition, accommodation would be provided for this week – this could be a room in a local Bed & Breakfast or a company staff accommodation or residential property.
We also suggest that the company pay the candidate an honorarium for this week’s research test. This is a two-way process it educates the employer and also the Candidate can assess if the culture and work environment would suit them long term.

8. NEW EMPLOYMENT – NEW COUNTRY NEW LIFE

An extra degree of empathy and understanding is required when recruiting foreign staff from Eastern Europe and elsewhere. They are not just changing from one job to another job in a different part of town – they are leaving their home country to emigrate to a different country. It is not just a job move but a whole lifestyle change moving to a new country. It will take candidates a little longer to make their final decision and also they need help and encouragement while going through the decision making process. The concept of a week’s trial can also assist in the process and allow them to get over their fears of a the new country.

9. WORKING WITH A RECRUITMENT COMPANY

And finally, all the above may seem somewhat daunting and indeed it can be difficult, time consuming and expensive trying to do it all yourself. But that’s where working with a recruitment consultant or agency can prove invaluable. Make sure to choose a recruitment company that is well set up in Eastern Europe, knows its way around the local marketplaces for talent, and is experienced in sourcing and recruiting staff and workers from Eastern Europe. As many of our clients can attest to, hiring Eastern European staff can help fill staff shortage issues or help with local or overseas expansion, and Eastern European staff prove to be excellent workers and valuable team members.