Plugging the skills gap: How to hire remote talent internationally

This article was produced in partnership with Globalization Partners.

Ksenia Stepanova of HRD Australia sat down with Craig Goldblatt of Globalization Partners to discuss hiring remote talent internationally.

Australia is facing a significant skills shortage across a number of its key industries, and the trend has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.  Since 2020, the labour market has been suffering from a lack of migration, as well as the return of professional migrants to their home countries. The result has been a surge in job vacancies, particularly in highly specialised industries such as technology and medicine – but with so many offices sitting empty, now may be the time for companies to start looking beyond their borders for remote talent.

Craig Goldblatt, VP Partners & Alliances of Globalization Partners notes that traditionally, a significant chunk of the talent pipeline for these sectors came from outside Australia. But with the country seeing a drop of around 380,000 skilled migrants, the lack of international movement has been one of the biggest barriers to hiring, and economic growth has suffered by around $148 billion as a result.

Key emerging international talent hubs

With remote work becoming the norm, Goldblatt says that a  logical step for Australian companies is to tap into the global talent market.

Several key hubs for talent have been emerging internationally, and Goldblatt says that the region you choose to hire from will depend on the sector you operate in, and the roles you’re looking to fill.

One of these hubs is Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, which has emerged as a strong center for technology, machine learning, and AI. The Vietnamese government has invested heavily into setting up high internet access speed environments to drive the digital economy, and it has also thrown a lot of resources into training and skills development. The city now has a projected growth of US$52 billion in the technology sector by 2025.

Goldblatt highlights Bulgaria as another country that has very high levels of talent coming out of its universities.

“Bulgaria has the highest GDP per capita growth in the last ten years across Europe,” Goldblatt notes. “In fact, fDi Intelligence ranked Sofia, Bulgaria as the sixth European region of the future.”

Bulgaria’s IT sector is primarily focused on programming, IT consultancy and data processing, and it has also emerged as a significant hub for fintech, with the sector hitting an all-time high operating revenue of EUR 361 million in 2020.

Tackling compliance when hiring internationally

Tapping into these talent hubs can take a significant amount of time and resources, but Goldblatt said that technological advancement has allowed this process to become swift, efficient, and simple.

Legal and compliance issues are front of mind for employers hiring internationally, particularly when dealing with a number of different jurisdictions. Goldblatt noted that Globalization Partners does the heavy lifting for customers in this space, ensuring that all employees are hired in compliance with local laws, and are paid on time in their local currency.

 “With the technology that we’ve built, hiring international talent can be done in a seamless fashion, and most importantly, in a compliant and scalable way,” he said.

“We hire on behalf of companies in 187 countries around the world, and we manage tax, payroll, insurance and other employment legalities and liabilities in those countries. What would otherwise be a very time-consuming and difficult process, we’ve managed to make very simple for our customers.”

Globalization Partners’ Global Employment Platform™ deals with the legal aspects of hiring in all of the countries in which it operates. The complexities of individual country laws and regulations  – for example, the New Zealand Holiday Act, or single-touch payroll in Australia are accommodated in a compliant framework.This leaves HR and hiring managers free to concentrate on the most important aspect of their job – hiring the right people.

“Our Global Employment Platform™ effectively knocks down those barriers to hiring remotely,” Goldblatt concludes.

 “This presents the opportunity for companies to expand their searches for talent beyond their country boundaries, and beyond the places where they have legal entities. They’re not limited by the talent pool in the markets that they live in, or within the commuting distance of their office. We think that’s very exciting.”

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Craig Goldblatt
VP Partners & Alliances, Globalization Partners

Craig Goldblatt is the Vice President of Partners & Alliances for Globalization Partners business in Asia. In this capacity, he is responsible for ANZ partnership initiative as well as help the company to drive APAC wide partnerships.

Prior to this role, he was with ADP for 7 years where he reshaped the business and developed a strategy for growth, having been awarded with two President’s Club, one Board of Directors and one Super Stars.

Craig has vast experience in in the areas of Business Management, Sales, Operations, Software Development, Project Management, IT Outsourcing and in Services leadership. Primarily in the industries of software, BPO services, cloud software, banking and finance.