How to source internationally

1. International Recruiting/Sourcing
Always an interesting subject is international recruiting. How do US based
recruiters source for international candidates. Well first as I said in my "Words
and Phrases to Recruit by!!!" Blog posting, "go beyond the basics" and as I said in
my blog post "Top Ten Rules for Successful Internet Sourcers ! " " Research Comes
First". In other words, do you research and think about the things you do for US

2. candidate sourcing and go beyond them to find international candidates and
resources and of course remember the basics as well.
For instance, with regards to boolean searches, think about the country you are
searching in, if it is the United Kingdom than try at the beginning of your search
string to add "site:uk" if it is Canada then add "site:ca". These additions to your
search string will give you candidates in those countries. Think of these 2 letter
combinations as URL international area codes. Every country has them. Below is
the list of them:
AD Andorra
AE United Arab Emirates
AF Afghanistan
AG Antigua and Barbuda
AI Anguilla
AL Albania
AM Armenia
AN Netherlands Antilles
AO Angola
AQ Antarctica
AR Argentina
AS American Samoa
AT Austria
AU Australia
AW Aruba
AZ Azerbaijan
BA Bosnia and Herzegovina
BB Barbados
BD Bangladesh
BE Belgium
BF Burkina Faso
BG Bulgaria
BH Bahrain
BI Burundi
BJ Benin
BM Bermuda
BN Brunei Darussalam
BO Bolivia
BR Brazil
BS Bahamas
BT Bhutan
BV Bouvet Island
BW Botswana
BY Belarus
BZ Belize
CA Canada
CC Cocos (Keeling) Islands
CF Central African Republic
CG Congo
CH Switzerland
CI Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
CK Cook Islands
LC Saint Lucia
LI Liechtenstein
LK Sri Lanka
LR Liberia
LS Lesotho
LT Lithuania
LU Luxembourg
LV Latvia
LY Libya
MA Morocco
MC Monaco
MD Moldova
MG Madagascar
MH Marshall Islands
MK Macedonia
ML Mali
MM Myanmar
MN Mongolia
MO Macau
MP Northern Mariana Islands
MQ Martinique
MR Mauritania
MS Montserrat
MT Malta
MU Mauritius
MV Maldives
MW Malawi
MX Mexico
MY Malaysia
MZ Mozambique
NA Namibia
NC New Caledonia
NE Niger
NF Norfolk Island
NG Nigeria
NI Nicaragua
NL Netherlands
NO Norway
NP Nepal
NR Nauru
NT Neutral Zone
NU Niue

3. CL Chile
CM Cameroon
CN China
CO Colombia
CR Costa Rica
CS Czechoslovakia (former)
CU Cuba
CV Cape Verde
CX Christmas Island
CY Cyprus
CZ Czech Republic
DE Germany
DJ Djibouti
DK Denmark
DM Dominica
DO Dominican Republic
DZ Algeria
EC Ecuador
EE Estonia
EG Egypt
EH Western
ER Eritrea
ES Spain
ET Ethiopia
FI Finland
FJ Fiji
FK Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
FM Micronesia
FO Faroe Islands
FR France
FX France, Metropolitan
GA Gabon
GB Great Britain (UK)
GD Grenada
GE Georgia
GF French Guiana
GH Ghana
GI Gibraltar
GL Greenland
GM Gambia
GN Guinea
GP Guadeloupe
GQ Equatorial Guinea
GR Greece
GS S. Georgia and S. Sandwich Isls.
GT Guatemala
GU Guam
GW Guinea-Bissau
GY Guyana
HK Hong Kong
HM Heard and McDonald Islands
HN Honduras
HR Croatia (Hrvatska)
HT Haiti
HU Hungary
ID Indonesia
NZ New Zealand (Aotearoa)
OM Oman
PA Panama
PE Peru
PF French Polynesia
PG Papua New Guinea
PH Philippines
PK Pakistan
PL Poland
PM St. Pierre and Miquelon
PN Pitcairn
PR Puerto Rico
PT Portugal
PW Palau
PY Paraguay
QA Qatar
RE Reunion
RO Romania
RU Russian Federation
RW Rwanda
SA Saudi Arabia
Sb Solomon Islands
SC Seychelles
SD Sudan
SE Sweden
SG Singapore
SH St. Helena
SI Slovenia
SJ Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands
SK Slovak Republic
SL Sierra Leone
SM San Marino
SN Senegal
SO Somalia
SR Suriname
ST Sao Tome and Principe
SU USSR (former)
SV El Salvador
SY Syria
SZ Swaziland
TC Turks and Caicos Islands
TD Chad
TF French Southern Territories
TG Togo
TH Thailand
TJ Tajikistan
TK Tokelau
TM Turkmenistan
TN Tunisia
TO Tonga
TP East Timor
TR Turkey
TT Trinidad and Tobago
TV Tuvalu
TW Taiwan
TZ Tanzania

4. IE Ireland
IL Israel
IN India
IO British Indian Ocean Territory
IQ Iraq
IR Iran
IS Iceland
IT Italy
JM Jamaica
JO Jordan
JP Japan
KE Kenya
KG Kyrgyzstan
KH Cambodia
KI Kiribati
KM Comoros
KN Saint Kitts and Nevis
KP Korea (North)
KR Korea (South)
KW Kuwait
KY Cayman Islands
KZ Kazakhstan
LA Laos
LB Lebanon
UA Ukraine
UG Uganda
UK United Kingdom
UM US Minor Outlying Islands
US United States
UY Uruguay
UZ Uzbekistan
VA Vatican City State (Holy See)
VC Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
VE Venezuela
VG Virgin Islands (British)
VI Virgin Islands (U.S.)
VN Viet Nam
VU Vanuatu
WF Wallis and Futuna Islands
WS Samoa
YE Yemen
YT Mayotte
YU Yugoslavia
ZA South Africa
ZM Zambia
ZR Zaire
ZW Zimbabwe
Like you can search on country codes you can also search on postal code by
simply adding the postal code to the end of your string. Of course you can also
search by area or country code. In addition as we all know, not any one search
engine searches the entire internet. Now add in most of the ones we in the US
use mostly search US sites, remember I said mostly. However there are meta
search engines that search a larger portion of the internet and also have the
ability to search multiple countries. "Copernic Agent" is one such engine that give
you the ability to search up to 16 search engines and to search other countries.
"Copernic Agent" allows you to use boolean search strings as well, and as an
added bonus searched social networking medias and have the ability to weed out
anything that is not a resume.
User groups, forums, and blogs, are not just a thing we in the US use, these things
exist all over the world utilize them as well. Social networking works all over the
world. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc.. are not just for the US it is for
all over the world. For example if I do an X-ray of LinkedIn looking for Sharepoint
people in Spain. I would go to google and type in:
site:linkedin.com (inurl:pub OR inurl:in) -intitle:directory -inurl:updates (”Area,
Spain”) “Sharepoint”

5. I would get 182 hits which is pretty good. remember you can do this for any site
on the internet ( of course you can create more specific strings, see my blog
posting on " If You Build It, They Will Come: the story of a successful Boolean
search string!!")
A hint on LinkedIn is all LinkedIn addresses in the US are:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/NAME (this link will not work as there is no name
associated with it, it is just the model)
This is what the link to my LinkedIn profile is:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/deandacosta (notice the same pattern as above)
However in other countries all you do is put the country code above, in the right
url format and there you go. For example for Spain you would do the below:
http://es.linkedin.com/in/NAME (this link will not work as there is no name
associated with it, it is just the model)
Also remember there is a way to search for people in LinkedIn and put in different
countries as well. Below is a link to a search for people in Spain, utilizing the
LinkedIn search capabilities.
http://bit.ly/9ezJBM
Of course you can add other search words as well, so you could just add
Sharepoint. So you can either do it through LinkedIn people Search or if you are
not on LinkedIn you can do it through the boolean method above.
The key is to remember all these boolean search ideas I am providing work with
any site on the internet. You can use them to find people in social sites, forums,
news groups, user groups etc...
Remember to utilize Alumni boards and use my blog posting titled " Top Colleges
and Universities from around the world!"it will help you identify which colleges to
look at.
Also remember just like there are job boards here in the US there are job boards
in other countries. One example is http://www.infojobs.com/ which is one of the
biggest in Europe. You can also go here for allot of other resources:
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/work/careers/keywebsitesworldwide.
shtml

6. Of course sometimes it is more practical to utilize local(in the country your are
searching) agencies to help. Part of the reason for this is, in some countries there
are legal and cultural issues you must deal with. A local agency, to that country,
will know how to navigate them.
Your branding and name recognition with regards to recruiting and sourcing is
just as important internationally as it is in the US. So placing adds, ensuring you
have an international web presence (or at least in the countries you are recruiting
in) is very important. Utilizing at least the main job board of that country would
help. Social networking and Web 2.0 recruiting. Having an open house for
potential candidates, hosting a local users group, a networking event,
participating in a local career fair or even organizing one. These are some hints on
getting your name out there and at the same time getting to see some
candidates.
In some ways, with regards to international recruiting, as with all recruiting you
want to both go beyond the basics, but also remember to use the basics. Utilize X-
raying, Peeling back, ASA, Flipping, etc.. (see my other blog postings about these
tools/skills)will greatly help you be successful. Going beyond the basics and do
what others have not done or thought of to do with ensure you success. I think
too many people get nervous and uptight when they hear the words
"International Recruiting". Stay calm and remember everything you have learned,
and everything you have read in my blog and you will be fine. Also do not be
afraid to ask for help. Help is one email, tweet, or post away.
I decided to take a break from my series on Diversity Recruiting/Sorucing. I will
continue that series soon.