Finding Exceptional Talent: Global Recruitment Strategies to Attract Interns

How often do we, as employers, find ourselves looking at a mountain of applications in search of skilled hires? Finding exceptional talent doesn’t have to be a complicated or exhausting process. It all comes down to having a strong global recruitment strategy. In this article, we’ll explore how you can:

1. Identify areas where an intern can bring value to your business
2. Appeal to a worldwide pool of talent
3. Incentivize internship opportunities

At Intrax Global Internships, we’re on a mission to provide high-quality educational and work programs that connect people and cultures. For over forty years, we’ve assisted skilled global talent build relationships with international organizations and succeed as global citizens. We can help you develop an effective global recruitment strategy and build an internship program. Let’s start by defining your recruitment strategy.

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Defining Your Global Recruitment Strategy

The very first step towards creating your global recruitment strategy is to define exactly what your business needs from an intern. This process will help you identify areas within your organization that are stretched thin or need help. You’ll also be able to create a purposeful role that will ease employee workloads and provide valuable experience to a global intern. 

There’s no one right way to develop a global recruitment strategy, every business has different needs, objectives, and capacities. With this in mind, remember that your global recruitment strategy must focus on benefitting your business, not making things more difficult. 

In this section, we’ll focus on how to:

• Understand your goals for international talent
• Develop roles that meet your needs
• Attract global talent

Developing internships is a great way to fine-tune your global recruitment strategies and put them into practice. Creating internship opportunities within your business is also a great way to optimize workflow and increase productivity.

To get the ball rolling, you’ll need a clear understanding of why you’re looking for international talent. Let’s begin by identifying your goals for interns and how to strengthen your global recruitment strategy.

Understanding Your Goals for International Talent

There is a wide range of benefits that come from hiring international talent. From creating a diverse team to building a positive work environment, there are a multitude of ways that global interns enrich the workplace. But, the most powerful way for interns to bring value to a workplace is by having a purpose. 

Within your business, there are areas that need help. Identifying the departments, projects, or team members who would benefit from having a skilled intern assist them will determine your goals for international talent. A great way to start this process is to have a roundtable with your department heads. Ask them to discuss the areas within their team that could use additional help from emerging talent. 

Every department offers different intern experiences and industry knowledge that can assist in the professional development journey. By the same token, international hires offer a diverse range of skills that can assist teams in completing projects and leveling up their output. 

There are plenty of ways global interns can assist your business, including:

• Conduct research and data analysis
• Help with administrative tasks
• Support projects
• Manage social media
• Provide new perspectives

Investigate which areas within your business will most benefit from having a skilled global employee when evaluating your global recruitment strategy. Consider the ways your departments can bring equal value to an intern and outline the types of duties you’ll need an intern to assist with. 

Once the goals for an intern are defined, the next step in developing your global recruitment strategy is carving out the role for your global intern.

Developing Roles That Meet Your Needs

Global recruitment strategies depend on having clearly defined roles within your business. This provides transparency about what is expected of the person you’ve hired and the outcomes you want them to achieve. To fill your talent pool with the right interns, you must communicate the role’s purpose, goals, and benefits.

It’s important to remember that while the nature of an internship varies, the idea is to offer a useful experience to people breaking into their desired industry. With this in mind, remember that your business can offer valuable hands-on experience to interns. When defining your roles, consider the growth opportunities departments have to offer an intern in addition to the necessary duties, then determine the role based on these factors. 

By considering where your intern will be working within your business, you can come up with a title that accurately reflects the nature of the role, for example:

1. Administrative Intern: Provides general assistance within the office through data entry, file management, and scheduling
2. Business or Sales Intern: Supports the sales team by assisting in generating leads, conducting market research, and assisting with customer relationship management (CRM) systems
3. Marketing and Communications Intern: Assists with marketing campaigns, social media management, content creation, and public relations efforts
4. Human Resources Intern: Supports HR functions such as recruitment efforts, onboarding, and employee engagement initiatives

You’ll find that through discussions with your team, your global recruitment strategy can encompass one (or more) internship roles that cover the needs of your business and provide invaluable industry experience for global talent. 

By opening up a conversation around the needs of your departments you’ll also find your global recruitment strategies can improve the wider business. Creating a dialogue that supports your departmental needs and encourages the growth of your organization is key to creating a strong global recruitment strategy. You’ll become swift in addressing your team’s needs, adaptive to hiring trends, and resilient as an employer.

Attracting Global Talent

In a 2017 survey, it was revealed that 45% of employees hired across the United States were sourced internally. Since the pandemic, recruitment has seen huge shifts with the rise of remote and flexible work options becoming a priority for global talent. When developing your global recruitment strategies, it’s essential to consider what appeals to interns and where your business sits within the global employer market.

Identifying your business’s place in the global job market can be challenging. You need to be able to strike a balance between offering incentives for international talent and standing out against competitors who are also looking for top entry-level talent. 

When advertising your new role, consider how attractive you can make the position based on job features interns and entry-level employees are looking for. Some of the most common perks offered by recruitment managers include:

• Flexible work schedules
• Remote work options
• Stipends for home offices
• Employee discounts

These perks are a great starting point for your global recruitment strategy. It’s a good idea to look closer at what makes your company unique against the noise, and use your differences to your advantage. This could be anything from your office’s location and culture to annual events or work-based learning programs. 

To attract global talent, your global recruitment strategy must be able to offer competitive advantages that highlight your company’s unique position within your industry. Focus on what makes your business stand out, the authority you have over your niche, and the ways the advertised role within your business will benefit an intern.

Developing Your Global Recruitment Strategy

Now that you have a clear understanding of exactly what you need from a global intern, it’s time to start looking deeper at your global recruitment strategy itself. Consider how you can turn your internship program into a hiring pipeline and build your strategy to focus on long-term ways to make your company stronger.

We’ll help you: 

1. Look at your existing internal processes
2. Identify the value you can bring to interns
3. Find resources for your global recruitment strategy

This is a great time to really get to know what is working within your hiring processes, and what isn’t. Making a consistent effort to address the areas in your hiring processes that can be improved is essential in developing strong global recruitment strategies. 

Look at Existing Internal Processes

When it comes to hiring international students, or any other type of global talent, having a strong set of internal processes is crucial. Your global recruitment strategy must be able to do more than just attract talent. You must be able to attract and keep top talent to consider your global recruitment strategies effective.

Investigate your hiring process first. Look at the time it takes your business to screen resumes, conduct initial calls, and complete interviews. Are any of these processes taking longer than necessary? If so, ask yourself why. 

Do you need to outsource your initial hiring processes so that your in-house team doesn’t have to sift through applications? Or expand your HR department to speed up this process? These are things that will assist your company in being more efficient in the long run. Aim to recruit flexibly and streamline your hiring processes so that you can meet the needs of your global talent pool. 

Once a candidate has made it through the hiring process, consider how their onboarding is conducted. Is one leader taking charge? Are new hires inundated with information? Consider raising these questions within your team to identify areas where your onboarding processes can be improved. A pulse survey is a quick and easy way to gauge where employees feel there are gaps in your internal processes that need to be addressed. It is valuable to raise these questions within your wider team to get a clear view of the things you can improve within the hiring and onboarding processes.

Identify How Your Company Can Bring Value to Interns

Once you have a clear view of your internal processes and how they affect your global recruitment strategy, the next step is to look at how your company brings value to internship roles. 

Global talent seek out opportunities where they can build their professional skills and establish connections. Whether you’re developing an international student program or listing a single available internship role, consider the opportunities you’ll provide to an intern that will make your company stand out.

This is also the time to address how you can amp up or expand your opportunities for interns. With the exception of professional development and networking, there are plenty of ways to bring value to an intern’s experience with your company. Some examples include:

1. Meaningful Projects: Assign projects for interns that contribute to a wider organizational goal. This will provide a sense of purpose for the intern while also making a tangible impact on the business.
2. Feedback and Recognition: Provide constructive feedback to interns and acknowledge their efforts. Identify areas of improvement and recognize their achievements to boost their motivation. 
3. Exposure to Different Departments: Help interns gain exposure to various departments and understand the different roles and functions within your business. This may help them uncover an area of interest they might not have considered before.
4. Shadowing Opportunities: Coordinate opportunities to work under employees in different roles or departments. They'll learn from experienced professionals and gain a diverse range of skills in the process.
5. Work-Life Balance Support: Promote a healthy work environment for your intern. Encourage them to take breaks, keep reasonable work hours, and prioritize self-care. This will foster a positive work-life balance that they can maintain for life.

These are just a few simple ways to bring value to your intern. You’ll find that aspects of your company culture inform other opportunities for your intern. Look at the way your operations run on a daily, weekly, or even monthly scale and see where an intern can learn and grow from the way your company runs.

Resources for Your Global Recruitment Strategy

To help top global talent get internships with your company, utilize resources to strengthen your global recruitment strategy. Help your business find world-class talent and see the program benefits of hiring international talent.

At Intrax, our programs focus on J-1 visa sponsorship for interns and trainees in several occupational categories. We can help you find talent in the following fields:

• Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
• Arts & Culture
• Construction & Building Trades
• Education, Social Sciences, Library Science, Counseling & Social Services
• Hospitality & Tourism
• Information Media & Communications
• Management, Business, Commerce & Finance
• Public Administration & Law
• The Sciences, Engineering, Architecture, Mathematics & Industrial Occupations

We assist thousands of companies in hiring international interns and implementing recruiting best practices. From virtual internships to our comprehensive guide, discover how Intrax Global Internships’ exceptional service can help you access top global talent.

Incentives Within Your Global Recruitment Strategy

Your biggest strength in your global recruitment strategy is the incentives you offer to global interns. While an internship is a great way to gain meaningful industry exposure, incentives offer specific opportunities that enhance the quality of an intern's experience with your company. 

We believe the best internships offer:

• Cultural exchange opportunities
• Mentorship and networking
• Skill-building and career development

Ensure you’re delivering the best possible internship and developing a strong global recruitment strategy by expanding the types of incentives your company offers to international hires. You’ll quickly learn how interns impact your business when you bring attractive incentives into the mix.

Cultural Exchange Opportunities

One of the most impactful ways to incentivize interns is to offer cultural exchange opportunities. Including ways to champion diversity in your global recruitment strategy boasts enormous benefits for your business. You’ll discover that hiring for diversity is a step towards going global for your company and enriching your team’s day-to-day operations. 

Partnering your internship opportunity with the Exchange Visitor Visa is a powerful incentive for global interns. Exceptional talent loves the challenge of working in unfamiliar locations, exploring new places, and developing new language skills. An opportunity to travel and work is an immersive way for interns to expand their cultural awareness and advance in their careers. 

There are many benefits to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, including:

• Better talent 
• More innovation
• Expansion of outreach 
• Increased creativity

By offering cultural exchange opportunities as part of your intern incentives, you’re doing much more than sharing your own culture. You’re exposing your team to new ways of thinking, new ideas, and expanding your company’s position as a global employer. You’ll find that offering global internships and cultural exchange opportunities strengthens your global network and greatly benefits your business.

Mentorship and Networking

For interns, another key incentive is networking opportunities within your business. The right mentor, in particular, can make all the difference for an intern. 

When looking to attract international talent, factor in the staff within your team who are exceptional at what they do and would make great mentors. See if these employees are willing to share their knowledge and work with interns to learn about their desired industry in-depth. These people are the ones who are passionate about what they do and are keen to impart their knowledge on new talent in their field. Does this sound like someone on your team?

Internships offer great opportunities for international students and entry-level talent to begin building their professional networks. By working alongside your team an intern can build working relationships in their field of choice which can last a lifetime. 

Skill-Building for Career Development

Interns who are accepted in the Exchange Visitor Program are extremely driven and knowledgeable in their respective field. It should come as no surprise that incentives around building skills that support career development appeal to global talent. 

As you continue to define roles as part of your global recruitment strategy, consider the specific industry knowledge your prospective intern will have exposure to through the department they’ll work under. Don’t be afraid to get specific in your job description, as exceptional global interns will be hungry to learn about exactly what they’ll gain from their experience at your company. 

Remember that interns are engaged in their field of choice and eager to make an impression. Offering opportunities where they can dive headfirst into projects, strengthen skills, and make an impact is a great incentive when trying to attract global talent.

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Work with Intrax Global Internships on Your Global Recruitment Strategy.

At Intrax Global Internships, our customers benefit from our wealth of knowledge in hiring global talent. We can help you start the process of building a global internship that fosters success. We’d love to work with you in finding exceptional interns. Apply today! 

Contact us today to find out how we can help you, or send us a request for information to learn more about what we do.