You have a talent shortage. You have a position that has been open for months, costing your company money every single day.
Your inbox is full of applications. Many of them are from international candidates, professionals from Nigeria, India, Kenya, or Brazil. They look qualified on paper. They have the years of experience. They have the degrees.
However, when you scan their resume, you hit a wall.
You don’t recognize the university. You have never heard of their previous employer. You don’t know if “Senior Manager” in Lagos means the same thing as “Senior Manager” in London or Toronto.
Consequently, you do what most Hiring Managers do: You delete the application.
This isn’t malicious. It is a safety mechanism. In recruitment, “Unknown” equals “Risk.” But here is the hard truth: This safety bias is costing you the best talent in the market.
You do not need to be an expert in foreign markets to hire global talent. You simply need a new framework. Here is the 4-step guide to accurately assessing international candidates without needing a map.
1. The “Scale Equivalence” Method (Replacing Brand Bias)
The biggest barrier to hiring international talent is Brand Blindness.
If a candidate worked at Google, you instantly trust their competence because you trust the brand. If they worked at Interswitch (a massive African fintech unicorn), you might hesitate because you don’t know the name.
To fix this, stop looking for Brand. Start looking for Scale.
Business is universal. A Project Manager who handled a $10M budget in Nairobi faced the same fiscal pressures as one in New York. The currency changes, but the complexity does not.
Actionable Step: When interviewing international candidates, ask questions that reveal the Scale of their environment:
- “What was the annual revenue of your division?”
- “What was the total headcount of the team you led?”
- “What was the customer volume you handled daily?”
By focusing on these metrics, you translate “Unknown Company” into “verified Complexity.”
Data Insight: According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the cost of a bad hire is high, but the cost of unfilled positions due to overly narrow criteria is often higher. Don’t let brand bias keep a seat empty.
2. The “Standardization” Check (Verifying Education)
A common fear is: “Is this degree real? Is this university accredited?”
You should never guess. Fortunately, you don’t have to. There are global standards that exist specifically to solve this problem.
Actionable Step: Ask the candidate for a Credential Evaluation. Services like WES (World Education Services) in North America or ENIC-NARIC in the UK exist to verify foreign degrees. They will officially certify that a “Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Lagos” is legally equivalent to a “Bachelor’s Degree from a US University.”
Furthermore, many candidates already have this document. Asking for it removes the guesswork and creates a standardized baseline for all applicants.
3. The “Work Product” Test (The Great Equalizer)
Resumes can be embellished. Interviews can be rehearsed. However, work samples never lie.
The most effective way to assess an international candidate is to bypass the resume entirely and move to Skills-Based Hiring.
Actionable Step: Assign a small, practical “Work Sample Test” relevant to the role.
- Marketing: “Audit our last campaign and suggest 3 improvements.”
- Finance: “Review this anonymized spreadsheet and find the error.”
- Tech: “Debug this specific block of code.”
If the candidate produces high-quality work, it does not matter where they learned to do it.
Data Insight: Harvard Business Review confirms thatskills-based hiring practicesare 5x more predictive of job performance than hiring based on pedigree or degree.
4. The “Reference Context” Check
Checking references for international candidates can be tricky due to cultural nuances.
In some cultures (like parts of the UK or US), referees are legally cautious and minimal. In other cultures (like parts of Africa or Asia), referees may be effusive and overly polite as a sign of respect.
Therefore, asking general questions like “Was he a good employee?” will not work. You need to dig for Negative Evidence.
Actionable Step: When speaking to an international reference, ask specific, behavioral questions that force a nuanced answer:
- Instead of: “What are her strengths?”
- Ask: “Tell me about a time she failed a project. How did she handle the recovery?”
This approach cuts through cultural politeness and gives you insight into the candidate’s resilience—a key trait for anyone navigating a new country.
Turning “Risk” into “ROI”
Hiring internationally isn’t about charity. It is about Competitive Advantage.
International candidates bring high-level adaptability, resilience, and diverse perspectives that local candidates often lack. However, you will only access this talent pool if you remove the blinders of “Brand Bias.”
By focusing on Scale, Standardization, and Skills, you can assess any candidate, from anywhere, with zero fear.
Need to filter your international applicants faster? Stop guessing. Use the Anutio Employer Dashboard. Our system automatically translates foreign skills and experience into your local competency framework, giving you an instant “Quality Score” for every applicant.
