Task: Why is it so important to make the right decision when hiring a new employee, especially when you are filling a position in an international company? Consider, for example, the costs for hiring a replacement if the individual selected does not work out. There are generally eight categories of costs you need to consider when hiring on a international basis:
1) Advertising job availability
2) Pre-employment administrative functions (e.g., review of applications, checking references)
3) Interviews (e.g., travel expenses for candidate, staff time, etc.)
4) Testing (e.g., aptitude, personality)
5) Staff meetings (some positions require meetings with HR and department holding the vacant position)
6) Travel/moving expenses for individual who is hired
7) Processing new employees (e.g., costs of setting up the employee's records in the HR information system, counseling about pay and benefits and enrolling employees in benefit programs)
8) Medical exam, if necessary
These items don't include the costs of orienting and training new employees. In calculating the costs of training, most organizations will need to consider the costs of both the formal and informal instruction a new employee needs to become effective in the job. In calculating the informal cost, you need to develop an estimate of the amount of time employees spend in "helping out" the new person. You need to consider the impact on the productivity of the experienced worker and the cost, if productivity falls.
Given this, what would you use as a guideline in filling international openings?