Jobs in Canada? No Job Opening? No Problem!

Out with the old an in with the new!  More and more companies are turning to in-house recruiting.  Instead of using recruiters, many employers are using their own HR departments to advertise job positions, co-ordinate interviews, and find the right candidates. 

This shift to direct recruitment is creating both opportunity and risk for everyone in the employment industry.  This is especially true for international job candidates.  Recognizing the new opportunity might just give you the edge you need to find a job abroad.   Failing to see the change could mean that you are left behind in the race to start a new life overseas. 

For many years, employers used the traditional mode of recruitment agencies to find international talent.  This worked well when international recruiting was small in scale and limited in scope.  However, it has become clear that there is now an extremely large global skills shortage.  Competition for the right international candidate is fierce and companies can no longer rely on ‘people who know people’ to find international workers. 

In response, companies have moved to what the recruitment industry calls in-house recruiting.  Essentially this means using the corporate human resources department to perform many of the functions that would normally be outsourced to a recruitment agency.  Certainly technology has helped to make this transition smoother.  Companies such as LinkedIn, as well as many of the online job posting sites, make it easy for employers to source their own candidates directly. 

Undoubtedly, there is great debate as to how effective the direct recruitment model will be in the long run.  Some say it is on its way out, while others maintain that it is a new revolution that will eliminate the need for traditional recruiting.  Only time will tell the answer to this question.  Nonetheless, for the international candidate it is important to understand that more companies are open to and capable of receiving your information directly than ever before.  

Even more important is for international job seekers to realize that the growth of in-house recruiting has led many corporations to rethink their recruiting team structure leaving them less attached to what in the old days was called ‘position-based recruiting’. 

For many years, international job recruiting was a static process.  Employers had a very specific need, would post a very specific job, would only look for a very specific skill set, and would hire the person best matching that specific position. 

With the increase in-house recruiting, companies now have the ability to consider a broader range of candidates.  Just like recruiting agencies, companies can develop relationships with international job candidates even if there is no specific job currently available for that overseas worker.

This means that as long as you know that a company is open to hiring international candidates it is always a good idea to consider that company as possible employer.  International recruiters are always open to taking on the right person, job or no job.  In the new world of in-house recruitment, you might just find that employers are starting to follow the exact same rules.