What countries should you hire remote workers from?

I talk with a lot of folks that are “global-talent-curious.”

They’ve heard about all of the undeniable benefits of hiring internationally, and they’re wanting to dip their toes in the water, so to speak.

Inevitably, one question comes up at some point in the conversation:

What are the best countries to source remote talent from?

It’s a pretty loaded question (short answer: it depends!), but I thought I’d cover the basics in this week’s newsletter.

In my experience, there are three factors major factors to consider:

1. The quality of the talent available

This one is generally based on the educational climate and culture of the country. 

There are some countries (Philippines, Argentina, and Kenya to name a few) that have a wealth of strong educational institutions and, as a result, a very highly educated population.

You’ll have a larger pool of qualified talent to source from, and their baseline training and professionalism will be stronger than alternatives on average.

2. The strength of their currency 

There are many countries where your US dollar goes much further in sourcing high-quality talent. 

Look at Argentina, for example.

Their currency is so weak right now compared to the US dollar that you can find talented, capable folks (some with master’s degrees) for an extremely affordable rate.

Somewhere like Switzerland, however, will still have highly-qualified talent, but your dollar doesn’t go nearly as far.

This condition in particular is a moving target.

As currencies and costs of living fluctuate globally, countries are constantly entering/exiting that range of affordability.

3. Cultural affinity and language ability

Finally, there are preconceptions that might make certain populations better suited for customer-facing roles.

You could hire an extremely overqualified Ph.D. candidate, but if that person has a heavy Filipino accent, they may struggle in a sales role. 

You could take somebody with a British accent, who is not nearly as educated or experienced, and, to the American ear, they're going to be perceived as more educated. 

It’s unfortunate, but the reality is that for customer-facing roles you do sometimes have to play within the bounds of these perceptions. 

And it doesn’t necessarily disqualify anyone! 

It might just mean altering your processes to accommodate these factors (it could be as simple as building your processes in a way that indexes more toward written communication, for example).

You want to know the truth?

Picking a country to start sourcing from is one of the easier parts of building remote teams.

It gets a lot hairier after that. Systems, best practices, technology, etc.

There’s a lot to navigate. 

But here's the thing: you don't have to figure it out alone.

We've been in the trenches, sourcing global talent for years now. 

We've made the mistakes, learned the lessons, and bundled all of that knowledge into Sagan Passport. 

Passport is our comprehensive membership for managers and executives looking to scale their businesses with international talent. 

When you sign-up, you’ll get:

• White-glove headhunting for your remote talent needs

• Access to a HUGE database of SOPs and processes for onboarding and training your remote teams

• Digital community + office hours for you AND your global talent

And much more.

If you’re one of those global-talent-curious leaders that I mentioned at the start, give Sagan Passport a shot and we’ll guide you through your first hires from start-to-finish.

And keep tuning in to Lazy Leverage. I’ll be sending tips like this every week.

Yallah Habibi,

Jon

Passage of the Week

Keep your friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent

- Robert Greene