Hiring and Recruiting Strategies for Global Businesses in 2025

The global labour market is in flux, but these cost-effective hiring and recruiting strategies will help global businesses fill their positions.

By Alex Schulte | 14 April 2025

In 2025, business success is downstream of an effective global recruitment process. But filling high-value positions is harder than it’s ever been.

Companies need to fill chronic labour shortages, but they can’t get the talent. There are visa backlogs to grapple with and tightening restrictions imposed on eligibility. International recruitment processes that used to take weeks can now take months. Job listings linger for longer, and these gaps put a cap on your innovation and hamper your growth. You can’t even be sure anymore that the potential candidates are real people or sophisticated scammers leveraging deepfakes.

There are no easy ways around this, only trade-offs. Sometimes, companies will set up subsidiaries in low-cost destinations and talent hubs to get closer to the source of skilled labour. But in doing so, they expose themselves to tax and legal obligations. These risks often catch hiring managers off guard, leaving them with prohibitively high tax bills or noncompliance fines that they hadn’t bargained for.

So, when the competition is tough and the risk landscape is ever-changing, what international recruitment strategies should HR professionals use to hire globally?

Let’s start by examining more closely the main challenges employers need to solve.

International Recruitment Challenges in 2025

Employers, take note: There are three major challenges in the global hiring process right now:

🚨 Security

🏆 Competition

🧑‍⚖️ Compliance

Let’s explore each one.

Security

International recruitment has never been more vulnerable to fraud, primarily due to the rise of deepfake technology in the hiring process.

There’s been a massive surge in deepfake interviewees over the last year. Pindrop Security, specialising in deepfake detection, encountered over one-third fraudulent applications in a recent analysis of 300 candidate profiles, making it harder to find quality potential recruits for job postings.

The US federal government claims over 500 US companies inadvertently recruited North Koreans posing as other nationalities, using sophisticated AI-generated deepfakes capable of mimicking voices with remarkable accuracy after just three seconds of audio samples. These bad actors typically install malware to ransom companies, steal trade secrets, or divert funds.

This trend is expected to escalate, with the AI-as-a-service market projected to grow at a CAGR of 36.1% from 2025 to 2030, making these technologies increasingly accessible to malicious actors.

Remote positions are especially vulnerable, particularly those in tech firms.

A Gartner study predicts that by 2028, one-quarter of hiring interviews will involve a fake candidate.

Solutions:

Train staff to spot signs (like lips moving out of sync with words) during the recruitment process
Leverage AI to identify red flags
Trust verified LinkedIn accounts

Be prepared if you plan to recruit globally – it takes a lot more due diligence on each individual candidate than it did just a few years ago.

Competition

Skilled labour is highly competitive in 2025, particularly in growing industries.

In 2020, McKinsey stated it clearly: 87% of companies expected serious skills gaps by 2025. They were right.

The US has recognised this challenge with the Bipartisan STEM Retention Bill and the 2025 Federal Plan to retain international STEM graduates.

Yet talent isn’t easily retained. Visa hurdles present significant barriers—40% of global STEM professionals in a NASEM survey reported they couldn’t even attend professional events in the US because of visa issues.

The message is clear: it’s a global race for STEM talent. Businesses need bold, strategic, and globally-minded recruitment plans—starting yesterday. These action plans must overcome the increasing barriers that national authorities are putting in the way of hiring from overseas. Companies also need a strong employee value proposition that gives top talent the confidence to choose them over competitors.

Companies are hiring globally, but the fight is tougher than before:

💰 Companies must offer candidates larger financial incentives
🌍 Huge H-1B visa backlogs exist (especially for Indian and Chinese nationals)
💡 Non-financial incentives are a crucial differentiator. Think egg-freezing and IV coverage in healthcare plans, generous paternity leave, on top of competitive salaries.

Compliance

Across Western nations, governments have tightened immigration policies. This has complicated the international hiring process.

Here in the UK, the Government has introduced higher salary thresholds for the crucial Skilled Worker visa. A crackdown on illegal immigration is in full swing – the Home Office has markedly increased its audits of firms that recruit skilled foreign workers.

Immigration remains a contentious issue throughout the West, with right-wing parties pledging tough approaches to illegal migration finding electoral success in nations across Europe.

The same dynamics apply in Trump’s America. Deportations and detentions aren’t limited to low-skilled or irregular labour. Engineers and business professionals face detention too:

🇩🇪 A German electrical engineer and Green Card holder was detained in March 2025 by border control officials, subjected to humiliating treatment, and placed in a detention center
🇨🇦 A Canadian entrepreneur was detained for two weeks while obtaining a work visa, forced into harsh conditions

Tax compliance risks

International talent strategies can come with unforeseen tax implications, even when companies use third-party agents and contractors to limit their exposure. In 2023, a British aircraft technician working as a contractor at a German airport inadvertently created a Permanent Establishment, triggering corporate tax obligations.

Global Mobility departments sometimes also struggle with local tax withholding and social security obligations. Tax law is knotty and confusing – each country has its own rulebook that often changes with little warning. This inevitably means that hiring outside your own country adds new layers of risk.

But these hazards don’t outweigh the necessity of broadening your talent pool. So, how exactly should global companies address these challenges?

The Best International Hiring and Recruiting Strategies for 2025

These seven elements should help you build a sustainable people strategy that brings in the world’s best talent without swelling your costs.

1. Provide tailored incentives

With stiff competition everywhere, hiring managers should determine what their target audience values most and deliver accordingly.

Surprisingly, it’s not always about money—that’s less than half the equation.

Employees want good work-life balance, career advancement opportunities, and competitive salaries. However, preferences become more specific depending on the position:

🤖 AI researchers want freedom to experiment
🧑‍🔬 Half of STEM workers would rather use cutting-edge technology than receive a pay raise
👷 One-quarter of engineers want to develop coding skills.

Recruitment strategies should account for these preferences.

What to offer:

Generous relocation expenses and accommodation for overseas employees
Reimbursed in-house learning and online courses
Flexible working policies

2. Use an employee referral program

Don’t forget a major mine of potential talent – your own workforce.

Hiring managers should incentivise employees to recommend qualified candidates through a referral program.

Your employees likely have their own networks of skilled people in their countries—former classmates, ex-colleagues or people they’ve met at events —who might make excellent additions to your team.

An employee referral program is an increasingly important part of international recruitment. Not only is it great for company culture, many employers think it has the best ROI of all recruitment strategies. It offers:

💰 Lower hiring costs
⌛ Reduced hiring time
👍 Higher retention rates

Companies implement referral programs differently. Meta provides bonuses when referrals are hired, while PURE Insurance and Salesforce host “Recruitment Happy Hours” to encourage referrals in an engaging environment (while offering generous rewards).

3. Recruit based on supply and demand

Don’t go into your recruitment process blind. Ensure you target countries whose nationals aren’t facing visa backlogs in your home country.

For instance, American companies should remember that Indians and Chinese nationals face enormous H-1B visa backlogs, with even top Chinese talent waiting up to 5 years.

How to navigate these visa challenges, particularly in the USA:

Recruit qualified talent from countries with shorter Green Card backlogs (countries other than China or India)
Focus recruitment on STEM graduates, as H-1B allocation prioritises these fields
Partner with cap-exempt organisations like universities or nonprofits, allowing full-time company roles without lottery participation

4. Go remote (But safely)

Recruiting remote employees expands your potential talent pool significantly.

This approach resonates with younger workers who value flexibility and independence, contributing positively to company culture.

However, remote working can expose employers to taxation risks through the unwitting creation of Permanent Establishments: taxable presences in foreign countries.

To address legal and tax concerns:

Use an AI-powered Travel Compliance Assistant to discover your employees’ tax and legal obligations in real time
Establish a legal entity in the target country
Hire workers as independent contractors, allowing them to manage their tax and social security obligations

How to mitigate security risks:

✅ Implement AI tools to detect deepfakes during interviews
✅ Use encrypted platforms like Signal or WhatsApp for sensitive communications
✅ Conduct thorough background checks and reference verifications (services like HireRight)
✅ Provide comprehensive security training (phishing awareness, password management, network security)
✅ Implement multi-factor authentication for all remote system access
✅ Ensure remote workers use VPNs and secure home networks

5. Set up in talent-rich destinations

You can reap the benefits of geographical arbitrage by establishing subsidiaries (not branches) in low-cost, talent-rich regions.

Many companies already follow this approach, and for good reason. The cost differential is substantial: Polish software developers earn around $30k annually compared to $130k for their US counterparts.

Google’s DeepMind has offices in Bangalore, while OpenAI maintains locations in Singapore and Tokyo.

This strategy helps you negotiate favorable labour terms, reduces overhead costs, and leverages global talent pools.

Examples:

🇷🇴 An engineering firm established a Romanian subsidiary to access a market where 1 in 5 graduates are engineers who command lower wages than elsewhere in Europe
🇵🇱 An IT consultancy launched a Polish subsidiary to leverage the country’s 600,000 IT specialists and lower cost of living

6. Start with contractors, then convert to full-time

Recruiting foreign employees, even remotely, can involve a lot of admin work, such as setting up shadow payrolls and arranging visas.

If you want to circumvent this, begin with contractor relationships, then convert exceptional performers to full-time positions.

🌐 Use platforms like Upwork to engage global contractors
✅ Hire contractors initially for 3-6 months
🏆 Convert top performers to full-time roles through subsidiaries or visa sponsorship

Important considerations:

Limit contractor hours below full-time thresholds to avoid automatic employment classification
Always use localised contracts aligned with regional labour laws (e.g., Germany’s 20-hour/week contractor limit)
Offer project completion bonuses to incentivise contractor loyalty before conversion

7. Leverage AI Travel Assistants

Once employees join your payroll, use modern technology to monitor everything from taxation liabilities to visa status.

Even minor compliance issues could jeopardise your sponsorship status or result in substantial fines in the host country.

AI travel assistants track and monitor all obligations in real time, based on regulatory and taxation requirements, leaving nothing to chance.

Following these steps will help you build a hiring and recruiting strategy that will weather the storms of changing regulations and technological upheavals. Because your true competitive edge comes down to one thing: the combined skills of your workforce.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is an Employer of Record (EOR)?

An Employer of Record (EOR) is a third-party organisation that legally employs workers on your behalf. They handle payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance with local labour laws—while your team member works directly for you.

What are the Permanent Establishment risks associated with hiring remote international employees?

A Permanent Establishment (PE) is a fixed place of business that creates tax obligations in a foreign country. Hiring remote workers can inadvertently create a PE if their activities are deemed core to your business. Ensure remote workers perform non-core functions to avoid triggering PE status, or partner with EORs to maintain a clear distinction between your operations and those of the EOR, helping manage compliance and reduce PE risks.

What are the compliance risks when hiring international contractors?

The biggest risk is misclassification—treating someone as an independent contractor when they legally qualify as an employee under local labor laws. This can lead to penalties, back taxes, and legal disputes. Stay compliant by using an AI-powered travel compliance assistant to know all your legal and tax obligations in real time.

Other risks include:

Violating local labor laws, such as mandatory benefits, notice periods, or working time limits (e.g., Germany’s 20-hour/week cap for contractors).
Triggering Permanent Establishment (PE) status if contractors perform core business functions or represent your company.
Non-compliance with tax withholding and social security obligations in the contractor’s country.

To stay compliant, always:

Use localised contracts that follow local labor regulations
Limit contractor hours and responsibilities
Consider engaging a local legal advisor or using an Employer of Record (EOR) service for added protection

What incentives should companies offer to attract international employees?

Top international talent isn’t just chasing higher salaries—they’re looking for value beyond the paycheck. The most effective incentive packages in 2025 are tailored to each candidate’s values, and may include:

Employee relocation support (housing, flights, family assistance)
Healthcare benefits, including mental health coverage and IVF or egg-freezing support
Flexible working policies and remote/hybrid options
Professional development through paid learning programs or conference stipends
Family-friendly perks, like generous parental leave and education allowances

For technical or STEM candidates, access to cutting-edge tools, research freedom, and career growth opportunities can often outweigh pure financial compensation.

How do companies handle visa issues in global recruitment?

Visa complexities remain one of the biggest hurdles in global hiring. Here’s how leading companies are managing it:

Partnering with cap-exempt organisations (e.g., universities) to bypass visa lotteries in the U.S.
Recruiting from countries with shorter visa or Green Card backlogs (avoiding high-wait countries like India and China when possible)
Offering immigration support as part of the onboarding process, including visa sponsorship, legal help, and relocation coordination
Building remote-first teams, which eliminates visa needs entirely, but still requires attention to tax and legal compliance
Using Employers of Record (EORs) to employ staff locally without setting up a full entity or navigating immigration alone

A strategic approach to visas is essential, especially in industries like tech and engineering where international talent is critical.

Which countries are best for hiring remote tech talent in 2025?

In 2025, several countries stand out for their deep talent pools, competitive salaries, and favorable business environments:

Poland: Strong developer community, EU legal protections, and relatively low labor costs
Romania: High concentration of engineers and IT grads, English proficiency, and growing infrastructure
Vietnam: Emerging as a cost-effective hub for software development with improving tech education
Portugal: Popular among digital nomads and startups; strong language skills and time zone overlap with Europe
Mexico: Great for North American companies due to similar time zones, growing tech sector, and cultural alignment.