Selecting for Overseas Assignments:
Maximising the Likelihood of Getting it Right
Are you sending more and more people on temporary or permanent global assignments? Do you find these assignments are met with mixed success?
Organisations, and business in general, are becoming increasingly global. This means that organisations need to recruit people who are able to work effectively abroad, often on 1-2 year assignments. Due to the high cost of sending people abroad (often up to four times their salary including cost of air travel, housing etc.), it is important that those sent on such assignments will succeed in their roles and are able to adjust to what is probably a very different culture and way of working.
A recent piece of research conducted by an international team of psychologists reviewed the effectiveness of methods used to improve the success of sending people to work abroad. The two main options are:
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Using selection procedures (e.g. cognitive tests, interviews, personality tests, assessment centres) to identify suitable people for overseas assignments.
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Offering cross-cultural training (e.g. culture assimilators, language courses, lectures) to people once they have been selected.
The authors compared how well each element of the selection process (cognitive test, interview etc.) predicted candidates' performance on a year-long cross-cultural training programme. The main findings from the research were:
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Cognitive ability tests predicted candidates' success in learning a new language.
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The Big Five personality factor of 'Openness' predicted how well candidates performed on cross-cultural training.
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Performance at an assessment centre which assessed qualities such as communication, adaptability and teamwork generally predicted success on the training programme.
These findings are particularly important as it was found that training performance was positively related to performance in the job at the host country.
Recommendations
The solution is to complement the use of selection methods which assess specific qualities with the offer of cross-cultural training. This dual approach can improve the adjustment of managers to foreign countries, thus reducing costs. You might currently select people from a pool already employed by your organisation. To go one step further, and ensure that you recruit individuals into the organisation who are likely to succeed in assignments overseas, the qualities that predict success when working abroad should be assessed when choosing people to join your organisation. This is particularly relevant for the graduate selection processes of large multinational organisations where large numbers are often required to work abroad at some stage in their careers, either on a temporary or permanent basis.
Human Assets can help you by, firstly, specifying the qualities that define success for people working abroad. We can then include these qualities in your competency framework, and design appropriate selection tools to measure these qualities. If you would like to find out more, please contact our consultants on +44(0)20 7434 2122 or by email enquiries@humanassets.co.uk
Reference
Lievens, F., Harris, M.M., Van Keer, E. & Bisqueret, C. (2003) Predicting cross-cultural training performance: The validity of personality, cognitive ability, and dimensions measured by an assessment center and a behaviour description interview. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 3, 476-489.
Newsletter: September 2003