Finding your diamond in the rough

[Joywtseo421]

Luckily, some of the social media tools and strategies you are already using to find people will also work when you focus those efforts on finding yourself a repat with the right mix of hard and soft skills for your organization. LinkedIn, for one, is as popular with expats as it is with everyone else. Check out groups like Toastmasters that are located overseas for starters. Many times the membership of foreign Toastmasters branches is made up mostly of the native population using it to practice their English, but inevitably there will be a few expats in these groups. In fact, I know more than a couple that were founded by expats.

It’s still relatively small, but the LinkedIn group that I run is a good example of the types of organization that spring up organically with the initiative of expats themselves. More often than not, the more industrious of us have to take professional development into our own hands and it’s much easier to bounce ideas off of each other as group. When you find a group like this on australia phone number resource Facebook, LinkedIn, or maybe even an expat-run English-language local online news or events website (yes, they exist. I used to run one myself), offer to write an article or do an AMA about resume preparation, or workplace skills that can be learned through online coursework. Help out the community and they will bend over backwards to help you out in return. You’re not just expanding your network to these people, but also to the people that THEY know.

Civic and volunteer organizations also often have expat-driven presences overseas. If you are looking for U.S. citizens, as an example, Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad are both active organizations focused on the nonpartisan volunteer activity of registering American expats to vote. In other words, they are already actively reaching out to the community of US citizens living in that country. Organizations communicating in English related to things like fostering abandoned/stray cats and dogs in countries where having animals as pets is not as culturally accepted is likely to turn up some self-motivated expats with exceptional organizational skills.

Finally, if you follow the advice of Social-Hire.com, you are already using Facebook and AdWords advertising as part of your social recruiting efforts, so you know just how deep the targeting can get. Try setting some ads to run targeting English-speaking people residing in linguistically homogenous nations like Japan or Korea. Think about what “interests” the type of person you are looking for would have. Try obscure celebrities and political issues that only someone that grew up in your country would know. Start with any of the interests or organizations I’ve already discussed abroad, but you can also try things like comedy shows or movies. Culturally comedies are very difficult to translate, so an English speaking fan of Arrested Development living in Moscow is probably an expat hailing from North America rather than a Russian that speaks English.