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If you’re struggling to source talent right now, you’re not alone. According to a 2024 survey by ManpowerGroup, 75% of employers are facing the same problem. Despite this, many US companies are still limiting their search to candidates who live within a certain geographic region — even for remote or remote-capable roles.
In this article, we’ll explore how taking a more global approach to talent acquisition — i.e. hiring overseas remote workers instead of relying on homegrown talent — could enable US companies to surpass their competitors in 2025.
The problem with domestic recruitment
Traditionally, hiring a new employee has always meant finding someone with the right skills and experience who happens to live within commuting distance of your office.
But that’s no longer the case. Thanks to the rise in remote work accelerated by the pandemic, there’s no longer any need to limit your hiring search to a certain postcode.
In fact, relying solely on domestic recruitment to meet your talent needs could be holding your company back. Here are a few of the problems you’re likely to face if you’re focusing your recruitment efforts entirely on the US talent market.
Talent shortages and skills gaps
At its core, the reason so many companies are struggling to fill roles at the moment is simple: there aren’t enough people available. As of Q4 2024, the number of unfilled job openings in the US far outnumber the number of unemployed people.
The reasons behind this trend include a surge in early retirements and low net immigration. Things aren’t helped by the widespread lack of access to childcare, which makes it impractical for many women in particular to return to work after having children. The result is that the labour force participation rate is currently sitting at 62.7%, compared to 63.3% in February 2020 and 67.2% in January 2001.
On top of this, the US is facing significant shortages of employees with particular skills. These are mostly concentrated in emerging fields like AI, automation and cybersecurity. Employers in industries like healthcare and manufacturing are also grappling with major skills gaps.
In short, it’s getting harder and harder for companies in the US to find the talent they need. Exploring alternative talent pools will be a key competitive advantage for those companies in 2025 and beyond.
High recruitment and payroll costs
You don’t need to be an economist to know that when something is in short supply, prices skyrocket. That’s why salary expectations in fields like cybersecurity, engineering and even nursing have increased significantly over the past few years.
Plus, there are also significant costs involved in the recruitment process itself. According to SHRM data, the hard costs of hiring now average around $4,700 per new employee — an increase of 14% from 2019. This includes the unavoidable cost of things like talent sourcing, selection and onboarding.
Hiring skilled workers overseas instead of relying entirely on domestic talent can help businesses make serious savings, simply because living costs in much of the world are lower than in the US. That means that employees in these countries have lower salary expectations, and that the cost of working with service providers like recruitment agencies tends to be lower too.
Missed opportunities for innovation
Building a global workforce means hiring people from a variety of backgrounds. This inevitably means making your workforce more diverse — which can have a number of benefits for a business.
First, research from the Boston Consulting Group finds a significant correlation between diversity and innovation. This is backed up by further research from Josh Bersin, which finds that diverse companies are 1.8x more likely to be change-ready, and 1.7x more likely to be innovation leaders.
Of course, that’s not to say that US companies can’t be innovative without hiring foreign talent. But hiring employees from different countries brings a variety of perspectives to the table, leading to new ideas and more creativity. If you’re only hiring local employees, you could be missing out on opportunities for innovation.
Difficulty scaling internationally
Expanding your business across borders can bring a wide range of benefits and opportunities. Most obviously, it allows you to access additional markets and get your products or services in front of new audiences. It can also help to strengthen your brand’s overall reputation by increasing global recognition.
However, successful business expansion is almost impossible if you’re not willing to hire on-the-ground talent in your chosen markets. Even if you’re not yet ready to launch a full-scale expansion, having access to localised expertise and insights into the local culture is key to putting your strategy together.
Plus, having local teams in the countries where you want to sell your products is also key to customer satisfaction, since it ensures your local clients will be able to access customer service help from people who speak their language and understand their culture.
Leveraging global talent acquisition for growth
These days, there’s no reason to limit your hiring efforts to your own backyard. In fact, if you’re focusing only on domestic recruitment in 2025, you could be missing out on some significant opportunities for growth.
Opening your doors to international recruitment can help you to find the talent you need, even for hard-to-fill roles. Global hiring exponentially increases your chances of finding the right person for each open position, simply because the talent pools you’re working with are so much bigger.
Let’s explore some of the benefits of this approach to strategic talent acquisition in more detail.
The benefits of global talent acquisition
Here are some of the advantages of taking a global approach to recruitment:
- Access to a broader talent pool: Opening your doors to international hiring gives you access to a much wider talent pool. This makes it significantly easier to find the people you need, even as talent shortages worsen at home. It also allows you to access professionals with niche, specialized skill sets that are hard to come by in the US.
- Enhanced creativity and innovation: Diverse workforces bring a range of different perspectives and experiences to the table, which can enhance creativity and lead to stronger, more balanced decision-making. Ultimately, this helps build a culture that encourages innovation and new ideas.
- Cost savings: Employees in other countries often have significantly lower salary expectations than their US counterparts simply because they live in places where living expenses are much lower. US companies that embrace global hiring can benefit from reduced labour costs while still offering desirable wages to their overseas team members.
- Smoother business expansion: Want to expand your business overseas? Hiring employees in your target country gives you an unrivalled understanding of the local market, customs and culture. This helps to set the groundwork for a smooth expansion process, making it easier to reach new audiences and increase your brand’s reach.
The role of employer of record (EoR) services
Taking a global approach to talent acquisition can have significant benefits for a business and will offer a key competitive advantage in 2025 and beyond. However, hiring a worker in a different country isn’t as simple as adding them to your payroll and sending over a copy of your employee handbook.
International labour laws and tax regulations can make hiring across borders a complicated process. Since it usually involves setting up a local legal entity, it can also be both expensive and time-consuming.
If you only want to engage one or two people in a particular location, it’s easy to see that this isn’t an efficient solution. Thankfully, there is another way: hiring employees through an employer of record, or EoR.
An EoR is an organisation that hires employees on behalf of other companies. They act as the workers’ legal employer and also provide HR services like payroll, benefits administration and more. But in all other ways, the workers in question are just like your other employees.
Working with an employer of record can help you to:
- Expand to another market without setting up a local entity
- Hire overseas workers in a matter of days, not months
- Ensure compliance with local labour laws and regulations
- Access top talent with niche skills, anywhere in the world
Embracing strategic talent acquisition for a competitive edge
In 2025, US businesses will continue to face challenges in the domestic talent market. Given the demographic factors at play, the labour shortage is not likely to improve any time soon. And the speed at which new technologies are emerging means we’ll likely be looking at skill gaps in those key areas for years to come.
By expanding their horizons beyond local talent pools, employers can get ahead of the competition and secure the people they need to achieve their goals — all while saving on recruitment and hiring costs.
The easiest way to start hiring overseas talent is by working with an employer of record provider, like CXC. Our services can streamline administrative processes and avoid compliance issues when hiring abroad, allowing you to focus on the strategic business initiatives that matter most.
Want to find out more? Get in touch with our team to get started.
