The new Canadian start up Visa is said to promote entrepreneurial talent in the country.
Canada has launched a new type of visa, aimed at foreign business executives in a bid to accelerate economic growth within the private sector and boost entrepreneurial talent.
Foreigners can now fast track their status as a permanent Canadian resident providing they receive investment of CAD$200,000 from a Canadian venture capital fund or CAD$75,000 from a designated Canadian angel investor group. Candidates also have to meet general criteria relating to academic experience and language competency skills.
South Korea is a growing alternative destination for expats.
Last year Hong Kong saw a record number of work visas issued to foreign nationals, with British and Americans employees representing the biggest growth nationalities. Britain’s history with Hong Kong and its larger base of English speakers can account for some of its attraction, but the situation in East Asia is more complicated than simple familiarity.
With access to some of the most important emerging markets in the world, business hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore are ideally located and connected to enable expansion for foreign businesses.
The social structure among expats has changed over the last decades.
The second decade of this century is more than ever before dominated by international markets and globalisation. The time when the image of going abroad was connected to 18 year old secondary school graduates backpacking Down Under seems to be outdated. Of course they still exist, but working abroad in 2012 has reached another level. It is a long-ranging matter and a huge proportion of expats are highly educated. The transformation still hasn’t come to an end and the demographic composition is undergoing continuous changes.
The annual study, Global Professionals on the Move by the Hydrogen Group, tries to figure out changing trends among expats. It is important to mention that it targets only expats with a higher level of education, so nearly all participants (99%) had at least a bachelor’s degree, two thirds had a masters or higher.
An increasing number of companies are providing integration programmes for family members of their foreign workers.
For expatriates worldwide, employment and job opportunities are often the reason for moving abroad. For many expats this leads to a trailing spouse or partner that must displace themselves. Contrary to what your company may say, the experience of moving to a new country, sometimes using a new language, is certainly at first, a very daunting experience.
This has prompted companies to start schemes and programmes to make sure their relocating employee’s family are happy in their new location. Danish companies are now beginning to budget for accompanying families in their expatriate integration programmes.
Skill-shortages and a slow down in hiring means international recruiters are facing a tough time.
A fall in hiring has impacted global recruitment firms. Dividends are static and short interest is on the rise, especially amongst Internet specialist recruiters. Unemployment in the U.S. has stayed above eight percent since 2009 and fewer jobs than anticipated were added in the last four months, according to U.S. Labour Department figures. Bloomberg reports the world’s biggest economy is expanding at its slowest post-recession rate in 60 years.
In the Eurozone the economic crisis continues to rage. Unemployment was at an all-time high in Spain earlier this year at 24.4 percent. While a surge in employment growth in the UK early this year has faded away rapidly. Survey data from Markit Economics showed that staff placements by recruitment consultants and agency billings from temp staff work in the UK fell in June at the fastest pace for three years.
UK companies are expanding globally and working to better cover their overseas staff.
As the crisis continues, an increasing number of UK businesses are looking to expand internationally. However, according to a recent Aviva UK study, companies are finding it difficult to offer appropriate benefits packages to their increased number of overseas staff. Teresa Rogers, business lead, Aviva UK Health says, “Relocation is not an easy task and staff rely on their employers to give them the appropriate support to make their relocation a success.”
Just over one-in-five employers (21%) say they’ve sent more employees abroad over the past few years. Another 13% are looking to increase overseas assignments in the near future. The BRIC nations continue to be popular and, reinforced by this study, 41% of UK employers are considering expansion into China or India and 25% are looking at Russian as an option.
Rising numbers of expats in South Korea are driving major companies to hire more foreigners in order to communicate with them.
As the number of foreigners living in South Korea supasses 1.1 million, more companies are attempting to reach them. The drive to communicate more often and effectively with these expats has caused many large Korean companies to hire more foreign workers.
KT is South Korea’s largest fixed-line service provider and is taking the lead in introducing tailored services for expats. These services include a Twitter account that runs alongside their two Korean language accounts. The English language account has over 1,700 followers, indicating the need for English or foreign language services.
Should companies use Twitter in favour of LinkedIn for international recruitment?
The number one social media network for recruiters is LinkedIn. Twitter is well behind LinkedIn in terms of recruitment, but is a shift about to occur? A global report of the market shows that Twitter followers are three times more likely to respond to job offers than through LinkedIn.
The report from Bullhorn, a web-based recruitment software developer, shows Twitter is significantly better for recruiting candidates. The application rate via Twitter is three times higher than LinkedIn. Job seekers are showing more willingness to apply through Twitter rather than LinkedIn. The global report on the social media activities of 35,000 recruiters also found Facebook is not able to compete with the response rates of Twitter.
The Olympic Park in London – An economic boost to the British capital. Source: Harriet Ward
The 2012 Olympic Games in London are expected to have a positive impact on employer hiring.
According to the recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, businesses in the British capital are planning to increase staff levels before the beginning of the Olympics.
Although many of the offered jobs would be temporary, the effect of the Olympic Games on the UK economy is expected to benefit the country in the long term.
Industry experts predict the Dutch job market will have to rely on foreign skilled workers in the future.
The Netherlands is predicted to suffer a shortage of 60,000 skilled workers by 2014. Less and less Dutch youngsters opt for technical courses, and many skilled workers retire in the coming years. Linda Groener from Together Abroad, a job portal for skilled internationals, explains how technical industries in Holland can attract skilled workers from abroad.
How can recruiters attract foreign workers?
You can start by communicating the advantages of working in the Netherlands. Most Dutch people speak English which makes is a lot easier to integrate, you don’t need to speak Dutch right away. In fact, 80% of jobs on our site don’t require a command of the Dutch language.