Can an 'inpat' make the case for an expat salary?

Experienced development professionals who wish to work in their home country are up against a number of challenges when it comes to salary negotiation. For one, a deliberate focus on hiring locally does not equal higher salaries for local hires. While it’s possible to stand out as an “inpat” — a professional with international experience or education who wishes to work in his or her home country — it can still be a long road to make a case for remuneration that is closer to an international salary due to established job ranks and donors’ country-specific salary scales for local professionals. But donor pocketbooks might need to open wider — and already seem to be — as interest in hiring locally rises right along with levels of in-country talent and the salaries this talent demands. Tied to a salary scale? U.S. aid contractors tend to use the Foreign Service Nationals scale to set salaries for local hires working on their projects abroad, although they aren’t always held to the scale — and there is some wiggle room even when they are. A contractor can request a waiver to exceed the FSN scale, said Melissa Cook, Asia operations director for Chemonics International, by providing market rate information as well as justification about a certain candidate’s background that makes them uniquely qualified for a higher salary. “We look at market-rate research regardless of whether the hire is local or expatriate,” Cook said. Findings are particularly important when trying to prove why one candidate might require a higher salary than another. This practice can upset the FSN scale, Jamie DeSalu, an international recruiter with Abt Associates, said of offering more to a local professional than what may have been specified. Negotiating or offering someone three times what the funding agency was expecting can have huge implications on budget as well. Nonetheless, DeSalu is seeing more and more flexibility with salary scale. “I’m seeing missions are being more accepting of this — they understand that that’s the cost of switching from expats and a commitment to hiring locally.” And contractors aren’t always a fan of the FSN scale they’re tied to in a country. Cook, for example, pointed to various Chemonics projects in Asia. “We were losing so many qualified talented local candidates to other organizations and other donors that weren't held to FSN scales,” she said. “We were able to convince our client by taking those offers and showing them, saying ‘we’re losing talent here.’” But recruiters need candidates’ help in proving the case. Leverage other offers — carefully The proof is in the paperwork. If a candidate has a higher salary offer from another organization, it’s fair game to leverage that information, as long as it’s done respectfully. “We’ll typically start with the FSN scale,” she said. “The candidate will say, ‘Sorry, I'm being offered this position with another organization, the salary offer is X.’ That’s compelling information. That would help us justify offering something higher.” The hiring team can then take that offer to the mission, she said, and it can sometimes allow the team to offer a higher salary and have more flexibility to compete. But be careful — another offer won’t be enough. Doing personal research on comparable market rates and presenting yourself as a prepared candidate goes a long way, regardless of whether you’re a local or expat. “At the end of the day it’s the skills that we’re buying, not the citizenship,” Cook said. It’s just as important that the person interested in the position sees it that way as well. “In this business, if we have an expert ‘shopping’ around, we probably do not want to work with him or her,” said Zen Nasser, human talents coordinator based in Brussels for Transtec. “It is sometimes sad to see how much importance is given to the payment and not to the task and project or its quality.” It’s obvious on a CV when a professional has jumped around year to year to get a higher salary; what’s more compelling is someone who has stayed with an organization for four to five years. Cook looks for consistent work experience history and someone who's stuck with a project for a good period of time, taken further training and demonstrates that clearly on their CV. “It’s best to lead with skills, qualifications and experience, not ‘this person makes more than I do,’” she elaborated. Stop and think: What’s that person’s work experience, how many different clients have they worked with? Their experience might very well result in a higher salary. When you come equipped to speak about your own skills and experience, you’ll have a much firmer leg to stand on when it comes to salary negotiation. Leverage overseas experience If a professional has done consulting work overseas at a higher rate, they’re less likely to be held to an FSN scale when they are looking to work in their home country. “If they can consult more than 90 days at a rate offered by a large multilateral, then they can say, ‘This is now the starting point for my salary negotiation,’” said DeSalu, noting that they may not receive this salary again but that it can be helpful to inform the negotiation process. Easier said than done, though, as consulting positions for multilaterals are as competitive as ever. But many government ministries, for example, are also beginning to pay higher salaries to qualified candidates, and having this connection within a country can be invaluable. “If you want to attract people who have a deep network, then you have to make some concessions on pay,” DeSalu said. Enough firms have started to pitch this idea that U.S. Agency for International Development country offices aren’t saying no, he suggested, although the easiest way for a candidate to bump up their salary during negotiations is to bring something to the table that other people can’t offer. As a recruiter, it’s about whether it’s possible to convince the mission that a particular hire is so important to the project that they should be paid what they’re asking, he said. For Cephas Taruvinga, a Zimbabwe native who currently serves as a program manager in Tanzania and is eager to work in his home country, salary negotiations have so far prevented him from making that move. “I had the right qualifications and experience and local understanding of issues and politics,” Taruvinga said of project in his home country for which a consulting firm recruited him. “But they weren’t prepared to offer me what they would offer another international. They’re not offering what would make me move back to Zimbabwe.” For Taruvinga, this would mean an attractive package similar to the one he earns now in Tanzania, including his children’s school fees, accommodation and health insurance. The offers also depend on country context, Taruvinga suggested. The situation in Zimbabwe, for example, is a stark contrast to Rwanda, where the government will go out of its way to attract diaspora. “Zimbabwe is going through a transition, donors are hesitant,” he said. “If the donors are working with the government and the government really wants somebody, they would come up with special attractive packages for diaspora.” How much flexibility is there? This kind of flexibility also depends on the firm or donor. Unlike international NGOs that have more flexibility and can adjust their salary scales to make a package attractive; unless it’s HQ or regional, UNICEF, for example, doesn’t hire nationals to work in their country at international rates due to questions of equity among local staff. Nasser, of Transtec, also described it as a topic that’s difficult to address, and there’s plenty of grey area. Project managers are often international, while the consultants that make up their team might be host-country nationals. So an implementing agency will not offer “key expert 3” more than “key expert 1,” the project manager, whose responsibilities exceed those of his team mates. And if the mission requests expertise of a certain category, then the fee level will be in a certain range, regardless of whether the expert hired for the position has 10 years of expertise more than what is required — and regardless of where the expert is from. For certain projects funded by the European Commission, for example, position level is set in accordance with a strict budget, Nasser said. “We as a company cannot bill the E.U. more than the fixed level, and accordingly we cannot pay the expert more than the available budget,” she said. Prior overseas experience and careful research and negotiation can land someone a higher salary to work in their home country, but in varying country contexts and with varying degrees of funding flexibility, it is still a good idea to develop your own skills and experience and know how to present them before trying to prove to others what you’re worth. Looking to make a career move? Visit our career center for expert advice on how to navigate your job search - all you need is a Devex Career Account to get started.