What you should know about foreign aid recruiting practices

Last week, I hosted a Devex Hangout with recruiters from two organizations that will be attending the International Development Career Fair and Partnership Forum in Nairobi later this month. We focused our chat around how the trend of localization is affecting recruiters who are increasingly looking for local talent to staff their organization’s projects. Sarah Issermoyer, recruitment manager of RTI International’s International Development Group and Samuel Gichuki, international staffing specialist for World Vision International shared their insider experience and tips on identifying, winning over and grooming development professionals. While our discussion was geared to our recruiter audience, here are five takeaways for professionals working in global development. 1. On recruiting from the diaspora Recruiting from a country’s diaspora can seem like a good strategy for employers who want staff with local knowledge as well as hard skills and higher education. However, many recruiters report not having a lot of luck attracting candidates from the diaspora to return to their native country. One reason is that many people have left their home country for a reason, be it personal or the desire for a different quality of life elsewhere. It can be very difficult to convince them to return. Some professionals also cite concerns that returning to their home country could be a signal to their friends and family that they failed in their quest for a better life or couldn’t cut it in their new country. Another big reason is the potential pay cut a returning expat may have to take. Those used to an international level salary and benefits can often find themselves ineligible if they return home where donors require employers to pay salaries based on the local market rates. How to know if this is the case? Recruiters say it is usually based on a “passport test.” If your passport is from your home country, you get paid based on a local rate; if you have a foreign passport, then you can likely be paid as an international staff member. The tricky case is when someone has one of each. Recruiters say they handle these on a case-by-case basis, with the ultimate decision usually up to their donor. 2. On working with a faith-based organization Many NGOs doing international development work are faith based. While faith-based organizations typically require staff to share the same religious views, this requirement is often waived when recruiting locally in places where other faiths are dominant. Samuel Gichuki of World Vision International, a Christian faith-based NGO, said World Vision principally recruits Christians only. However, when they are recruiting in places like Somalia, Afghanistan or Pakistan where the local context would make this religious requirement prohibitively difficult, they will hire employees of other faiths. Christian values are intrinsically tied to their mission and programs, and you do need to be comfortable working in an environment where Christianity is openly practiced, including prayer in meetings. 3. On deciding whether positions will be international or local An employer will typically classify a vacancy as an international hire or a local hire before advertising. If it is an international hire, they will typically accept applicants from all nationalities, including those who are local. However, when it is a local hire they are very unlikely to accept or hire an international candidate. How do you know if a position is classified as international or local? Some will say right in the job description, but if not, employers will usually indicate citizenship requirements. But there are occasions when a position is strictly classified as an international hire. An example may be an organization implementing a democracy and governance program where they would need someone who could be seen as a neutral party. 4. On the importance of diversity in local hiring As employers look to hire more local staff, they also want to make sure that staff is representative of the diverse ethnic, religious, and tribal communities in the area. So even if they are operating in countries where local laws do not require or encourage inclusive hiring practices – in the area of gender, for example – most international organizations do this as a matter of practice. 5. On investing in capacity building International organizations see the importance and benefits of hiring locally, yet sometimes the reality of the labor market does not match up with the skills and expertise required of a project. Many organizations are investing in building the capacity of their staff to help make up for this skills gap, and donors often require a capacity building plan written into a project or proposal. One way organizations can do this is by building in a transition plan, where a project may start out with an expat team leader or chief of party and also include a local deputy to train under him or her. Within a year or two, they will phase out the expat position and the deputy will assume the lead. Local professionals eager to lead their own projects should keep an eye out for these deputy roles that will provide the skills training and career path to assume leadership positions. If you have a questions about managing your career in global development, please tweet me @DevexCareers.