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I have interviewed A LOT of offshore candidates. When I first started hiring overseas as a mid-level leader in the U.S. I was being forced into it as a way to cut costs. I was reluctant because I wanted to hire the best talent in my same time zone.
I have learned a lot about the power of hiring overseas since that time. While there certainly are cons, there are even more pros to hiring overseas.
Not only did I save a lot of money by hiring offshore talent, but I got some of the best hardworking talent I have ever worked with.
This entire newsletter is dedicated to building offshore teams with a focus on the offshore talent that wants to work with U.S. and European companies. This newsletter will cover topics like the below:
Offshore job opportunities
Tips for landing a job as an offshore candidate
Building offshore teams
Up-leveling offshore talent with AI
Offshore salary guides
Keep reading for my top 3 interview tips I have for offshore talent.
Top 3 Interview Tips for Offshore Talent
1. English proficiency and communication skills
The interview process is all about building trust. This is especially true for what some hiring managers think is a risk — hiring offshore. Build trust by showing you can have a natural conversation that flows.
Don’t just answer with yes/no responses. Show you can have a conversation!
A lot of technical skills are hard to fully assess in the interview process, but interviewers are VERY quick to judge based on bad communication skills
2. Excellent Home Office Set-Up
Again, trust is everything in the interview process but it is even more important for offshore candidates that are already viewed as a risk.
First impressions are a huge deal in this interview process and I have rejected candidates based on the first 30 seconds (probably unfairly sometimes) because of a bad office set-up.
Internet speed needs to be great. If the internet is slow (voice or video is bad) then I already don’t want to talk with you. I am also worried that it will continue to be a problem once hired.
Get a good microphone. Similar to the above point, folks are already worried about English and communication skills. A bad microphone will make this even worse.
Good lighting and office setup. I know it might be in the middle of the night where you are, but make sure you have a good set up for the interview. I have interviewed a ton of folks where there was basically no light on and I could hardly see anything.
Keep external noise to a minimum. A great mic and headset will help here, but make sure you are in a quite area that feels professional. Again, I know it might be evening or the middle of the night, but it is distracting.
3. Demonstrate Technical Skills
All hiring managers obviously want to see you can do the job. Be prepared to answer any technical questions.
They don’t want some huge explanation of everything you have ever done on a particular topic though. This is something I have run into a lot with offshore candidates. I ask a question and they go off on a 5 minute tangent that isn’t really related to the question.
Answer the question succinctly and clearly.
Final Thoughts
Just doing the above three things will set you apart from 90%+ of the other offshore candidates.
Being really smart certainly helps, but more offshore candidates get rejected from the first two points above (communication and office set up) than a lack of technical skills. If you got the interview then they think your background is good enough. You mostly need to demonstrate you know the basics.
Good luck in your next interview!