Global Talent Acquisition and Mobility
Recruiting and moving talent across borders
Expect questions on workforce planning, employer branding, sourcing channels, selection validity across cultures, and recruiting compliance (local language requirements, quotas, background-check limits, data privacy in applicant tracking). Immigration is a core area: work authorization categories, sponsorship timelines, dependent rights, and the distinction between a business visa for meetings and a permit that authorizes work. Short-term business travel can create permanent establishment and payroll-withholding exposure even without a formal assignment.
Know the assignment types: long-term (typically 1-5 years), short-term (often under 12 months), commuter, rotational, local-plus, and permanent localization. Know the balance sheet (home-based) approach, which keeps the assignee whole relative to the home country by adding housing, goods-and-services differentials and mobility premiums, versus host-based pay set to the local market. Distinguish tax equalization (employee bears a hypothetical home tax; the company bears actual tax) from tax protection (employee keeps any tax windfall but is reimbursed if actual tax exceeds home tax). Note bilateral social security totalization agreements, shadow payroll, and repatriation planning.
Traps
Assuming an assignment ends the home-country payroll; forgetting that allowances often carry social security and pension treatment; treating localization as 'no support'; and ignoring that the balance sheet approach is administratively heavy and requires annual review of exchange rates and differentials.
Worked example
An engineer earning 100,000 at home is assigned to a higher-cost city. Under the balance sheet approach the company preserves the 100,000 base, adds housing and cost differentials, and deducts a hypothetical home tax from pay while bearing the actual host tax. Rule of thumb: balance sheet = keep the assignee whole against home; host-based = pay the local market - choose based on assignment duration, intent to localize, and cost control.