Introduction
This paper is devoted to the problem of international selection of personnel. Efficient allocation of the resources is one of the most important criteria in the success of a company, especially when we are speaking about human resources. Hiring and then deploying people to positions where they can perform in the most effective way is the primary goal of most organisations, whether domestic or international.
Selection is the process of matching individual characteristics such as ability and experience with the requirement of the job. The main two differences between domestic and international selection are that managers should take into staffing orientation of particular company, in other words who should take the key positions in headquarters and subsidiaries also they should take into account laws and regulations of host country. Further in this paper it will be discussed different types of employees, factors that influence stuffing and criteria for candidate selection and validation.
In the practical part all the issues mentioned above will be addressed on the example of two companies that are going through changes one of which is the recruitment of the personnel.

Theoretical part
Staffing orientation
As it was said in introduction one of the main obstacles that managers are facing during the selection process of future expatriates is that many companies have predispositions with regard to who should take top positions in headquarter and subsidiaries or in other words Staffing orientation. There are four types of staffing orientation 1. Ethnocentric
It is used in companies that have primary international strategic orientation. In this type of staffing orientation headquarters are sending employees from the home or parent countries to the host country. It means that subsidiaries are controlled by stuff from home country and decisions are made on the corporate level. In his type of orientation home-based policy and practice is viewed as superior

This approach is best to use when a team that is send from home has a primary goal to teach a particular skills or to upgrade some knowledge. Like that employees in host countries may gain experience.

2. Polycentric
In this policy each subsidiary is treated as distinct national entity and it is given some decision-making authority. Subsidiaries are managed by local people, however it is seldom that locals are promoted to headquarters positions and vice versa corporate headquarter employees rarely transferred to foreign subsidiary

This policy is best used when companies want to keep hiring cost low. Moreover, employees who are hired at subsidiary level would not have any problem adapting to the culture. Communication is smooth within the operation.

3. Geocentric
Is a truly global approach to operations as positions are filled at both headquarter and subsidiaries with “best person for the job”. Employees are selected regardless where they come from. This staffing strategy is reliable for all subsidiaries because best employees are selected and sent from the company’s worldwide network.

4. Regiocentric
It is a staffing policy involves hiring and promoting employees based on specific regional context where subsidiary is located. International transfers generally restricted by region and has quite high degree of autonomy. Corporate policies and communication generally mediated through the regional headquarter. The disadvantage of using this type of policy is that sometimes employees from home or host countries are not unselected. Instead, employees from a third are selected to subsidiary in which they may face cultural differences.

Types of Employees
In a multinational companies with subsidiaries located all around the world it is possible t recognize three different types of employees: Parent country nationals (PCN), Host Country Nationals (HCN) and Third country nationals (TCN)
Parent country nationals
Person whose nationality is the same as that of the firm, but different from the country in which they are working. Advantages | Disadvantages | Familiarity with the parent organisation’s goals, objectives, policies and practices | Difficulties in adapting to the foreign language and the socioeconomic, political, cultural and legal environment | Technical and managerial competence | Excessive costs involved in selecting and developing expat managers | Effective liaison and communication with parent country staff | Family adjustment problems |
Source: Harzing and Van Ruysseveldt, 2007
Host Country Nationals
Local staff in other words. Advantages | Disadvantages | Familiarity with the socioeconomic, political and legal environment and with business practices in the host country | Difficulties in exercising effective control over the subsidiary’s operation | Lower costs incurred in hiring staff in comparison to PCNs and TCNs | Communication difficulties in dealing with the parent company | Provides opportunities for advancement and promotion to local nationals and increases their commitment and motivation | Lack of opportunities for the home country’s internationals to gain international and cross cultural experiences |
Source: Harzing and Van Ruysseveldt, 2007

Third country nationals
An employee working temporarily in an assignment country, who is neither a national of the assignment country nor of the country in which the corporate headquarters is located Advantages | Disadvantages | Perhaps the best compromise between securing needed technical and managerial expertise and adapting to a foreign cultural environment | Local nationals are impeded in their efforts to upgrade their own ranks and assume responsible positions | TCNs are usually international business managers with a wealth of experience | Host country’s sensitivity with respect to nationals of certain countries | TCNs are usually less expensive to maintain than PCNs | |
Source: Harzing and Van Ruysseveldt, 2007

Criteria for candidate selection
Selection is a two way process between the individual and the organization. A prospective candidate may reject the expatriate assignment, either for individual reasons, such as family considerations, or for situational factors, such as the perceived toughness of a particular culture.
As a selection process is a challenging activity for both manage and potential expatriate the criteria of selection should be established
Selection decision
Cross-cultural suitability
Technical
ability
Country/cultural requirement
Language
MNE
Requirements
Family requirements Selection decision
Cross-cultural suitability
Technical
ability
Country/cultural requirement
Language
MNE
Requirements
Family requirements Technical ability
As a person will be operating in another country he or she should be able to fulfill the task imposed by a company. In order to do so the person should have ability to perform required tasks.
This is the most important criteria which should be looked at the beginning of the selection process.
Cross-cultural suitability
A candidate should have ability to operate in a new environment, therefor he/she should poses qualities such as adaptability, cultural empathy, diplomacy, positive attitude and stress sustainability. Also it is desirable that a person has Big Five Personal Characteristics: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness.
Family Requirements
If a person is going for a long term assignment (1-5 years) his family is traveling with him and the company not only needs to cover all the expenses but also to make the change as easy as possible to the whole family. The role of spouse or partner is fundamental as at the beginning every person is undergoing through cross-cultural shock and has a home sick which can negatively influence the productivity at work. Therefor long terms assignments include whole family move to another country.
The prime responsibility of a company is settling family into new home as well as well-being and education of children or care of invalid parents. The problem that arise is the difficulty of finding work for spouse/ partner in assignment country.
MNE Requirements
At this point the choice of an expatriate will depend of the policy that is accepted in company. It include staffing policy : * Ethnocentric:
Ability to transfer knowledge, ability to maintain control of subsidiaries * Polycentric
Flexibility, entrepreneurship, initiative in making crucial decisions * Geocentric
Managers who can intagrate
As well as a company need to make a choice between PCN, TCN and HCN. The duration and type of the assignment should be taken into account.
Language
In some cases it is important that expatriate speak local languages (mostly for long-term assignment) as it is an aspect which is often linked with cross-cultural ability. Differences in language are recognized as a major barrier to effective cross-cultural communication.
Country/Cultural Requirements
Many developed countries are changing their legislation to facilitate employment-related immigration which will make international transfers somewhat easier. It is important that HR staff keep up-to-date with relevant legislative changes in the countries in which the MNE is involved.
An important, related point is that generally a work permit is granted to the expatriate only. The accompanying spouse or partner may not be permitted to work in the host country. Increasingly, multinationals are finding that the inability of the spouse to work in the host country may cause the selected candidate to reject the offer of an international assignment. If the international assignment is accepted, the lack of a work permit for the accompanying spouse or partner may cause difficulties in adjustment and even contribute to failure. For these reasons, as reported above, some multinationals provide assistance in this regard.
Further, the host country may be an important determinant. Some regions and countries are considered ‘hardship postings’: remote areas away from major cities or modern facilities; or war-torn regions with high physical risk. Accompanying family members may be an additional responsibility that the multinational does not want to bear. There may be a reluctance to select females for certain Middle East or South East Asian regions and in some countries a work permit for a female expatriate will not be issued. These aspects may result in the selection of HCNs rather than expatriates.

Methods and Tools for identification and Validation of candidates
Selection process of candidates can be divided into two major types: formal and informal.
Formal
In the formal selection candidate should pass a number of interviews with various people from different parts of organisation both with people from headquarter and host country. After a selection tests will be conducted. It will include such tests as linguistic ability, intercultural ability and psychological fitness for expatriation. Also it will be checked whether a person can execute individual and collective tasks. Formal method of selection includes of cause review of past experience and track records of an employee.
Advantages: Can simulate those behaviors you are looking for (e.g. flexibility, quick thinking, multi-ethnic teams, handling difficult situations)
Disadvantages: Can be cultural differences / Need to build centers specific to international assignments
Informal
It also called the “Coffee-Machine” system. It is best to understand it by looking on example:
The coffee-machine system is the most common form of expatriate selection. What happens is that a senior line manager is standing by the coffee machine when he (usually a man) is joined by a colleague:
`How’ s it going?’
`Oh, you know, overworked and underpaid.’
`Tell me about it. As well as all the usual stuff, Jimmy in Mombai has just fallen ill and is being ¯ own home. I’ ve got no idea who we can get over there to pick up the pieces at such short notice. It’ s driving me crazy.’
`Have you met that Simon on the ® fth ¯ oor? He’ s in the same line of work. Very bright and looks like going a long way. He was telling me that he and his wife had a great holiday in Goa a couple of years ago. He seems to like India. Could be worth a chat.’ `Hey, thanks. I’ ll check him out.’
`No problem. They don’ t seem able to improve this coffee though, do they?’
It is known that “coffee-machine” system is widely used practice in international companies. However, it should be clear that “suggestion” of a colleague will be enough to make a manager choice. He or she will just pay attention to the mention person and after all the section process will go step by step.
The more detailed division of selection types can be seen in the table below which was develop by Harris and Brewster:

| Formal | Informal | Open | * Clearly defined criteria * Clearly defined measures * Training for selectors * Open advertising of vacancy * (internal/external) * Panel discussions | * Less defined criteria * Less defined measures * Limited training for selectors * No panel discussions * Open advertising of vacancy * Recommendations | Closed | * Clearly defined criteria * Clearly defined measures * Training for selectors * Panel discussions * Nominations only * (networking/reputation) | * Selectors’ individual preferences determine criteria and measures * No panel discussions * Nominations only * (networking/reputation) |

Practical part
In this part of the work all the theory discussed above will be applied to a real case situation which include two companies Global Cobalt and Altay Ruda Metall.
Global Cobalt Corporation is a new multinational cobalt exploration and development company with world-class assets in Mongolia, Russia and Canada.
Headquarter: Canada, Toronto
Altay Ruda Metall is a Russian based company with a headquarter in Moscow, which operates in Altay region. Primary functions are research and extraction of cobalt and copper. Recently it was sold to Global Cobalt Corporation which was its investor for the past 6 years. Due to the bad financial situation and almost the bankruptcy of a Altay Ruda Metall Global Cobalt sent a crisis manager whose primary role is to turn the situation and change plant from in loss situation to profitable. However, due to the specifics of industry crisis manager is failing with a goal that was imposed to him in Toronto’s headquarter.
After an interview with a crisis manager in which he was asked about the selection procedures he went through it was clear that he made through all the levels of interview and tests after which he was chosen from 3 other candidates. However, if the candidate has all the potential qualities needed to succeed in this assignment why s he failing.
In order to understand how it is better to change the situation with a failure of crisis manager we need to look on company staffing profile.
First of all we should look at staffing orientation of Global Cobalt. First of all, all the key positions in a company headquarter are filled with Canadian and American people (PCN and TCN), strategic decisions are made on a corporate level all of this factors are telling that GC has an ethnocentric staffing orientation. In my personal opinion this policy would work perfectly if subsidiary would be located in Europe or in other developed countries, however taking specific of our country and especially in Siberian region where people are skeptical towards foreign people.
And this is the main problem that has arisen for a crisis manager from Toronto. People on the mine simply do not listen to him and do not want to follow the procedure that should be done in order to take control over the Altay Ruda Metall. In order to change that crisis manager hire back previous manager in order to establish communication.
Also crisis manager in consolidation with a previous manager are now selecting a new team that will take control over the business. Just like that a huge multinational corporation has to change its staffing orientation from ethnocentric to polycentric.

Conclusion
Selection is a complicated process each step of which should be taken carefully otherwise not only time and money will be lost but also the well-being of the whole company can come under question. An expatriate assignment stands much more chance of being a success if it is clearly perceived by all concerned to be part of a long term career plan to: * Demonstrate an egalitarian selection process * Be equitable and transparent in terms of * Candidate criteria, selection process, tools * Expat assignment terms and conditions * Post-expat assignment position * Represent a « win win » situation (company/employee)

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[ 1 ]. Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge (2004). Organizational Behavior, Twelfth Edition
[ 2 ]. IHRM Dr. Yang
[ 3 ]. Harris and Brewster: The coffee-machine system