I gave a speech at Mindtrek 2018 event in Tampere, Finland, about the benefits and challenges of hiring international talent. I tried to keep the speech on a general level as the event wasn't focused on customer support, but the support angle does come up a bit as that's where my experience is. These slides were originally made to function as speaker notes for the Mindtrek 2018 event. I didn't present them at the time, but now I decided to modify them a bit and publish them for everyone to see

1. What are the benefits and how to do it?
Pekka Lehtinen, Mindtrek 2018, October 10th, 2018
(Updated 3.1.2020 for publishing)
Hiring international talent

2. Who am I, where do I come from
● What is HappyOrNot?
○ World's leading company in
providing instant customer &
employee satisfaction
measurement service
○ Formed 2009 in Tampere,
Finland
○ 200 employees
○ Customers in 130+ countries
○ Employees from 25+ different
countries
○ Offices in three countries,
employees in many more
● Who am I?
○ 15 years of experience in
technical customer service
from both large and small
companies
○ Joined HappyOrNot early
2014 as Customer Support
Specialist
○ Customer Care Manager since
November 2014
○ Manages three teams with
people from six different
countries

3. We are a multicultural company
● International employee base
defines us
● We’ve had international talent
since early on
● Founders have a history from
English-speaking, international
companies
● Our working language has
always been English
● All email discussion is always
in English, in case a non-
finnish speaker needs to join in
● If language skills are needed,
we look for native speakers
over fluent speakers

4. Benefits of hiring international
talent?
● Highly motivated
○ Don’t necessarily have the
connections in Finland
○ Want to prove themselves
● Language skills
○ Native speakers over fluent
speakers
○ Know the nuances and
variances of the language
● Work culture
○ Bring new ideas and new
ways of working to your
company
● Customer service culture
○ Deep understanding of the
customer service culture in
their own country
● Local laws and practises
○ Familiar with the way how
things are done
● Their own networks
○ If necessary, you can utilize
their existing professional
contacts

5. Quotes from our management
“Without the international talent we would need
continuous help from external consultants
outside of Finland”
“As business becomes more and more global, so
too must your employees”
Taken from videos
we’ve published
(sorry, no link
available)

6. How to attract (and keep) international
talent?
● Offer relaxed work culture
○ Some countries out there
have a very strict or
hierarchical working culture
● Offer possibilities to prove
themselves
○ Lack of contacts means
people want to prove
themselves and show what
they can do
● Offer possibilities for career
advancement
● Drop the requirement for
Finnish skills
○ It’s a very hard language to
learn
○ Usually it’s not actually
necessarily to know Finnish
● Write your job postings in
English
○ Makes you easier to approach
● Make sure your company
culture actually welcomes
international talent

7. Tips for recruiting
● Use external consultants when
hiring abroad
○ If you don’t have a team in
place, consultants can help
you with local practises
● Use tests as part of the
recruitment process
○ CVs and interviews are all well
and good, but giving people
real support scenarios to work
with will give you great
insights
● Use existing employees to test
language skills, both written
and spoken
○ Testing for language skills can
be challenging
○ Use existing employees to
gauge the skills if necessary
○ Will also give the team a
chance to meet the candidates

8. Before I go
● Remember, this is not a one-
way street
○ Experience from working
abroad is appreciated in many
companies
○ It will give you great
experiences and alternate
views
Come meet me and talk more at
the HappyOrNot booth
You can find our open positions
from https://www.happy-or-
not.com/en/careers/