To be, or not to be ... a Visa Sponsor Company?

This is one of the biggest questions for an employer when it comes out to hiring new employees.

As a recruitment agency, we have to perfectly understand the employer’s needs and possibilities and let them know where is situated their job offer in the current market. This means we have to be fully aware of their employee retention rate, employee turnover reports and future plans regarding employee retention.

It might go, somehow, against the financial balance of a recruitment agency but we are definitely committed to filling the company’s needs in a long term… not just to placing candidates.

We noticed a few scenarios when a visa sponsor might come into discussion, and I will try to present them here below.

The company’s needs and budget for an employee don’t fit. This usually happens in small and some of the medium size companies, with high targets and expectations but low budgets. The usual question we have is: “Can you find us a person in this budget?” Obviously, the company knows that the offer is below the market, and they are trying to see if they can still have a chance.

I have to mention that this problem is met usually in EU companies or UK companies.

What option does a company in this position have?

they can hire a fresh graduate, train him, and try to see if he can do the job of an experienced person… the result will be in resignation after a maximum of a year… then … back to square one
they can go on the visa route, hire an experienced candidate who will bring profit to the company and don’t increase the salary every 4 months according to results… it will lead to the same as before… in a maximum of one year, the candidate will resign… or
they can go the visa route, hire an experienced candidate and increase the candidate’s salary every 4 months, give him training, the chance to improve and keep the employee active and attached to the company… I can guarantee that the candidate will stay for at least 5 years if there is no promotion offered inside the company… if there is, then we speak about 10 years or more

The second scenario we often meet is when the company is actually looking to find the “ideal candidate” for them, which should be with fewer costs and plenty of qualifications and experience… honestly, this type of candidate doesn’t exist. Doesn’t matter if you are thinking that the country of origin of the candidate is something which will make you lower the pay rate. Even if a candidate will accept, it will be only for a short period of time… then you’re back to square one…

There are a few things to consider, before deciding to hire a new employee.

The first thing would be to see the reason for the frequent leaving of the employees. In the below picture, you will see the most frequent reasons. If the reason repeats, then you have an internal problem, and you will continue to hire until the problem is solved.

Secondly, you will need to fix a budget for the employee. You can have a look at the market trends for the respective job in your country and try to fit in.

After that, according to your position in the market, you will have to decide where you will have to take the candidate. And here is the entire key… think for the long term, as you don’t want your business to be for the short term.

Here you can find a few numbers to help you decide