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How to Become a Magnet for International Talent and Why It Requires More Than Employer Branding
Collaborative post with Michel Daenen, author of Expatfactor
The competition for international talent is growing. For Dutch employers facing shortages in specialist roles, looking beyond the domestic labour market is an obvious step. But recruiting internationally is not simply publishing the same vacancy in English or adding relocation support to an existing process.
International talent is making a bigger decision. A candidate may be choosing a new job, but also a new country, a new culture and a new future for themselves and their family, and that changes both what they look for in an employer and what an employer needs in place.
Becoming attractive to international talent therefore requires more than a strong employer brand. It requires an organisation that is genuinely ready to welcome, integrate and develop people from different backgrounds and that understands the value they can bring.
Attracting internationals is a different job
That difference shows up in the evidence. The OECD’s framework counts a spouse’s right to work and how welcoming a society is, alongside pay and career prospects, among the factors in whether skilled workers move at all.
InterNations’ 2026 Expat Insider survey shows how this plays out in the Netherlands. Internationals rate the country highly for working life, praising the hours, work-life balance and job security, while housing, healthcare, making friends and learning the language can all create real challenges. A strong job offer is only part of the pitch.
There is also no single “international candidate”. Some move for their careers, some for the lifestyle or to raise a family, others follow a partner or studied here. So a sharper question helps: which international talent are we trying to attract, and what matters to them?
What actually makes you attractive
Recruitment research by Uggerslev, Fassina and Kraichy found that applicant attraction depends on more than compensation: job and organisational characteristics, the recruitment process, and perceived fit all play a part. For internationals the same factors apply within a wider frame, where professional and personal decisions are intertwined.
Start with practical certainty. Visas, tax, work permits and relocation quickly become part of the decision, and clear answers signal you understand the process and will not leave someone to work it out alone. Good onboarding matters more when someone is joining a new organisation and a new country at once, and support can extend to housing, schools and the partner moving too. This is the foundation, not the whole proposition.
Michel's framework goes further than that foundation. Alongside well-run processes, he points to three qualities that make an employer genuinely attractive to internationals: a culture where people from different backgrounds feel they belong, real room to develop, and a purpose that shows up in daily practice rather than only on the careers page. Each of these reaches into how you welcome and keep people once they arrive, so we take them up in the second piece.
Make it credible: what you project has to match what they find
An attractive offer only works if candidates believe it, and for an international hire it carries extra weight: the move can mean leaving a career, home and network behind. Internationals research an employer thoroughly: they look at who already works there, read what employees say publicly, and often ask directly what the organisation is like. That makes your own employees some of the strongest evidence you have.
This is why congruence matters more than polish. Michel shares an example from his own practice: “One international professional I supported moved here for a role whose attractive title felt like a step up. Within months she found the responsibilities far lighter than the title suggested, and the development she had expected did not exist in her team. What looked like a promotion started to feel like a demotion, and she soon left, costing the company a newly relocated hire and everything invested in the move.”
The rule is simple: say only what is true inside your organisation, and make sure your own people would tell a candidate the same story. That does not mean hiding the hard parts like housing, a slow social network or Dutch directness; credibility comes from being honest about them and showing what you do to help.
Communicate it where internationals actually look
An employer can be attractive and credible and still lose candidates who never find them. Domestic channels alone may not reach the people you need; international recruitment platforms, professional communities and expat networks are where visibility is built.
Language matters here too. Michel points to a common misstep: “I still often see an English-language vacancy that ends with ‘Dutch required’. It is worth asking whether B2-level Dutch is genuinely needed from day one, or whether ‘you don’t need Dutch yet, but we expect you to learn it, and we’ll help’ would serve better. ‘Dutch required’ can be an instant stop sign that rules out strong candidates before the conversation starts.” Beyond that, let real employees tell the story rather than stock photography, and keep the picture consistent across your website, LinkedIn and vacancies.
Conclusion: becoming a magnet starts on the inside
Becoming a magnet for international talent is not a marketing exercise or a relocation programme. It starts with knowing which internationals you need and why they might choose you, and being ready to receive them. Attraction does not stop when the contract is signed, though: how you welcome, integrate and develop international talent once they arrive is a subject we will return to in a second piece.
International employees are not only people who need help settling in. They bring different experience, perspectives and networks, and the employers who become real magnets are curious about what that adds, rather than expecting every newcomer to fit the existing mould. The strongest international proposition is not the most polished one, but the one where the promise, the experience and the room to contribute line up.
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