Old Soviet Bloc rich in talent

Workforce, June, 2002 by Todd Raphael

U.S. employers have for years been hiring people to work for them out of countries like India, where the workforce is smart and the going rate for talent is cheap.

It was cheap, at least. As the secret gets out about good hiring markets like India, salaries soar. Now, some employers are mining old Soviet Bloc countries such as Bulgaria and Hungary.

For HR, recruiting Eastern European locals can mean big cost reductions compared to using expatriates, which can involve paying for housing, schooling for their kids, and trips home. Vince Coil, president of the Philadelphia IT-outsourcing firm iConcepts, has been recruiting in Bulgaria, which offers a jackpot of highly educated, English-speaking science and math Ph.D.s who can be hired for far less than their American counterparts.

He says his biggest challenge is that Bulgarian employees tend to "overproduce." They commonly spend a great amount of time working out the best solution for a client, for example, when a "very good" solution would suffice. 'That's a good problem to have," Coll says.

Poul Pedersen, founder and managing partner of Pedersen & Partners, an executive search company, says Eastern Europe is a great place for talent, but the area does have challenges. Employees' education tends to be very theoretical, without a lot of practical experience. And, of course, employers must take into account local norms. Ten days of vacation isn't acceptable to most Europeans.