Trying to hire a random person abroad screws over everyone involved.

I have struggled with the idea of mentorship in my own personal life because I couldn't tell you exactly who my mentor was. I have never been an employee in my life. The IRS might have words to say about my 1099 status in College, but I genuinely worked contract jobs for wealthy people. Nobody who ever hired me made less than a million dollars the year that I worked for them. I worked for wealthy, driven people.

You'll find that getting a moment of time with them is difficult. My first boss worked 80-100 hours a week every week. My second boss was a little less. My third boss was far more. I could have learned so much more from each of them, but they didn't have the time. I can't tell you the number of hours that I spent thinking of the moments that I had with them. I learned a tremendous amount and I am forever grateful.

This isn't the norm. The norm is for an individual to get absorbed into a company that sets a standard. The day to day forms them into who they will be as they develop their business life. I've seen it repeatedly. The average person becomes a "company man". This isn't to belittle the idea. Our community forms and shapes us.

I see advertisements every day about hiring foreigners for cheap. It disgusts me. The vast majority of companies seeking to hire abroad are not doing so with an idea of culture in mind. They don't have the time to sit down and train their new staff in a way that a foreigner can be receptive and successful.

This isn't to disparage foreigners. I have hired a few 18-22yr olds in my time. I failed them. I didn't have the time to sit down and really dedicate myself to them as they might have required. As such, their terrible habits and lack of knowledge eventually dragged them down. I will never hire someone of that age again- or at least until I can dedicate myself to them in a way that they deserve.

Hiring someone from another country isn't easy. You don't know their next national holiday. You don't know where they live. You don't know what they eat. You don't know what their greatest challenge is... yet you want to mentor them? How? It cannot be done.

Less than 10% of foreign hires are still there a year later. This statistic is abysmal. It is not honoring those who we are hiring. For me, nearly 90% are still here. I setup a system to help them become successufl- and I work to improve that system as often as I can. This is the foundation of a new hire. Does your boss know you and does he care about you individually?

Whether you are hiring abroad or locally, I would strongly urge you to consider how you are mentoring your new hire. If you don't have a strategy or anything to say in this discussion, don't do it. Figure it out before you doom the person trying to work with you.