Recruiting candidates for deployment Outside the Continental U.S. (OCONUS) carries different challenges as compared with recruitment for the Continental U.S. (CONUS) deployment. The OCONUS job market includes more than 90,000 government employees in over 140 countries. Filling these positions requires careful adherence to local and national regulations within the country including non-discrimination laws, quota requirements, and language requirements.

OCONUS Recruitment and Deployments

Many prospective professionals take the opportunity to work abroad in Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and in the military understanding – Hawaii, and Alaska. These places are referred to as OCONUS, or Outside of Continental United States, unlike CONUS locations which include states within the Continental United States. Deployment to OCONUS locations also includes Kuwait, Iraq, South Asia, etc. From Operations Officers to IT Specialists, the requirements for professionals working outside CONUS have always been immense. Accessing the right manpower for OCONUS locations is largely about having good strategies and avenues in place.

OCONUS Deployment: Main Challenges

Bleak pool of candidates available Not many candidates consider getting deployed anywhere outside the US as the best option to work. They would rather stay close to family and friends and work in locations where they are familiar with the culture and work conditions. This reduces the size of the pool of candidates available for OCONUS deployments, in general.

Salary and Benefits Candidates who are interested in getting deployed demand extraordinary benefits and salaries. With OCONUS deployments comes a heftier cost of relocation expenses. Most of the professionals look for above-average salaries and benefits when planning to move to OCONUS locations.

Disparity in locations Those who do consider OCONUS opportunities seriously have their preferred locations in mind. As an example, someone always had a desire to visit Europe or Japan and sees an OCONUS deployment as an opportunity to kill the two birds of foreign travel and work with one stone. This reduces the number of candidates available for deployment to where the need is. It often becomes difficult to find candidates for the least preferred locations.

How to Overcome the challenges

When recruiting for OCONUS locations, the following are some of the tips that can help you to widen your candidate pool:

Considering Those Already Deployed: The easiest way to find candidates for the OCONUS locations is to reach out to the already deployed candidates, as they possess the required experience and commitment needed. Also, this could reduce or even eliminate any additional relocation expenses.

Creating a Location Driven Pipeline: It is helpful to prepare for your potential upcoming projects by creating a pipeline of candidates for each particular OCONUS location. Whenever a need arises for a particular location, we will have the lists of candidates for that particular location already available. This will make recruitment faster and easier.

Benefits and Resources: Offering the following benefits and resources when recruiting for OCONUS locations can help overcome major challenges of OCONUS deployments:

• Overseas Housing Allowance to offset the cost of living off-base. It is based on rank and dependents and is available to unaccompanied service members only if government housing is unavailable.
• Family Separation Allowance when family members can’t live with a professional’s permanent duty station. This allowance is paid as a flat, monthly rate.
• Dislocation Allowance can help with miscellaneous moving costs. It is generally paid once per deployment.
• Move-in Housing Allowance helps cover the cost of miscellaneous expenses like appliances, lease taxes, one-time rental, or security-related expenses. It varies by currency rate and location.
• Cash Advances are made available to reduce the cash flow burden of moving.
• Confidential, Non-medical Counseling offers free, confidential non-medical counseling to discuss adjustment difficulties or ways to manage relocation stress.

OCONUS Deployment Requirements

Before closing a candidate for your OCONUS projects, the below-mentioned bullets should be taken into consideration:

• Candidates should currently possess an active security clearance level and any active polygraphs, as needed for the requirement.
• Candidates should possess a valid passport.
• Military service-sponsored courses are a plus.
• Experience managing responsibilities and priorities in a dynamic, high-operating tempo (OPTEMPO) environment.
• The candidate should not have any known health issue which can prevent him/her from clearing the OCONUS.

iQuasar helps its customers find proficient job-seekers for OCONUS deployments. Our internal processes, tested tools, external portal licenses, and business experience helps us to fulfill our customers’ recruitment needs. We’ve been in the recruitment business for more than 15 years. To find the right talent with the right skill set for your projects, our specialists are available to assist you.

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