Save 40% of your budget with 5 ways to optimize the costs of recruiting international students and hiring foreign workers.

Businesses, schools, and units recruiting international students and hiring foreign workers often face increasing recruitment costs due to numerous intermediaries and emerging procedures. If not well managed, the budget can easily increase but still struggle to ensure the quality of candidates. EduCV's article will suggest 5 ways to optimize costs for recruiting international students and hiring international workers effectively.

1. What are the costs of recruiting personnel and enrolling international students?

1.1. Costs of searching for and attracting candidates/international students

This is the first expense and often accounts for a significant proportion for recruitment companies and international schools.

Including:

– Costs for posting job and enrollment ads.

– Advertising on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn...

– Participate in job fairs, study abroad exhibitions.

– Recruitment/enrollment brand communication costs.

– Commissions for recruitment agencies or study abroad consulting centers.

– The cost of building a pool of potential candidates and students.

If businesses and schools go through multiple layers of intermediaries, this cost can increase significantly due to having to pay fees to each unit involved in the supply chain. Meanwhile, platforms that connect directly between the receiving unit and the candidates/international students significantly reduce search costs by shortening the number of intermediaries.

1.2. Legal procedure costs

Foreign workers and international students cannot work or study legally without the necessary documentation from the authorities.

This group of costs is mandatory and depends on the laws of the host country:

– Translation fees, notarization, consular legalization of diplomas, certificates, transcripts, and criminal records.

– Fees for submitting applications for approval of the need to use foreign labor or fees for requesting an offer letter from the school.

– Fees for issuing Work Permits, Visas/Temporary Residence Cards for workers, or Student Visas for international students.

1.3. Pre - and post - departure costs

In addition to the costs related to job search and legal procedures, the receiving unit also needs to support workers and international students before and after departure to help them better adapt to the new environment:

– Before departure: Comprehensive medical examination costs according to international standards, one-way or round-trip airfare.

– After departure: Costs for housing/dormitory support, initial living maintenance allowance for the first 1-2 months, labor management/international student support, and cultural integration training.

According to the ILO, this process is only truly effective when the receiving unit views the entire lifecycle of the candidate/student as a united chain, rather than just focusing on the initial search phase.

>>>> Check it out: 3 effective ways to recruit candidates

2. Why do businesses and schools often charge high costs when recruiting and enrolling international students?

A wide-ranging survey shows that most budget waste does not lie in fixed fees, but rather stems from inefficient operational processes.

There are three core reasons:

– Dependence on multiple intermediaries: Each intermediary layer (brokers, study abroad consulting centers) increases connection costs and prolongs the processing time of applications. Beside financial costs, the unit also faces difficulties in controlling the quality of applications and the transparency of the candidate/student pool.

– Have not yet built a separate pool of candidates/students: Many units only start searching when there is a recruitment drive or a new enrollment period. This means that each recruitment cycle has to start "from scratch," from promotion to resume screening, significantly increasing the Cost per Hire or Cost per Enrollment.

– The processing workflow is still manual: Handling applications thru Excel or email causes the HR/Admissions department to spend a lot of time on repetitive tasks such as filtering CVs/academic records, tracking progress, contacting, and data storage. This is a "hidden" operational cost but very significant when there is a large volume of applications.

– Lack of data to evaluate effectiveness: Many units have not tracked important metrics such as Cost per Hire, Time to Hire, Source of Hire, Offer/Admission Acceptance Rate. No data means it's difficult to determine which channel is truly effective for optimizing the budget.

3. 5 ways to optimize labor recruitment and international student enrollment costs
Instead of mechanically cutting the budget, high-performing units often focus on reducing the cost per qualified application and the cost per successful recruitment/admission.

3.1. Building a long-term pool of candidates/students

Instead of "waiting for a new well to be dug," businesses and schools need to proactively build a Talent Pool / Student Pool (database of talents/students).
– Implementation method: Store information of potential candidates/international students from previous batches. Classify by skills, qualifications, and country, and maintain regular interaction thru Email Marketing.
– Effectiveness: When there is a need for recruitment or the opening of a new enrollment period, the unit can immediately utilize this data source, bringing the recruitment cost down to nearly zero.

3.2. Prioritize direct connection platform

In the traditional model, the receiving unit often has to work with multiple parties such as brokerage companies, study abroad consulting centers, training units, and local partners... Each link incurs operational costs, service fees, and prolongs the processing time of applications.
According to the ILO, one of the principles of fair recruitment is to increase transparency and reduce reliance on unnecessary fees and intermediaries. This helps reduce costs and enhance the experience for both the receiving unit and the workers/international students.
That is also the reason why many businesses and international schools are shifting to direct connection platforms. Instead of having to search through multiple channels, organizations can:

– Directly access suitable sources of workers and international students.
– Directly connect with high schools, vocational schools, universities, and training institutions.
– Manage recruitment and enrollment information centrally on one platform.
– Shorten processing time.
For organizations attracting Vietnamese workforce and students, building direct relationships with the education ecosystem will help form a stable source of candidates/international students in the long term instead of recruiting in short bursts.
This is also the direction that EduCV is developing: to become a platform that directly connects businesses, schools, and learners, helping the parties to access each other more transparently and reducing dependence on multiple intermediaries.

>>>> See now: how to post admission and recruitment ads Check it out now: how to post admission and recruitment ads FREE on EduCV

3.3. Standardizing processes with technology

Many businesses and schools still manage records using Excel and Email. As the scale increases, these methods cause the team to spend a lot of time on repetitive tasks.
According to a LinkedIn survey, units that implement automation technology can significantly reduce time while allowing teams to focus more on evaluating the quality of profiles instead of handling administrative tasks. Some popular technologies:
– Applicant Tracking System (ATS) / Admission Management System.
– Gestión de Relaciones con Candidatos/Estudiantes (CRM).
– AI Screening.
– Performance tracking dashboard.
Benefits: Reducing processing time, minimizing errors, tracking the entire process on a single system, and accurately measuring the effectiveness of each channel. Technology not only helps save on personnel costs but also creates a more professional experience.

3.4. Building an employer/educational institution brand

A fact is that businesses and schools with strong brands often do not need to spend too much on advertising.
According to a report by Randstad, many candidates/international students prioritize choosing organizations with a transparent image, a good working/studying environment, and clear information.
Employer/Institution Branding helps:
– Increase reliability.
– Attract candidates, international students to proactively seek us out.
– Increase the rate of suitable applications.
– Reduce long-term marketing costs.
Providing comprehensive information about the institution, environment, benefits, scholarships, and development pathways will contribute to enhancing the quality of candidates and international students from the outset.

4. What should the unit prioritize when choosing an international connection platform?

A suitable platform not only helps with posting ads but also supports building an ecosystem connecting with educational partners, training, and human resources/international students for many years to come.

5. How does EduCV contribute to optimizing recruitment and international enrollment costs?

In the context of increasing competition, businesses and schools not only need a platform for posting job listings but also an ecosystem capable of connecting with the right audience. That is also the direction that EduCV is pursuing. Instead of operating as a brokerage unit, EduCV builds a platform connecting:
– International recruiting companies.
– Universities, colleges, and vocational schools (international enrollment).
– Training center.
– Students and workers who need to study abroad or work overseas.
Through this platform, businesses and schools can:
– Post job openings and study abroad admission programs.
– Access a pool of candidates and international students from various educational institutions.
– Expand the partner network in Vietnam.
– Gradually building a Talent/Student Pool to meet long-term needs.

More importantly, EduCV aims to create a transparent international education and employment connection ecosystem, where businesses, schools, and learners can conveniently access each other, reduce reliance on multiple intermediaries, and optimize collaboration efficiency.
For foreign organizations seeking human resources and Vietnamese international students, this is an opportunity to expand their partner networks and build sustainable development strategies. EduCV is currently connecting students with the ecosystem of schools, businesses, and international educational organizations in Germany and many other countries.

Explore training programs, job opportunities, study abroad scholarships, and the latest admission information on the EduCV platform to prepare a solid foundation for your global study and career development plans.