Over the next decade, the changing racial and ethnic makeup in the United States will cause a shift in the labor force. The Asian population in the United States will continue to expand, and the proportion of African Americans is expected to grow slightly as well. By 2012, the proportion of Hispanics in our labor force is projected to grow to about 15 percent of total workers.² If you’re still not convinced that Mexican and Chinese immigrants—along with those from other countries—matter to organizations, consider this: by the year 2050, people of color will make up significantly more than half the U.S. population.³ And in addition to immigrants from Asia and Mexico, people from Cuba, Russia, Somalia, India, Vietnam, and other countries across the globe have migrated to America. Immigrants come to the United States for many reasons, and many have held leadership positions in their home countries and are capable and talented leaders. They are often willing to work harder than our native-born recruits.

Tips for Recruiting Immigrant Leaders:

•   Make sure they are legal. Even immigrants who held professional and leadership roles in their home countries can be in the United States illegally. It isn’t as likely as with manual labor workers, but it is still necessary to make sure every t is crossed and every i is dotted.

•   Evaluate English language proficiency and accent. The person may be a brilliant engineer and program manager from Russia, but if his/her accent is too heavy for most Americans to understand, it will making leading in a U.S. organization extremely difficult for both the immigrant and for his/her colleagues.

•   Analyze cultural differences. Immigrants from other countries have different views of leadership, teamwork, conflict, etc. For example, in America, our culture places a high value on directive leadership styles while in Japan there is a higher value on consensus building. It is important that these types of differences are vetted during the recruiting process so that the new leader can effectively assimilate into the organization.