International applicants for seasonal work

Here is a reader question you don't necessarily see everyday:

The company I work for has a seasonal business.  Every year we hire lots new "talent" (and I use word in the loosest possible form!) for the season.

 

Lately, the Hiring Managers keep wanting to hire international applicants. I have no problem with that, we do it every year, but we use an outside program where all we have to do is let them know how many people we need, what departments, etc and then they do the interviewing, and assist the people (always students) to get their work visas (or whatever paperwork it is) and get them over here to work and all that jazz. It doesn't cost us a dime.

 

So here is my problem, they keep wanting to just hire these random people they meet on their travels, or know for whatever reason.

 

I know we can't just hire international applicants, it's a detailed and expensive process, that is why we have an outside program to do it. HOWEVER, I cannot seem to explain this to them and they want me to "find out what has to be done" which I already know is nothing short of spending a ton of time and money on someone we don't even know who will be here 2 or 3 months max.

 

So really, I am asking, how would you handle this? I really want to make a blanket announcement to these people explaining WHY we can't just hire people from other countries off the cuff!  Any suggestions?

How about this: when a hiring manager comes to you and says "I would really like to hire Betty whom I met in Bolivia last summer.  What do I need to do to make that happen?" you say to her, "Please give me Betty's last name, phone number, email and/or address and I will give it to our program folks so they can contact her and see if we can work it out."

If the program you use isn't cool with that, I would be surprised.  Or maybe I wouldn't.  The service is free to you, after all.  I'm not sure what agency this is or if they are 100% legit as I have never recruited in this manner.

 

Assuming you have a recruiting strategy that meets the needs of your business, I would create some collateral like a recruiting process flow chart, FAQ & stuff like that and have a 30 minute meeting with your hiring managers to show them how recruiting is done & why and answer any questions or concerns they may have.

Or, you could take the aggressive approach (always an HR favorite) and send out an email to all the hiring managers that says "BACK THE EFF OFF ABOUT HIRING YOUR BUDDIES FROM YOUR TRAVELS OR ELSE!!"  

 

I kid, I kid.

The lovely Kari Quaas, Director of West Coast Ops at Coolworks, blogs for her company at Seasonal Human Resources Blog.  Check out her blog & what Coolworks has to offer employers trying to navigate seasonal employment stuffs.  They might have some more relevant information for you regarding hiring international applicants for seasonal gigs than I do.  The only seasonal thing I've ever done is gut fish in Alaska.  

 

I was in college.  Don't ask.