Hiring Global Talent: 5 Misconceptions Founders Must Avoid
The language we use reveals our assumptions. When founders say Hiring Global Talent they’re usually signaling a set of beliefs about geography, quality, and business relationships that are fundamentally outdated. And it’s costing them access to exceptional professionals who could transform their operations.
Here’s the reality: EA in Manila has a business degree from a university that specifically trains for international client work, five years of experience supporting U.S. executives, and probably more formal training in executive support than most “local” candidates you’ll interview. But because they’re “overseas,” many founders assume they’re settling for second-best. This mindset prevents them from hiring global talent that could genuinely transform their operations
The founders who break through these misconceptions gain competitive advantages that compound over time. Those who don’t remain trapped in artificially limited talent pools while paying premium prices for increasingly transactional relationships.
Misconception 1: “Overseas Means Lower Quality”
This is the foundational error that drives most other misconceptions. The assumption that geographic arbitrage inherently means quality compromise.
The reality:
When hiring global talent, quality and cost are determined by different factors. The EA in Bogota charging $35K annually isn’t less skilled than the $90K EA in Boston. They’re operating in different economic contexts where purchasing power parity creates dramatically different quality-of-life outcomes at different price points.
Why this misconception persists:
It’s psychologically comfortable to believe we get what we pay for. The alternative, that we might be overpaying for mediocre local talent while missing exceptional global talent, requires rethinking fundamental assumptions about value and geography.
What drives quality:
Business acumen, communication excellence, strategic thinking, and operational discipline. None of these correlates with living in expensive cities. They correlate with education, experience, professional dedication, and systematic thinking, all of which are globally distributed.
The test:
If you removed location information from resumes and evaluated candidates purely on capabilities, work samples, and interview performance, would your quality rankings change? If yes, you’re letting geography bias override capability assessment.
Misconception 2: “They Won’t Understand American Business Culture”
Many founders worry that global EAs won’t grasp the nuances of U.S. business practices, communication norms, or professional expectations.
The irony:
The best global EAs often understand American business culture more explicitly than local candidates because they’ve studied it formally rather than just absorbing it unconsciously. They’ve taken courses in cross-cultural business communication, learned U.S. business etiquette systematically, and deliberately developed capabilities that local candidates take for granted but don’t necessarily excel at.
Real pattern we see:
Global EAs who’ve worked with multiple U.S. clients often demonstrate more consistent business communication practices than local candidates who assume they understand expectations but haven’t actually systematized their approach.
What founders miss:
“Understanding culture” often matters less than “communicating clearly and systematically.” The global EA who writes explicit, well-organized updates is usually more effective than the local EA who assumes shared context and communicates informally.
The advantage flip:
Many global EAs bring multicultural competence that becomes valuable when your business expands internationally. That “limitation” often becomes a strategic asset.
Misconception 3: “Time Zones Will Make Everything Harder”
This might be the most persistent misconception, despite abundant evidence that time zone differences can be operational advantages rather than obstacles.
What founders imagine:
Constant coordination problems, inability to get quick responses, and waiting 24 hours for simple answers.
What actually happens:
Your EA handles coordination tasks, preparation work, and research while you sleep. You start each day with progress rather than problems. Urgent issues still get addressed in real-time through overlap hours and clear escalation protocols.
Strategic advantage:
Having work continue outside your active hours means your business operates on extended cycles without anyone working overtime. Projects move faster, coordination happens more efficiently, and you’re never blocked waiting for someone to finish a task.
The founders who get this right:
They think strategically about time zones as capability multipliers. They assign analytical work, research, and coordination to happen during non-overlap hours, preserving synchronous time for strategic discussions and decision-making.
Misconception 4: “They’ll Leave for Better Opportunities”
Many founders worry that global EAs view international roles as temporary stepping stones rather than long-term career opportunities.
The data tells a different story:
Turnover among well-managed global EA relationships is often lower than local EA hiring. Why? Because international work with growing companies is seen as a prestigious career opportunity in many markets, while local EA roles in major cities are often viewed as transitional positions.
What drives retention:
Professional development investment, genuine partnership relationships, and compensation that provides quality of life rather than just survival. Global EAs who feel valued as strategic partners and can build comfortable lives with their compensation typically show stronger loyalty than local EAs who feel underpaid despite higher nominal salaries.
The comparison:
A $40K salary in Manila that enables an upper-middle-class lifestyle often generates more loyalty than a $90K salary in San Francisco that barely covers rent and necessities.
Misconception 5: “Communication Barriers Will Cause Constant Misunderstandings”
Founders worry about language barriers, unclear communication, and frequent misunderstandings with global EAs.
What we observe:
The best global EAs often communicate more clearly than local candidates because remote international work requires explicit, systematic communication. They’ve developed disciplined communication practices out of necessity… Practices that happen to make them exceptionally effective.
The paradox:
Native English speakers often communicate sloppily because they assume shared context. Global EAs who treat English as a professional skill rather than just a native language often produce clearer, more organized communication.
Real pattern:
Review written communication samples from both local and global candidates. You’ll often find that global EAs write more structured, professional business communication because they’ve studied it formally rather than just absorbing casual patterns.
Signs These Misconceptions Are Limiting Your Options
- You’ve never seriously evaluated global candidates despite acknowledging talent shortages.
- You assume lower cost automatically signals lower quality without testing that assumption.
- You worry about time zones but haven’t considered how they could be operational advantages.
- You’re paying premium prices for local EAs who treat roles as temporary positions.
- Your “communication concerns” have never been tested against actual global candidate samples.
The Cost of These Misconceptions
These aren’t just wrong beliefs. They’re expensive mistakes that compound over time:
- Artificially limited talent pools mean settling for available rather than excellent.
- Premium pricing without premium performance erodes unit economics.
- Missing strategic advantages from global coordination.
- Competitive disadvantage against founders who’ve moved past these misconceptions.
Breaking Through the Misconceptions
Here’s how to test these assumptions objectively:
Conduct blind capability assessments.
Evaluate candidate work samples, writing quality, and analytical thinking without knowing the geographic location. Let capabilities speak for themselves.
Calculate total value, not just nominal cost.
Compare what you get for your investment, like output quality, strategic contribution, and retention, rather than just comparing salary numbers.
Run time zone experiments.
Try having work coordinated across time zones for specific projects. Most founders discover advantages they hadn’t anticipated.
Study successful global partnerships.
Talk to founders who’ve built strong global EA relationships. Their experiences often contradict theoretical concerns.
Test communication directly.
Request detailed work samples and conduct in-depth interviews with global candidates. Evaluate actual communication quality rather than assuming problems.
The Bottom Line
The way we approach hiring global talent reveals the problem. It positions geography as the defining characteristic rather than capability, dedication, or business value. It creates an “us versus them” framework that obscures the reality that exceptional professionals are globally distributed.
The founders who move past these misconceptions don’t think in terms of “overseas” or “local” talent. They think in terms of capability, cultural fit, strategic alignment, and value creation, criteria that have nothing to do with where someone happens to live.
This shift isn’t just about cost savings, though those are significant. It’s about accessing the best available talent regardless of arbitrary geographic constraints. It’s about recognizing that formal business education, international work experience, and systematic communication practices often correlate with “global” candidates rather than “local” ones.
Rethink Your Approach to Hiring Global Talent
Anywhere Talent specializes in connecting founders with exceptional global executive assistants who consistently exceed the expectations of founders who’ve moved past geography-based misconceptions. Through our rigorous vetting process, we prove that the best talent isn’t limited by borders. It’s limited only by how we choose to look for it.
Let’s find you the exceptional EA who happens to be global.
