How to recruit quality employees in Iran?
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March 2003
IranTalent's top tips for recruiting personnel in Iran |
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What are the main strengths and weaknesses of candidates? |
| While every individual is clearly different, based on our experience, the talent pool in Iran has some key strengths. There is an abundance of candidates who are intelligent and very well educated. Intellectual curiosity, a keen interest in learning, ambition and an entrepreneurial mindset are also common qualities. And all this comes with a relatively small price tag. |
| On the flip side, candidates with good process and planning skills are difficult to find, written reporting and communication skills (even in the local language) are often poor, team work is not a notion many have experienced or are familiar with, and English language skills do not come as standard. |
| How is the supply and demand in different sectors? |
| It is common knowledge that most Iranian parents send their children to study science - particularly engineering or medicine. As a result, technical fields usually have the largest supply of qualified candidates. On the other hand, business subjects, accounting & finance, have the biggest shortage of talent relative to available supply. And moreover, across all functions, candidates with good working knowledge of English are in limited supply. |
| What are the channels for finding staff? |
| There are three main ways to get the people you need: advertising, networking and using agencies. Advertising in a mainstream newspaper has the widest reach and is likely to generate many responses. However, the quality of responses is very mixed and the 'hit rate' sometimes quite low. Particularly for the more senior positions, some companies have found themselves inundated with hundreds of applications, with none eventually being suitable for hiring. |
| Alternatively, if you have an existing network in Iran, you can potentially use it to find the candidate you need. For instance, your existing employees may know of a friend or relative who is available for hire and can recommend them. This is the cheapest method, but is slower and the resulting applicant pool is very small. |
| This service is relatively new in Iran, but is beginning to go mainstream. Increasingly popular with candidates, employers are also finding it a very efficient and cost-effective way of handling their recruitment needs.
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| How to structure pay and incentives? |
| Candidates are generally short-termist in their job selection, valuing hard cash early on more than long-term career prospects. As a result, average tenure for the hottest candidates is relatively short, as they move from one company to another to monetise their net worth. By the same token, offering equity stakes in pay deals is very rare, though commission-based compensation for sales roles is common. |
| Besides the pay, prestige and social status represent a significant consideration for many. Given a choice, most prefer working for international companies, as they are perceived to offer better pay, career progression as well as social status. In addition, there are status issues associated with specific functions. For instance, some engineering graduates stay clear of any position with a marketing connotation, perceiving the job to be 'not in their league'. In such cases, emphasising the technical aspect of the role may attract far more interest. |
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What are the costs? |
| The table below gives an approximate range for compensation costs in different functions: |
| Function |
Salary *(US$ per month) |
| Senior Sales & Marketing Manager |
800-1500 |
| Marketing team members |
200-400 |
| Programmer / IT specialist |
200-600 |
| Qualified auditor / accountant |
600-2000 |
| Secretary / Executive Assistant |
200-600 |
| Purchasing / Procurement Manager |
300-600 |
| Commercial officer |
200-400 |
| Engineer |
200-800 |
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| * Indicative range only, based on gross salary for a qualified candidate with relevant experience and good command of English, in a permanent position based in Tehran. The cost to the employer will include an additional 10-20% for social security payments to the government |
