The best hire probably doesn’t live near you

Finding qualified talent locally is harder than it was a year ago, according to 60% of U.S. leaders who responded to Remote’s 2025 Global Workforce Report. More than 3,600 HR and business leaders around the world responded to the survey.

On the surface, it looks like a cooler hiring market because overall hiring in the U.S. has slowed. But that is not the full picture. When some industries are cutting roles, others are still competing for specialized talent. Companies are struggling to find the specific skills they need locally. At the same time, immigration pathways have tightened and AI is reshaping job requirements faster than many workers can reskill, adding to hiring challenges.

For a long time, American companies could rely on the size of the domestic workforce. If they couldn’t hire in one city, they could usually hire in another. That advantage is narrowing as skills and customers are increasingly distributed globally.

Global hiring is becoming less of a growth experiment and more of a default operating model.

THE SHIFT ISN’T IDEOLOGICAL

Most U.S. companies aren’t hiring globally because it sounds progressive. They’re doing it because the local supply isn’t keeping up.

Nearly half of U.S. leaders say talent shortages have cost them at least one business goal, such as missed expansions, delayed product launches, or revenue targets slipping when key roles weren’t filled in time. When the right skills aren’t available nearby, they must widen the search for employees.

For some companies, hiring international employees is a strategy for local growth. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of leaders expect that more than half of their new hires in 2026 will be based outside the U.S. When organizations expand into new regions, hiring people who already understand local regulations and customer expectations removes friction early.

Distributed teams offer an operational advantage. Work doesn’t stop when one time zone logs off. Engineering work can move forward overnight, support doesn’t sit idle, and teams can hand things off instead of waiting until the next day. That speeds up product development and response times. But it only works with clear ownership and boundaries. Without that, you risk creating an always-on culture that slows people down instead of making them more effective.

AMERICAN COMPANIES ARE ALREADY MORE GLOBAL THAN PEOPLE THINK

Forty-five percent of U.S. companies hired internationally in the last six months, according to the same report, and 50% plan to in the next six. Only 15% hire exclusively domestic talent.

On average, U.S. companies employ people across 3.5 countries. That’s almost identical to the global average of 3.6. A decade ago, that would have been unusual. Now it’s normal.

For employers, the available talent pool is global by default. That doesn’t reduce the value of American workers. It expands what U.S. teams can build. Many industries are still catching up on digital skills and AI fluency. That transition will take time. Global hiring helps companies stay competitive while that adjustment happens.

For workers, this changes how careers are built. Access to roles isn’t limited by geography in the same way it used to be. More Americans are working across borders, collaborating with teams in different time zones, and building experience that spans markets. This kind of exposure is quickly becoming expected. The upside is more opportunity. The trade-off is that workers are competing in a broader, global talent pool.

The companies gaining a competitive advantage have accepted global hiring rather than questioning if it’s the right strategy. They’re building around it. The ones that don’t will feel the constraint first—slower hiring, narrower access to critical skills, and missed opportunities to grow.

Job van der Voort is the CEO and cofounder of Remote.

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