Personal Qualities and Individual Factors in Selection

Covered in this video are the personal qualities and individual factors that organisations must assess when selecting employees for international assignments, addressed directly under AC 2.1 of the 5OS04 unit. Rather than treating technical competence as the primary selection criterion, the video examines a broader and more nuanced set of attributes, including cultural intelligence in its cognitive, motivational and behavioural dimensions, emotional resilience, tolerance for ambiguity, and interpersonal skills. These are considered alongside the structural context that Perlmutter's orientations of international firms — ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric — provide for understanding how different organisations approach the resourcing of international roles.

The video addresses the distinction between short-term and long-term capacities for change, noting that these operate differently and make distinct demands on candidates. Language capability is examined both as a functional job requirement and as a factor shaping wellbeing and social integration outside the workplace. Alongside these individual qualities, the video covers how personal contexts — including partner career disruption, children's educational continuity, caring responsibilities for extended family members, and family health considerations — form a material part of any rigorous selection assessment, linking directly to the duty of care and wellbeing dimensions named in the unit's indicative content.

Awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion runs through the selection criteria discussed, and the video also touches on the contractual terms and conditions dimension of international resourcing and the influence of cross-national HRM and dominant cultural viewpoints on how selection decisions are framed and applied. Taken together, the video covers the full range of factors named in AC 2.1's indicative content, giving particular attention to the individual profile that predicts success in international contexts rather than domestic performance alone.