 In the previous topic, we talked about the model of selection criteria for selecting people for an international assignment. In this topic, we are going to talk about the individual factors from the selection criteria which are important for selecting a person for an international assignment. As you saw in the previous topic, there are three individual factors which are important for selecting a person for an international assignment. Those are technical abilities, cross-cultural suitability and family requirements. So, coming back to the first factor that is the technical ability, it is important. This is the basis of all types of requirements. Even if it is a domestic appointment or an international appointment, the technical ability of the person is the foremost important selection criteria that the person should be able to perform the job for which that person is being hired. So, if he is a production manager, he should be able to manage production. If he is a marketing manager, he should know all the important aspects of marketing. If he is a finance manager, he should have all the skills and training for managing the finances of an organization. So, the technical ability that is the foremost and basic criteria for hiring a person. But an international expatriate is hired on many other important criteria which are important for selection. And the second one important factor out of that is cross-cultural suitability. And cross-cultural suitability has a number of aspects involved in that. That person needs to have a number of personality factors which can make that person cross-culturally suitable. So, let's take a look at the possible factors. Number one is cultural empathy. That person should be empathetic toward different cultural differences. That person should not be opinionated or should not be prejudiced for a particular culture. Then the person's adaptability. A person should have a personality which is flexible to adapt. Diplomacy. That person should be able to manage things in a diplomatic way. Languageability is very important. Positive attitude. That is one of probably the most important factors in adjusting to a new culture. If you do not have a positive attitude towards life and toward the overall adjustment to things in a particular scenario, you will not be able to adjust well to that. Emotional stability is also very much important because when change is taking place and you've got to adjust to a new environment, you must be emotionally stable. You should not be somebody who gets panicked or who gets angry or who gets really depressed because of small things. Emotional stability is important and maturity is also a very important aspect. You would remember when we looked at the profile of expatriate people, mostly 66% of the expatriates were between the age of 30 to 49. That means that people of mature age are able to manage these assignments very well. Now the third factor is that of family requirements. Family requirements carries a very important aspect in selection criteria. It is said in literature that although the spouses and family are not included in the part of selection process, like they are not included in the interview and they are not included in the selection process, the family requirement is one of the four most important aspects in international expatriate managers. Why? Because the spouse carries a heavy burden of adjusting to the new location because it is the spouse who would be adjusting the house, who would be adjusting the family, who would be adjusting the entire house to the new location. So that person, he or she, wife or husband would be carrying a lot of burden on them and their requirements are very much important. For example, if a spouse is disabled, that is going to be a very big problem for adjusting to a new culture. Or if the spouse is, he or she has got family behind, dependent parents or other responsibilities and they are not able to move, then it would be very difficult for the person to take up the international assignment. It is very important to adjust the spouse because he or she may have left behind a career. Then another important aspect in adjustment to new places is the difference between availability of house servants in different countries. In developing countries, house servants are available and if a person from such country goes to a developed country, their house servants are not available. For example, if a person from Pakistan is relocated to a developed country, they go to UK or America, then if they take their spouse with them, then they take their wife with them. So here, wives are used to house servants, maids and other things and you do not do all the household chores yourself. But if you go out to developed countries, then you have to do all the chores yourself. And when a wife has to do all these chores herself, then a lot of women find it very difficult because it is very difficult for them to adjust. Similarly, if someone from outside of Pakistan comes, then the system of house chores in Pakistan is very different and very complicated and you do not have any facilities available and there are so many other factors like there is so much dust and all that. A lot of things you have to do at home, you have to get it done by house servants. So for that, if someone comes from outside, they may not like to hire house servants because for them, it will be a breach of privacy that there are people working in the house and they are not able to feel so free and they would feel that privacy is disturbed. So this is a very important aspect. This difference is very important in adjusting the family to a new location. And then another important aspect for this is the ability of the spouse to work in the host country. If the spouse is willing to work and is unable to work in the host country, then the family may not be able to adjust in that situation. So these are the various individual factors which are important for selecting a person for an international assignment.