3 reasons why many remote companies hire only US applicants
Hey,
I'm Sergio Pereira, and this is the Remote Work newsletter 👋
Last week, I wrote about the job market rebound I'm seeing this month of September, in JobsCopilot.ai.
Today let's talk about one of the worst nightmares for remote job applicants around the world: US-only remote jobs.
Many people ask me in DMs:
• "Why are there so many remote companies hiring only US applicants, and discarding international talent?"
As a Fractional CTO, I’m often around when startups decide on new hires, salary budgets and geographical constraints. Including the change from global remote to hiring only in the US.
In my view, for many Startup Founders, the inflection point that drives them to hire in the US-only is either regulatory concerns, or investment/client optics, or a requirement for frequent in-person meetings.
In most cases none of these are hard requirements, but rather concerns from the Founders. And I reckon two recent factors have perhaps made it easier for Founders to make that decision to hire US-only remote:
1/ Talent pool has grown in the US
More talent available in the US now than at any point over the last few years. This is caused by mass layoffs, in the last 2 years which led thousands of US employees to become job seekers. And it's also caused by return-to-office (RTO) mandates, in which thousands of people become secretly job seeking to escape the office and continue their career in a remote culture.
2/ Tax penalties for hiring abroad
You might have read about the changes in the US tax code (section 174), which makes it less financially appealing for a US company to hire outside the US. These changes require US companies to amortize R&D expenses over 15 years for foreign workers (vs 5 years for U.S.-based workers), meaning they gain immediate cashflow if they hire in the US (vs internationally).
3/ Time zone differences
Those two factors add to this old one. Time zone difference challenges are often a frustration for US Startup Founders who hire in Europe or Asia, and from those frustrations rises the perception that they must hire in the US to sort that issue. Certainly they could make their processes more async, or simply hire remote in LATAM without any process change, but yet this has historically been a driver of US companies deciding to hire US-remote.
Having said all this, be sure that there are thousands of US startups hiring remotely outside the US, as I can see in the JobsCopilot.ai database.
Also a proof of that is Fernando, a remote worker from Brazil who has just landed a life-changing offer to work for a US company. Fernando is a member of the Remote Jobs Braintrust, and I'll host a fireside session where he'll tell us all his learnings and tips to land a remote job at a US startups, while living elsewhere.
Save the date:
• Tuesday 24/Sep @ 12h30 UK time
If you're a member of the Remote Jobs Braintrust you already received the calendar invite. If you aren't, you can still join us ahead of this session.
This was Fernando's thoughtful post on our Slack channel #share-the-wins when he accepted the offer:
In other news, I'm using JobsCopilot every day as a tester, and the Auto-apply feature is quite impressive. I'm launching it on Monday for the existing customer base. I'm very happy for what I've developed, and I'm absolutely sure that many people will accelerate their job search with this tool.
So, if you're one of the ~300 customers of JobsCopilot, you're getting an email from me on Monday with instructions. I look forward to your feedback!
POV: this is what it looks like in the minutes/hours after I use it. Effortless job applications:
Thanks for reading this newsletter until the end. You can read all past editions here. Make sure to share it with your friends and colleagues so they can read it too.
If you're interested in sponsoring this newsletter, send me an email or DM.
See you next Friday,
Sergio Pereira,
Startup CTO & Remote Work Lover