Start-ups attract Pulang Kampung candidates

Thousand of overseas Indonesians are interested to return home. Career progression and working culture are some of the main considerations.

Indonesia’s booming start up companies have drawn the attention of overseas Indonesians to return home. Robert Walters Indonesia states that since early 2017, most of the candidates they have placed in tech sector are for roles such as software engineer, developer and product managers. 

To attract overseas Indonesians, Raynaldi Inaray of Robert Walters Indonesia, suggests companies in Indonesia to offer competitive salaries. The benefits offered to the overseas Indonesians, don’t necessarily have to equal those they are receiving overseas but certainly have to be competitive within the Indonesian market.

According to Raynaldi, most Indonesian candidates hesitate to return home because they have concerns about the Indonesian economy, working culture, and infrastructure. “We often advise our candidates to think about the learning and career progression opportunities in Indonesia. As companies in Indonesia are rapidly growing, they are often more open to giving their employees opportunities to innovate and create something new. This often appeals to overseas Indonesians and gets them to consider returning home.”

Bhima Yudisitira, economist with the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), predicts that overseas Indonesians will target roles in the digital sector – in particular, at companies such as Gojek, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak. The exact reasons may vary but one of the main factors is the fact that they likely easily adapt to the western-style, open culture these start-ups have. According to INDEF, 1.1 million Indonesians move overseas for various reasons, but the majority (94.4%) move because of job opportunities.

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If you are keen to know more about the Pulang Kampung campaign, please email International Candidate Manager, Belin Delannoy at belin.delannoy@robertwalters.co.id or call +62 21 2965 1536.