Checklist: What You Need Before
Requesting Cross-Border Placement

The quality of the intake determines the quality of the shortlist. Construction firms that come to BuildCorridor with a clear brief get candidates back in days. Firms that come with a vague title and a hope get a lot of back-and-forth. Here's exactly what we need to move fast — and why each piece matters.

Why Intake Quality Matters

Cross-border hiring has fewer degrees of freedom than domestic hiring. The visa pathway depends on the role type. The timeline depends on the visa pathway. The candidate pool depends on both. If we don't know these things upfront, we're guessing — and guessing costs time.

A 30-minute intake conversation where these five items are clearly defined typically gets you a shortlist within 72 hours. Without them, the first round of communication becomes that 30-minute conversation anyway, just slower and less organized.

The Five Things We Need

1. Role Definition

Not just a title. The specific deliverables, the reporting structure, the required tools and software, and the must-have vs. nice-to-have experience. A "civil engineer" on a data center site has a different profile than a "civil engineer" on a highway interchange. We need to know which one you're looking for before we start the search.

Specifically useful:

• What will this person be doing in their first 30 days on the job?
• What software or tools are required day one? (AutoCAD, Revit, Civil 3D, Navisworks, etc.)
• Who do they report to, and what does that person need from them?
• Are there any physical requirements — travel, overnight stays, site conditions?
• What does a successful hire look like at 6 months?

2. Timeline

The target mobilization date — and how firm it is. "We need someone on site by June 1" is more useful than "as soon as possible." If the date is flexible, tell us the range and the consequences of missing it. If it's a hard date tied to a subcontract or permit, tell us that too.

Timeline determines visa pathway. TN can make a June 1 date if we start today. H-2B cannot. Knowing the date early prevents us from pursuing a pathway that can't work for your schedule.

3. Project Type

Data center, manufacturing, energy, commercial construction, petrochemical — the sector matters because it shapes which candidate pool is most relevant. A structural engineer with 12 years of data center hyperscaler experience and a structural engineer with 12 years of offshore platform experience are both excellent engineers, but they're not interchangeable on your project.

Project type also helps us brief candidates accurately. A candidate who doesn't know they're being considered for a petrochemical project may decline the offer when they find out. Better to surface that upfront.

4. Visa Preference

If you have a preference — TN for speed, H-2B for trades, a specific pathway you've used before — tell us. If you don't have a preference, tell us that too, and we'll recommend based on role type, timeline, and worker nationality. There's no wrong answer here, but we need to know before we start pulling candidates.

If you've already identified a specific candidate (internal referral, LinkedIn, previous contractor), tell us. We can evaluate whether they qualify for TN and manage the visa process around a specific person.

5. Decision-Maker Access

Who approves the hire, and what does that process look like? One person with authority to sign off, same-day decisions? A committee with a two-week review cycle? This isn't a judgment — both exist, and both are workable. We just need to build the timeline around the actual decision process, not an assumed one.

We've had searches move from intake to offer in 8 days. We've had others take 6 weeks because the approver was traveling and nobody had authority in their absence. Neither outcome is avoidable without knowing the process upfront.

Useful but Not Required

These items accelerate the process if you have them, but don't block us if you don't:

• Compensation range or bill rate: Knowing the budget lets us set expectations with candidates before the interview, reducing the chance of an offer being declined for compensation reasons.
• Draft or signed subcontract: For H-2B, the job order requires demonstrating a temporary need. A contract that defines the project scope and duration strengthens the DOL filing.
• Prior cross-border hiring experience: If you've done this before, we want to know what worked and what didn't. If you haven't, we'll prepare you for what to expect.
• Org chart context: Where does this role sit relative to the project leadership? How many people does this person interact with daily? This shapes candidate briefing.

The Pre-Placement Brief Template

If you'd like to structure your intake before reaching out, this format gives us everything we need:

Send that to hello@buildcorridor.com and we'll come back to you within one business day with an honest assessment of timeline, availability, and next steps — or a call to go deeper if the brief raises questions we need to answer first.