The importance of technical competence as a decision-making criterion should be related to the specific job of the expatriate. Hays (1974) suggested that there are four categories of international jobs: CEO — responsible for overseeing and direct- ing the entire operation; Functional Head — establishes functional departments in a foreign affiliate; Trouble Shooter — analyzes and solves specific operational pro- blems; and Element Employees — serve similar functional roles as at the headquar- ters organization. Tung (1981) and Shen and Edwards (2004) have relied on these categories to suggest contingency frameworks for expatriate selection. They suggest identifying the requirements of the role and tasks of the expatriate before determin- ing what additional skills and abilities are necessary to increase the probability of success. Performance has also been recommended as a factor to consider in relation to technical competence, such that an MNE employs a non-compensatory rather than compensatory selection strategy (Newman et al., 1978). In a non-compensatory selection strategy MNEs determine and require minimum standards on all perfor- mance dimensions before selecting the expatriate. Finally, Harzing and Christensen (2004) also suggest that using a performance strategy leads to role clarity for the potential expatriate, which positively influences selection decisions. It is important that an individual being considered for any type of international assignment has the required technical competence needed for the job, however, this should not remain as the only criterion utilized for making expatriate selection decisions.