For the past decade, article after article has been published with reports that it’s getting harder and more expensive for companies and startups to find IT talent in big cities.
As a result of the definitive push that the pandemic gave the tech industry, the dev shortage skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. Nearly everything became digitized, and Apps and digital services became basic survival tools.
The issue is that demand for devs, analysts, data scientists, and digital infrastructure experts grew much more quickly than the supply, especially in the U.S. and some parts of Europe and Asia.
And we’re not just talking about demand from tech titans like Google, Amazon, Netflix, or Uber, that are at the forefront of the Age of Information. The demand for devs also comes from startups that need programming-based technology to start and scale their business and become competitive.
The talent shortage is delaying and even preventing a lot of businesses from becoming successful because they’re missing the talented devs they need to create their digital infrastructure.
Does this sound like your company? Then you’ve come to the right place. Below are four steps to increase your company’s odds and gain a real competitive advantage by using all the resources that are available to you.
1.- Eliminate Criteria that Won’t Guarantee Successful Hiring
Objectively speaking, you’re probably not very likely to find an experienced developer with a degree from a prestigious school who’s available immediately and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
In 2017, there were less than 50,000 graduates computer engineers/developers in the U.S. In 2022, Google alone had more than 47,756 employees. If we look at the numbers, it’s clear that the “ideal” candidates that meet all the requirements go right to a tech monopoly that can afford to pay for cushy salaries and perks like luxury housing and great health insurance.
But what exactly is an “ideal candidate?” In the Age of Information, an ideal candidate is a pipe dream based on the false perception that talent only comes from prestigious universities with students who can either afford to pay their expensive tuition or are so brilliant that they got scholarships to attend.
If every dev capable of creating effective and innovative systems only graduated from MIT or Stanford, the world would still be running on analog. So let’s get rid of the obsession with prestigious degrees once and for all. This is the first step to finding 99% of the talent that meets the most important requirements: a true passion for programming, knowing what tools your company needs, and knowing how to use them.
2.- Remote, Flexible Work
Most people who work in programming and IT prefer working from home. This means that the more flexible your company or startup is in terms of remote work, the more talent you’ll attract. You’ll also be more likely to attract higher quality talent.
When you set up a remote work model that doesn’t involve anyone going to an office, the distance-related restrictions that are often associated with the hiring process automatically disappear.
That’s why we recommend setting up a 100% remote work schedule before you start assembling your software engineer dream team. This will allow you to make more agile adjustments and scale more quickly. If you’re still unsure of how to do this, check out our pro tips for managing remote IT talent teams.
3.- Expand Your Talent Search Internationally
Working remotely is conducive to recruiting in other states, but if you really want to find and hire the best talent quickly and inexpensively, it’s a good idea to cast a wider net and recruit internationally. This is especially true if you’re located in the U.S.
Expanding your talent search internationally means:
- Expanding your time zone flexibility by 2-4 hours so meetings continue to be viable
- Identifying which countries in the region have a lower cost of living
- Prioritizing candidates with good technical and conversational English skills
The cost of living in Latin America is 50%-75% cheaper, and English is the most widely spoken second language in the entire region. Not to mention, most big cities are in the same time zone as the U.S., and there are over a million highly qualified devs in Latin America. Given all these facts, it’s clear that shifting your company’s focus to Latin America is an excellent idea.
According to LinkedIn, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile are the countries with the best software developers in Latin America.
4.- Recruit by Speaking the Same Language
Since IT talent profiles tend to be so specific, one of the biggest challenges that recruiting devs face worldwide is that most hiring managers don’t have the tools necessary to assess candidates.
The people who know exactly what the company needs in terms of software and technology and how to identify programmers who can achieve the objectives at hand tend to be too busy to personally handle recruiting the right talent. What’s more, not many companies have the budget to hire such specialized IT recruiters.
As a result, job descriptions can become convoluted and open to interpretation by generalist recruiters who tend to focus more on requirements that aren’t necessarily accurate predictors of success and shrink the talent pool. What’s more, these descriptions can make it nearly impossible to filter out 100% viable candidates with technical tests.
Recruiting devs in Latin America can be as easy as posting a job opening and receiving hundreds of applications. There’s plenty of talent, but that doesn’t mean that every application will be a perfect match, nor does it mean that your HR team necessarily has all the tools necessary to recruit abroad.
No matter where your employees live, your company needs seasoned professionals to get the job done, and there’s no doubt that the vetting process can have its challenges. At Workana, we understand this. We have over ten years of experience working closely with Latin American IT talent. Our team of experts speaks the same technical language that you do. We can help you assemble your dev dream team quickly, securely, and at an affordable rate.
Ready to take the plunge? Tell us about what you need, and we’ll match you with candidates who are ready to take a free evaluation test in 15 days or less.
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