If you are a company operating in the tech space, or at least a company in need of developer and IT support, you have probably at least considered working with IT staffing. Despite the growing presence of developers worldwide, finding the right talent for the right job can be a daunting task for a company of any size.
IT staffing is the process of using an outside third-party firm to help source developers for specific positions. Whether it’s a short term need for a one off project, or a long term, ongoing role that’s hard to find, bringing in outside contractors to operate as in-house employees can be a smart way to scale a business’s capabilities over time.
Unfortunately, a lot of companies that could benefit from IT staffing choose not to work with a staffing company or are reluctant to do so because of several misconceptions about what it is, how much it costs, how it works, and why it matters.
CodersLink has been working with companies for over 5 years to help augment their capabilities and find the right developers for the right jobs. In our years of experience, we’ve heard some consistent objections that end up not being true and love helping companies understand the value of IT staffing when it comes to growing their business.
5 Myths of IT Staffing
1. IT Staffing and Outsourcing are Basically the Same Thing
Both outsourcing and IT staffing involve hiring developers outside of your organization to accomplish a project, role or task that companies see as essential to their success but can’t accomplish with current in house staff. However, that is where their similarities end.
We’ve already written a detailed article looking at the difference between IT outsourcing and IT staffing, but it’s worth summarizing here. Software project outsourcing is the process of hiring a company to perform a task on your behalf, but through their own people and processes.
A great example is a company looking to create, launch, and manage an app to support their business. There are some incredible overseas or nearsource firms that work specifically in app development that can operate that aspect of your business on your behalf without requiring extensive direct involvement. For companies that need developments for a certain part of their business but don’t want to have to manage and stay directly involved, software project outsourcing is a great option.
However, there are a lot of businesses that want more direct involvement with their hired developers, need a specific skill set, or just have a shifting scope requiring more flexibility from their outsources or near sourced engineers. This is where IT staffing can make a big difference. IT staffing allows companies to hire engineers full-time and work as though they are in-house resources, giving companies both control and flexibility they need to continue developing their product or service.
2. IT Staffing Companies are Just Unnecessary Middle Men
With the rise of professional networking sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, amongst others, finding applicants from a larger pool of candidates is easier than it ever was. Because of how widespread and far reaching these sites are, many companies have started questioning the necessity of IT Staffing companies.
As we have seen in the tech space, it’s not hard to find a developer through those sites, but the process to sift through the candidates to find the right developer takes even longer and is less likely to result in the right candidate for the specific tech needs a company has.
IT staffing companies spend all their time building and cultivating a qualified pool of candidates in niche development fields, vetting them and understanding their best use in the larger tech landscape. They understand the unique hiring and onboarding needs for developers in certain locations and what makes a competitive offer for a developer in high demand.
That’s to say, even with the heightened networking capabilities of today, IT Staffing companies provide a level of expertise that can still help companies hire faster and fill roles with candidates more likely to succeed. Their relevance is heightened when looking at nearshore and offshore destinations.
3. IT Staffing Companies Can’t Help Find Specialized Software Developers
Similar to the previous myth, a common misunderstanding about IT Staffing companies is that they are just using the same tools available to everyone, so they can’t really be better at finding specialized talent.
Although not all IT staffing companies are the same and it is worth a company’s time to do diligence before hiring one, that is not how most IT staffing companies work when it comes to sourcing and presenting potential candidates. Relationships are at the heart of any good IT staffing company, and they work hard to know the actual candidates in their network.
What’s more, IT staffing agencies not only spend time developing these relationships, but also vetting their talent pool, so they can truly understand a developers’ skills, online profile and potential. They carry out these diligence and make sure that any potential candidate presented for any opportunity, is well suited not only from a CV perspective, but from a technical skill, communications, cultural and behavioral manner.
Hiring a developer that is qualified on the surface, but not the right fit for the specific needs of a project is costly for the company and can often be avoided when working with a IT staffing firm.
4. IT Staffing is too Expensive
If the only metric a company considers is that it is cheaper to get applications through LinkedIn than through a Staffing firm, then yes, IT staffing is more expensive.
However, that is not the only thing to consider when it comes to recruiting the right engineer to help with a company project. When you factor in time, talent pool access, candidate vetting, and onboarding, working without an IT staffing firm can often cost companies significantly more with less promising results.
Using IT staffing firms can lead to a decrease in 40% in recruiting time spent, as they reduce significantly the amount of time it takes to source quality candidates, those which have a higher potential of passing interviews, code tests and eventually become part of the team.
In the IT staffing game, speed is essential since good developers are in high demand and often being considered by multiple companies at the same time. An IT staffing firm brings qualified, vetted candidates to a potential employer quickly and with insight into the kind of offer needed to secure the right developer, giving companies a competitive advantage and saving them time and resources they would have spent without the IT staffing firm.
In the end, someone is going to have to sort through candidates, interview and vet candidates, make offers, and bring them successfully into your company. With a good staffing firm, the value they bring far outweighs any expense and usually ends with the right developer for the job.
5. IT Staffing is Just for Big Companies
For startups and small businesses, hiring anyone is risky. There is less room for error and the effect of the wrong hire can do a lot of damage to the morale of a young company. Because smaller and even mid-size companies are more careful with the money spent and the risk taken in the hiring process, they often see an IT staffing company as a luxury afforded to only larger companies with deeper pockets.
This is our favorite myth to debunk when it comes to IT staffing because startups and small to mid sized companies can benefit the most from IT staffing. We’ve seen it over and over again, small businesses hire the right developers or team of developers and it is exactly what they need to expand their company and move into the next phase of growth.
Especially when the IT staffing firm works with a cost effective nearsourced developer pool, the effect can be exponential. Allowing companies to hire developers at a rate 40-60% more affordable than US in-house rates, which for small businesses and startups means taking care of precious cash flow.
There are different ways IT staffing can help companies of all sizes beyond offering the opportunity to create a nearshore tech team:
- Hire remote software engineers with a very specific skill-set at nearshore locations
- Build a small ‘full-service’ remote tech team composed of a UX/UI designer, a front end developer and back end developer to build a product .
- Open a secondary office to support an already existing in-house tech team and increase pipeline velocity and milestone achievements.
Regardless of what size company you have, we would love to talk with you about how IT staffing can help grow your business, expand your offerings and save you money in the long run.
CodersLink Empowers Companies to Build, Grow, and Manage Remote Tech Teams in Latin America.
At CodersLink, we help scaling companies tap into a vast talent pool to manage remote tech teams in Latin America. By providing remote staffing services and direct placements, we help them find the best people for the job.
