04/22/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/22/2024 10:22
In brief
The global pandemic and subsequent lockdowns proved one thing: Remote work is not only possible, but it also doesn't hinder productivity or lead to losses in output quality if done right and under the right circumstances.
Additionally, the option to work remotely has become a competitive advantage in the never-ending hunt for fresh talent. According to Forbes, 57% of workerswould consider switching jobs if their current employer didn't allow remote work, and 65% of workers say they want to go fully remote in their jobs.
However, developers aren't the only ones to gain something out of remote work. Hiring remote developersis of interest to employers as well. From cost savings to better access to top talent, remote work is a win-win arrangement for both companies and developers.
That said, hiring remote workers, developers or others, comes with its own set of challenges. If you plan on leveraging the advantages of this approach to work, here's how to hire remote developerswhile minimizing risks and ensuring the best fit possible.
First, let's break down what exactly makes remote work so alluring to both developers and companies that hire them.
Remote work allows employers to:
Here are the four main reasons why employees love remote work, according to Buffer's State of Remote Work 2023report:
Of course, hiring remote employees isn't without its challenges, especially compared to the traditional in-office recruitment pipeline. Here are the five key ones, along with Luxoft's solutions.
Recruitment in general is a lengthy process - the average time to fill tech positions is 68 days worldwide(56 days in the US and Canada). However, if you don't have a pipeline for hiring remote developers in particular, setting up one can delay the hire even further.
Solution. If you need to find remote developers for hireas soon as possible, turning to a team augmentation or dedicated development company can help you speed up the process. Such companies have their own pool of vetted developers they scan for the best matches to your stated needs. So, you can quickly set up technical interviews and select the most suitable candidate.
How do you know the person you hire will be the right fit for your team without ever sitting face to face with them? Recognizing the ideal candidate in a sea of applications can be challenging, especially considering how large your talent pool can be if you choose to look for developers around the world.
Solution. Your recruitment pipeline should include checking the candidates' technical skills, as well as soft skills and readiness for remote work. This can be done via a combination of interviews, tests, pair programming sessions and trial projects. You can also rely on an external partner to vet developers before you interview them.
In remote hiring, bait and switch is a real risk, as one company found outafter the person who showed up for a remote work call wasn't the candidate who passed the interviews "with flying colors." Besides looking different, the person also didn't have the level of skills the position required.
Solution. To avoid such surprises, ask the candidate to keep the camera on during virtual interviews and show their photo ID or another document to verify their identity. You can also search for the candidate's name online and see if photos from social media or other sources match the candidate's appearance during the interview. Make sure you verify references to avoid a discrepancy in the candidate's reported and actual skills.
If you choose to hire a remote development team in another country with a native language different from yours, you may be resigning yourself to communication mishaps due to the language barrier. Those can slow down certain processes, cause inefficiencies in others or even lead to a significant mismatch between your expectations and the worker's output.
Solution. Pay close attention to the candidates' ability to discuss work in your preferred language of communication. If they seem to misunderstand certain terms frequently, it may be better to look elsewhere. You can also ask potential candidates for proof of language proficiency and check out the EF English Proficiency Indexwhen selecting your search area.
The cheapest rarely means the best - or even optimal - output quality. In the case of hiring freelance remote developers, you may end up with code that will need refactoring or reworking soon after you receive it. These additional costs will bloat the budget, causing cost overruns for the development process.
Solution. Look for the sweet spot between cost and quality. Remember to factor in all costs, from job postings to interviewing and onboarding, in your budget, too. On top of that, take your time screening applicants and selecting the developers for your project. Partnering with a talent provider or dedicated development company can also be a good idea, but you'll have to consider the costs, as well.
Before we dive into how to hire a remote developer, let's break down the four things you should take into account before you kick off your recruitment process.
Before you can write a comprehensive and accurate job posting to find remote developers for your project, you need to know what you expect every given developer to accomplish. And to zero in on your expectations, you need to understand what you want from the project itself.
So, analyze the project's requirements and deliverables as well as the target platform and desired or current tech stack. Based on those, identify the team members you'll want working remotely. Ideally, you should start with a core non-remote team and augment it with remote hires. Otherwise, it will be much more difficult to secure the project's success.
Then, you're ready to pinpoint:
A simple way to estimate your budget is to answer the following question: How much are you willing to pay your remote developers per hour? Keep in mind that the cheapest option often means subpar quality; however, you also need to avoid overpaying for the expertise.
Hourly rates vary widely across regions. You can gauge those differences by browsing Glassdoor, Payscale or Indeed; however, the final cost will depend on the specific company, engagement model, developer seniority and skill set, etc.
The cost structure that will determine your budget depends on the model you choose for hiring remote developers:
Then, there's the question of how you choose to pay your remote developer:
As a remote developer will spend most of their time away from your offices, you must ensure they'll stay on top of the latest advancements or changes in the project. To that end, you should establish clear communication channels and knowledge transfer practices.
While you're at it, make sure to balance synchronous (e.g., videoconferencing) vs asynchronous (e.g., email) communication. As for the tools, you may want to consider:
Defining the tools and practice in advance will help onboard your new hires smoothly as well as set clear expectations for their communication skillsduring the hiring process.
Whether you plan to hire a couple of freelance remote developersor a full-fledged development team, you need to know who will take on day-to-day project management. Depending on the chosen approach to hiring remote developers, you may need a project managerin-house.
If you opt for outsourcing, project management typically falls under the vendor's responsibility. However, you'll need a dedicated product manager on your end to keep track of the collaboration.
In case you have or plan to have multiple development teams, keep in mind that every team should have a team lead. This person is a senior engineer who serves as the point of contact and team manager, all in one package.
Once you know who you're looking for, what your budget is and how you will manage and communicate with your remote developers, it's time to dive into the nitty-gritty of hiring remote developers.
Where will you be looking for your new team member? While remote work means you can hire a person anywhere across the globe, time zone differences, talent availability and labor costs should narrow your options down.
A job description gives potential candidatesan idea of who you're looking for and whether they could be a good match for you. So, it should be clear and straightforward, with as little business speak and marketing as possible. At the same time, it should be compelling enough to motivate the right talent to apply for the position.
Here's what a job description should include:
Before you deem your job description ready to see the light, have someone with technical expertise read it and give you feedback. Make sure to proofread it and add relevant keywords pertaining to the developer type, tech stack and remote work.
Now, it's time to let the world - and more importantly, your ideal candidates - know you're in the market for a remote developer. Here are the four channels you can use to find remote developers:
Once applications start to pour in, it's time to filter them and pre-select the candidates that meet the basic criteria outlined in the job description. This stage can be done manually or using an application tracking system (ATS).
However, resumes and cover letters rarely tell the full story. To have a grasp of what kind of person is behind this or that resume, you'll need to sit with them on a video call for the first screening. It typically lasts around 30 minutes.
During this part of the hiring process, your goal is to pinpoint the soft skills of the potential employee and understand how well they will fit in with your in-house teams. Here's what you should pay attention to during the first screening:
After the initial screening, you can pick out the candidates who will make a good addition to your team and have the necessary soft skills to be productive remote workers. Next, you'll need to conduct technical screenings to see whether they have what it takes to write clean code.
Technical screening is all about assessing the candidate's hard skills - i.e., their technical expertise. This stage can combine several assessment forms:
The final interview is reserved for the best of the best among your candidates: Those who have proven they're a good fit for you both in terms of technical expertise and soft skills. During this interview, you should discuss:
It's also your last chance to gauge whether the candidate is a capable remote worker, a good team player and a suitable match for your company.
But how do you recognize a best-fit candidate? While the specifics depend on your needs, here are seven tell-tale signs that set the best-fit candidate apart from the rest:
Once you find "the one", it's time to seal the deal and hope your candidate will say "yes". But before you send the job offer, discuss the contract's details with stakeholders, executives and your legal department. Pay extra attention to any legal obstacles that may arise when hiring a remote developer abroad.
If the candidate accepts your job offer, you should also ask them to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This is a standard practice to protect your intellectual property. You may also consider adding a non-compete agreement or clause to the contract.
Once you hire your remote developer, your job isn't done yet. You need to onboard them to ensure they integrate well into your team and know exactly what's expected of them. The onboarding processestypically include:
Setting up a probationary period for your new hire will allow you to see their skills in action and ensure they are a good fit for your company in the long run. This period can last anywhere between 30 days and six months; however, the allowed duration may differ based on applicable state and national regulations.
If you plan to set up a probationary period, be upfront about it with your candidates before making a job offer. And to make it productive, make sure to:
As probationary periods are typically regulated, consult your legal team on your obligations and rights in this area as well as those of your new hire. If you have an internal probationary period policy, ensure you comply with it, too.
Here are the four common channels you should consider leveraging to find remote developersto close your talent gap.
Such companies already have developers on standby, ready to tackle the new client's projects. While turning to an outsourcing company can mean opting for project-based outsourcing, that's not the only engagement model on the table.
For instance, under team augmentation services, a talent provider supplements your in-house team with one or several specialists from its talent tech pool. While the partner vets their skills independently, you're free to interview and screen candidates to make your choice.
Alternatively, if you require a remote development team, a company like Luxoft can provide you with one under the autonomous squad engagement model.
To find reliable sourcing partners, you can check out their reviews and ratings on independent platforms like Clutch.co and GoodFirms. Asking for referrals is also an effective search method.
Overall, job boards come in three forms:
Publishing your job opportunity on a general job board like Indeed means reaching the largest audience possible. However, if you want to make the most out of your investment, a tech-specific or remote-only job board gives you access to an audience that corresponds more to your target profile (i.e., a developer looking for a remote job).
Keep in mind that you should focus on the most popular job boards in your target location. For example, while Indeed is present in Poland, it's not the most popular one in the country. That title goes to Pracuj.pl with its 10.1 million monthly visits.
If you're ready to hire remote software engineersamong freelancers, here are the three freelancing platforms that can help you connect with a relevant tech talent pool:
If you don't feel like paying a third party for access to the tech talent pool, you can always connect with job-seeking developers directly on social media. However, it's also arguably the most resource-intensive way to find potential candidates.
Leveraging social media can include:
When you plan to hire a remotedeveloper, you have two distinct talent pools you can choose from:
Freelancers are a better fit for your needs if:
Dedicated developers are more suitable for you if:
Accessing the global tech talent - and hiring the best-fit, highly qualified developers - is no cakewalk. Choosing the right person for the job is a tough feat, considering the sheer size of the talent pool as well as remote hiring challenges.
Luxoft helps organizations across the globe ramp up their development capabilities. Armed with decades of experience in development, we leverage our global presence (57 cities in 28 countries) and tremendous talent pool (17,000+ employees) to meet our clients' needs. Most of our developers (over 60%) have master's, doctorate or PhD degrees.
We can close your talent gap under the following engagement models:
Not sure which engagement model suits your needs best? Get in touchwith our experts to discuss how Luxoft can help you close a talent gap promptly and cost-efficiently without compromising talent quality.
Hiring remote developerscan be overwhelming, especially if this is your first time recruiting remote workers and you plan to look for specialists overseas. If that's the case - or you simply want to streamline the process - turning to a dedicated development company can help you save costs, speed up time to fill and gain access to vetted specialists.
Whether you turn to a third party for help or not, hiring a remote developer is only the beginning. To ensure your new hires are as efficient and productive as possible, make sure to:
When you hire specialistsfor remote development work, we advise you to consider the candidates':
To ensure the ideal candidate's profile matches your needs perfectly, we advise you to identify the following before kicking off the search:
We also recommend you outline your hiring and onboarding processes, including whether you'll be looking for freelancers or hiring an outsourcing agency, before the search begins.
The time to fill depends on a variety of factors, from your target location to the developer type, seniority level and expertise. For example, the average timeto fill for tech positionsaround the world is 68 days. The same indicator reaches 56 days in the US and Canada, 85 days in Europe and 92 days in Asia.
Besides that, whether you hire a dedicated development company or look for remote developers or freelancers on your own also impacts the time to fill. Partnering with a vendor accelerates the process as you don't have to manage job listings and sift through hundreds of resumes. The vendor supplies you with a shortlisted pool of candidates that match your stated needs.
If you'd like to discover more about the safest and most profitable ways to hire remote developers, get in touch with us here.
Alexey Zagorodniy
Director, Banking and Capital Markets
Alex leads complex pre-sales initiatives and client engagements for tier-one financial firms, applying his depth of industry experience and hands-on knowledge of IT market specifics in different countries. Now based in London, Alex has an international background, having lived, worked and studied across Europe.