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In today’s highly competitive world, keeping up with the latest technology trends is crucial for all business owners, even those who don’t run tech companies. Almost every industry, from retail to healthcare, turns to IT solutions because they help companies maintain a competitive edge. Of course, it’s impossible to implement technology solutions without a team of highly experienced and skilled software developers. But when you start looking for a skilled team, you may discover that it’s not easy to find one locally. That’s why many companies have begun expanding their horizons and hiring remote developers.
Technically, hiring remote developers has never been as easy as it is today. However, as the number of platforms and talented developers grow, so do the challenges associated with finding, testing, and selecting a truly outstanding candidate.
In this article, we will discuss all aspects involved in hiring a team of remote developers.
Table of Contents
Why hire remote developers?
The recent remote work revolution has made it possible for new forms of management and teams to develop and create more streamlined workflows and daily processes. Companies like Gitlab, Zapier, and InVision have proven that any work and supervision can be done seamlessly from a distance.
The tech industry is facilitated by its digital nature, so hiring remote developers offers several benefits, from increasing productivity and reducing costs to improving work-life balance.
Benefits of hiring remote developers
1. A diverse team
By hiring remote developers, you can build a team that is diverse, with talent coming from worldwide locations and cultures. Diversity allows companies to leverage a variety of skills and expertise, which brings fresh perspectives that could improve business goals. Having a diverse team is ideal if you are looking to broaden your horizons and hire the best talent. When you remove borders from your recruitment strategy, the probability of finding developers who meet all of your requirements is much higher.
2. Strengthened service offering
When you have a diverse team, you can also strengthen your service offering. For example, when developers have high linguistic skills, mastering other languages, such as English (even when this is not their native language), adds value to companies that communicate regularly with an international customer base.
A diverse team can also offer you many ways to solve a single problem. Team members may have knowledge of how a product could be used in a certain part of the world, which can be a great asset when it comes to launching your products in new markets.
Undoubtedly, the insider knowledge that a remote, diverse team of developers can offer can help you navigate blind spots when executing your projects.
3. Increased productivity
Productivity is a common concern companies have when it comes to building a remote team. However, research shows that remote teams are often more productive than in-office teams. In a recent survey by Globalization Partners, 31 percent of HR managers stated that productivity is one of the top benefits of global teams.
Setting clear objectives and regularly measuring goals will help your team determine what workflows and strategies work best for ensuring high levels of productivity.
In a recent survey by Globalization Partners, 31 percent of HR managers stated that productivity is one of the top benefits of global teams. Click To Tweet4. Cost savings
According to Global Workplace Analytics, remote teams is cost effective, helping companies save on real estate, operations, and utilities expenses. Also, the cost of hiring remote developers may be lower than the cost of hiring local developers. This is not because they offer lower-quality work, but rather because of the lower cost of living in many countries.
There are many advantages to hiring remote developers, but finding the right candidate is a process that, if executed inefficiently, can cost you and your organization a lot of time and money. Therefore, it is essential to know and understand the processes, techniques, and best practices involved in finding and hiring your ideal remote developers.
How to hire remote developers
How can you hire your ideal remote developer if you are unable to clearly communicate your company’s goals and objectives, and what you need from your employees? To successfully hire a remote developer, consider:
- Creating a unique Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
Nowadays, job seekers are more interested in the Employer Value Proposition (EVP). They care about the business values and the benefits they will get inside and outside of the workplace. EVP should include all aspects of the employee experience, which means taking steps to support the developer’s career progression, work-life balance, and wellbeing. - Identifying the ideal candidates
Before you post a job offer, it is crucial to define and build a profile that includes the technical skill sets and mindset of your ideal developer. Other attributes to consider are professionalism and dedication. A developer willing to adapt to new industry trends and master new skills can become unbelievably valuable.
So, what does your ideal candidate look like? In addition to identifying technical skills and professional experience, you should look at soft skills related to remote work:
- Discipline
Developers who are organized and independent can adapt to remote work requirements and stay productive without having to be monitored at all times. - Ability to learn and adapt
Technology requires adaptation and updating. Developers with an open mind who enjoy staying current on trends and constantly learning new skills are the most successful. - Communication and collaboration
The key to a great developer lies in their ability to communicate their ideas, both verbally and written, and their ability to work in collaboration with their teams across cultures and backgrounds. - Time management
Remote developers should master time management in order to be more productive, reach goals, and track progress. - Proactivity
Developers who proactively work on projects are the most desirable. They must be able to analyze scenarios, solve problems, and complete projects without needing reminders or requests from their managers.
Once you have a unique EVP and have identified your ideal candidate, you can define a hiring process that allows you to determine whether candidates are a good match.
The remote developer hiring process
1. Post a clear and attractive job offer
Although posting a detailed job offer may seem obvious, as it should be a prerequisite for any type of role, it is especially important when looking for remote developers. For the process to be effective, the responsibilities and expectations associated with the position should be described in as much detail as possible.
One way to make the offer more attractive is to include a short video. According to Career Builder, job postings that include video are viewed 12 percent more and receive 34 percent more applications than text- and image-based job ads. The video can be recorded by members of the IT team who describe the types of projects they work on, or an HR manager who explains the company culture. This way, the team is also involved in the process and the company’s image is enhanced.
According to Career Builder, job postings that include video are viewed 12 percent more and receive 34 percent more applications than text- and image-based job ads. Click To Tweet2. Simplify the review process
Identifying the right candidates from a large pool of applicants is the most difficult part of recruiting, but a solid pre-screening process can make a significant difference.
With well-defined criteria that allows you to rank candidates, you can speed up the selection process. Depending on the complexity of the position, you may want to create a scorecard to make it easier for you to evaluate and compare candidates.
You can also use a written application form with impactful questions for an initial screening, or ask the applicants to submit short video responses. These questions will give you insight into their skills, experience, and compatibility with your company, and will help you rule out resumes that do not fit the position.
3. Interview candidates
Once you have filtered and selected the candidates who meet the necessary requirements for the position, it is time to interview them.
Prepare the interview and the questions you are going to ask. Evaluate their communication skills, as well as their experience and technical knowledge. The candidates’ professionalism and ability to communicate over video call will be a good indicator as to how well they will be able to work remotely.
4. Test candidates
There are digital tools that allow you to do a variety of assessments, from cognitive and technical evaluations to personality tests, to see if the candidate fits the company culture.
Once you have found the perfect candidates, the next step is to decide whether to hire them as full-time employees or contractors.
Contractors vs. full-time developers
If you need a developer for a short project, then a contractor would be the right option. If, on the contrary, you need someone on a long-term basis, you should search for a full-time developer. Let’s see what the advantages and disadvantages of each are.
There is no right or wrong hire — it depends on what your company is looking for and what your goals are. If you want to build a permanent, dedicated team, hire someone full-time, but if you occasionally need someone to take care of short-term projects, hire a contractor.
Another key factor to consider when hiring remote developers is where to find the top talent. There are many countries that are quickly becoming talent hubs that your company may want to target.
According to a SkillValue report, the best countries to find developers in the world are Slovakia, Mexico, Poland, Hungary, and Ukraine.
Slovakia
Slovakia has over 39,000 tech specialists. According to the SkillValue report, Python developers from Slovakia are more skilled and knowledgeable than experts in other technologies. Developers from Slovakia typically work for fintech and leisure companies, and the government.
Mexico
Mexico ranked second in the world for the number of top developers available, according to more than 550 technical assessments in the SkillValue report. Gartner Inc. ranked the country among the top three globally in terms of offshoring options in the technology industry and noted that Mexico’s rapid expansion was three times greater than the global average.
Poland
Polish programmers did particularly well in the SkillValue report. Although the country is not known for its abundance of IT companies, it has a strong educational system with an emphasis on programming, which is taught from the lower school level. Therefore, by high school, students are proficient in programming languages such as Java and Python.
Hungary
The government of Hungary has instituted programming classes in its primary and secondary school levels. So, Hungarians know how to program starting at a young age, and achieve top performance scores on IT challenges, such as HackerRank — a technology hiring platform that assesses developers’ skills — based on a scale of 1-100 — from all over the world.
Ukraine
Ukraine is home to 192,000 software engineers, and most of them work for outsourcing and staffing companies. According to a DOU survey, JavaScript is the most common programming language in Ukraine.
Other countries where you can find top talent include:
China
Chinese programmers excel in aspects such as speed and accuracy in the HackerRank challenges. These challenges focus on programming skills, data structure and algorithms, mathematical and analytical skills, and functional programming.
Russia
Russia has a worldwide reputation for having the most highly skilled developers. The Russian programmers scored 99.9 (HackerRank), barely beaten by their Asian counterparts. Nevertheless, the tests showed that Russians are better at handling algorithms.
Switzerland
Switzerland has one of the highest number of IT companies in the world, so it is not surprising that Swiss programmers regularly obtain the highest HackerRank scores. Switzerland is also among the countries with the best Global Innovation Index.
To hire your dedicated team of software developers, turn to an Employer of Record (EOR). Globalization Partners can help you hire remote developers in over 185 countries with the support and expertise you need to make the process faster and easier.
