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It’s a common misconception that overseas team augmentation is only reserved for larger corporations. In fact, 19% of our clients are startups who are either just starting out or have already achieved certain milestones. In this article, we will dig through a startup’s problems and answer the question — do they need an outstaffing partner to solve them?
Looking for skills, not people
In the beginning, many processes are hard to manage when the emphasis falls on the technical and creative aspects. Startups often face difficulties when it comes to quality recruiting. Since they typically have a small team, the responsibility for hiring is on the CEO or manager, who is already overseeing multiple tasks. This approach makes it challenging to recruit newbies and leads to inefficient use of resources.
Solution: When you have a dedicated hiring specialist, you gain better insights about people, not just sets of skills
A competent local hiring specialist helps you find the right candidate and identifies qualities you may have overlooked. To illustrate, let’s take the following example:
You are building a sales automation company and need to hire a C++ developer for a middle-level position. You may miss the candidate who was engaged in successful sales research in the past. Although that is a positive point, the prospect didn’t mention it on both their CV and during the initial interview. A professional recruiter can figure out the candidate’s background and hidden talents in a one-to-one meeting. They ensure candidates’ qualifications align with your company’s goals and values and build a communication strategy accordingly.
An open position is always more than a list of hard skills. At an outstaffing company, the hiring team has conducted numerous interviews. Vast experience in spotting the strong sides of a person significantly increases the likelihood of finding the right fit for the startup atmosphere.
Vague benefits and, as a result, lower motivation in the team
Get an important point — a competitive salary is no longer enough to satisfy a person. It’s quite common for startups to struggle with determining and providing benefits. In such cases, over time, the staff might lose the desire to do their tasks well and on time.
Solution: The staffing partner goes with benefits included
Working with a staffing partner can be a turning decision. Talent acquisition and management experts know that offering attractive benefits is key to retaining top talent. Startups gain access to a broader range of benefits that they may have yet to be able to provide on their own. The staffing partner can negotiate competitive rates for health insurance, arrange business trips, and provide educational courses and events. This allows the startup to focus on production and delegating benefits packages to the partner company.
Office Space Challenges
Even the most high-technology startups still need offices. The work process is more productive among like-minded people gathered in one place (at least from time to time). However, managing office space can pose significant challenges, especially for startups. Maintaining an office, especially overseas, would be an overwhelming responsibility from an organizational and financial perspective.
Solution: staffing partner provide office space
An international outstaffing partner should include several offices in different countries, making it effortless for clients to onboard teammates wherever they’re needed. As a staffing partner, SD Solutions provides integrated services that streamline operations related to office space management. Office infrastructure, managing equipment and supplies, ensuring a smooth transition for new hires and day-to-day comfort workspace tasks are included in the service.
Getting stuck in the Seniority Trap
As a startup CEO, you may think that hiring juniors will give you more worries than benefits.
That’s why they hire only seniors, who are forced to cover many tasks. Yet seniors cannot delegate half of those assignments that might be done by juniors because they are simply not hired. Finding suitable candidates with a diverse range of skills can be a lengthy process. There are a lot of nuances in hiring juniors that need to be followed to ensure that this is your ideal candidate who will be 100% dedicated.
Solution: Safe investing in remote junior contractors
Investing in junior contractors at various stages is an effective solution for your startup.
Hiring involves a lot of complex processes that need to be conducted by a team of responsible recruiters, people partners, and other unbilled managers. Outstaffing companies have a team of professionals who develop a whole strategy for engaging, developing and retaining juniors. They provide startups with all included onboarding processes for newbies, which also serves as a huge plus.
Remember that it’s important to maintain a balance in your team composition. Aim for at least one senior member and three motivated juniors.
Hiring around the world brings more candidates but more legal issues
The decision to hire overseas is often accompanied by many pitfalls related to documentation, legal issues, and financial aspects. You will need assistance in posting vacancies on the relevant platforms and a legal consultant who can advise you and the candidate on the documents’ flaws and the local laws.
Solution: Addressing legal issues with an Outstaffing Company in hiring overseas
Attempting to sign a contract with a foreigner on your own may not seem like an issue at first, but it can quickly become complicated. The staffing team can take care of tasks like preparing agreements, contracts, and invoices, providing a comprehensive set of services. By choosing the right staff augmentation model, your scaling partner works out all the necessary details that directly affect the final results.
It is getting harder and harder to attract people to a startup
New projects compete with established brands in the talent market. You might not believe it, but 305 million startups are created each year worldwide. The lack of recognition can make it challenging for startups to capture the attention and interest of experts. However, this creates not only a problem with hiring but also with keeping the team. Staff turnover is a common problem, even for future unicorns. People don’t see quick results, lose hope and leave.
Solution: use your staffing partners employer brand instead of building yours for ages
It’s up to you to determine whether you’re willing to postpone the hiring process for an extended period while you establish your brand identity. If not, looking for external solutions would be the way to go. Employer brand of an outstaffing partner acts as a safety net for your new name, gradually enhancing your reputation among employees.
According to our data, while 60% of a startup’s success lies in its groundbreaking ideas, technological stack, and other technical aspects, the remaining 40% is determined by its brand image and reputation. This highlights the critical role of building a solid brand image in attracting and keeping top talent. Company recognition gives the team confidence in the success of the project – resulting in a long-term working relationship.
While there are many challenges that startups can face, implementing proper hiring, onboarding processes, and retention models is crucial and requires the assistance of a staffing company. Contact us to book a demo to learn more about all the services included in our custom outstaffing model.
