Recent years have seen an unusual surge in the number of job vacancies in the IT sector. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in computer and information technology are expected to rise at a rate of about 13% between 2020 and 2030, which is more than the average of all occupations combined!
Struggling with a shortage of workforce, most US companies find it necessary to source IT professionals from lesser developed nations like India, as these countries offer large pools of inexpensive yet skilled workforce. However, conducting recruitment processes in another continent can be a major challenge. This is where offshore IT staffing services come in handy as they have access to a large network of domestic talent. They help you find and hire high-quality candidates who fit your business needs well.
In order to gain maximum return on your investments in offshoring, you need to keep a few things in mind while selecting a suitable offshore talent agency.
- Ensure that the IT staffing firm has a diverse network of IT professionals
For your IT functions to run smoothly, you need a range of skills like coding, cloud computing, network security, data analysis, AI, software development, and more. Therefore, your offshore IT team must consist of a combination of diverse skill sets.
It is important to ensure that you shortlist only those offshore IT staffing agencies that have access to a vast network of IT professionals so that you have the liberty to choose what is required for your business needs.
- Try to minimize language barriers and miscoordination
Once hired, your offshore team will be sitting in a different country, probably a different continent as well. Their mother tongue is not the same as yours. In such a scenario, language barriers are bound to occur. To avoid this, you must interview the candidate thoroughly before hiring to see if they can communicate messages accurately.
- Maintain proper documentation
Employees on an offshore team may change from time to time as some may be working part-time or freelancing. When an offshore employee leaves, the handover of responsibilities becomes tough in an online mode of communication. To avoid wasting your time and resources on handover tasks, ensure that the staffing agency documents each and every detail of the project. When an employee is replaced by another, the transfer of responsibilities must take place smoothly.
- Make sure to inspect the quality of their skills base
Sometimes, offshore IT staffing services may make huge claims about their candidate base and their skillsets. However, it may not be wise to trust them blindly. Even though the staffing firms themselves perform the initial screening process, make sure you take at least one to two rounds of interviews to closely assess the candidates’ skill base, cultural fit, and language proficiency.
- Work out a convenient arrangement for coordination
Even though the time zone difference between you and your offshore team offers some major advantages in terms of maintaining workflow continuity, it also increases the chances of miscoordination.
Consider an example- It is 1 AM in India and your offshore team is fast asleep. But at the same time, your in-house team in Washington requires urgent input from them. What do you do in such a circumstance? Can you wait for a day? Probably not, as this may lead to a delay in the project.
To avoid such mishaps, work out an arrangement for better coordination. You could agree upon some overlapping work hours so that there are minimum coordination gaps, and everything falls well within the deadlines.
Conclusion
With an increasing number of candidates being trained in Computer and Information Technology, there is no dearth of offshore IT staffing solutions. Selecting one amongst a flurry of options can be a tricky business. However, by keeping certain checkpoints in mind, you can certainly make an informed choice.