An increasing number of businesses from all over the globe now like to opt for remote hiring, mainly to bridge the talent gap in their software or app development projects. At the same time, making a better bargain with a lower cost of hiring remote developers remains a key motivation behind this.
But remote hiring has its own set of challenges as well. Even after spending massive efforts and time, you may not be able to get on board the best developer talents if you do not follow a proper hiring methodology. We provide a brief but practical guide to hiring the best remote talent pool.
Document your entire project requirements
Do you have a well-articulated document to describe your app with all the necessary details? If not, start working on a project requirement document first. Such a document should mention all the following information.
- Mention the core app idea, user benefits, target audience, and business advantages.
- Mention the target platforms and type of app you will build, such as a native or hybrid or cross-platform app. If you go for one native platform at a time, mention your priority for Android or iOS.
- Based on the target platform, explain the stack and tools for the project.
- Now mention whether you will build a fully-fledged app at one go or go for incremental development such as MVP.
- Mention the timeline and maximum budget for developing the app.
Selecting the platforms to hire developers
You cannot rely on a single channel for hiring a talented remote developer team. Over the Internet, you have a gamut of resources and channels to access skilled resources. Let’s look at a few of them here.
- Look for individual skilled resources in platforms like Upwork, Toptal, YouTeam, etc.
- For hiring a reputed development company, screen through the B2B online review platforms such as Goodfirms, Clutch, Dribble, and a few others.
- To know and interact with the most active developers, hit community platforms like GitHub and StackOverflow.
- Do searches with relevant skill-specific keywords on social platforms and job boards like LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, and many others.
Know locations from where it is best to hire remote developers
Some skills are abundant in some parts of the world, whereas some locations offer a distinct cost advantage. This is why it is apt to know locations where you get the best of skills and developer pricing. Keep the following considerations in mind.
- Maturity of the outsourcing market: Some IT markets are mature enough to offer an extensive range of opportunities for various skills. These locations have an edge.
- Time-zone advantage: The lesser the impact of time-zone difference on the project, the better it is for the project. So, consider whether the time-zone difference will be a constraint or an advantage.
- Hourly rates of developers & project cost: The average hourly rate charged by the developers and the overall costing of app projects in the country is decisive from the cost perspective.
- Language & cultural barrier: Lower the linguistic and cultural barriers, the better it is for the app project.
Go deeper into the portfolio
Can there be a better way to evaluate a development team’s practical skills and knowledge than by seeing the development company’s portfolio? No, there is none, and that’s why evaluating the portfolio of past projects remains so essential.
Apart from checking the portfolio of their projects from the surface, it is important to carry out a background check of the completed app projects with the clients. This is critical in respect of clearly defining their capabilities.
Emphasize evaluating technical skills
When the first round of remote interviews is over, it is the right time to conduct another round of interviews to evaluate the programming skills and development expertise. A coding test should follow this interview to see the practical coding skills of the developers on a demo project.
To complete the technical screening process, you also need to conduct a pair programming session where both the remote candidates and the in-house team will collaborate on a demo project with ample scope of collaboration and communication between them.
Evaluating soft skills
When the app developer candidates have gone through the technical evaluation and shown their worth for the project, it is time to subject them to soft skill assessment. This test is carried out mainly by the HR team and technical leads of the company just to check communication skills, work ethics, aspirations and motivation, honesty, and integrity.
Soft skill assessment is critical to project success since many app projects often suffer from poor work ethics of remote developers despite hiring skilled talents. Meeting the project deadlines and remaining committed to the deliverables is only easy with high-integrity work ethics and principled practices.
Don’t undermine employee orientation
If you have given so much effort to the hiring process, you should keep it from going astray because of a poor onboarding or orientation process. To retain the developer’s confidence in your company higher, it is important to orient the developers to the company’s processes and value systems as soon as they join.
Final Words
There can be hardly any doubt that remote hiring is no longer remote these days, or at least it doesn’t seem to be so, because of the connected ecosystem we work with. On the other hand, remote hiring allows even small businesses and startups to take advantage of a level-playing field empowered by technologies. No wonder big and small business brands huddle together in the race to hire the best remote talents.
