In my previous post, I talked about all the benefits of nearshore staffing and how it can help startups and businesses in the growth stages scale faster while saving their budget. I discussed how you could use nearshore staffing to scale up as well as how to make your remote team work. The main points of the post were:
- Nearshore and offshore staffing is an excellent way for startups and small businesses to grow their teams.
- There are great benefits when using nearshore staffing, but it is not always easy to make it work; you need to consider several aspects.
- Your team is the most essential part of your company. Never delegate the function of choosing your team members to another company.
In this second part, I discuss how to choose the perfect “partner.” Note the emphasis on partner; this is because you need to select your nearshore provider the same way you would choose a business partner. Remember, you are not selecting a supplier; you are choosing a company that will help you hire staff, and in some cases, manage your team. They have to have the same values, working culture, and ethics as your business.
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The first step to finding the right partner is to know precisely what you need. If you need experts on machine learning or artificial intelligence, then you might need a specialized and more expensive company with the top 1% of candidates in that niche. If you want a designer, a Java developer, IT support, an executive assistant, or any position where you don’t need the top 1%,you can choose a less specialized partner that will have the talent and capabilities you need at a better price.
Once you know exactly what kind of partner you are looking for, consider the following to choose the right one:
- Culture. Their work culture should match your company’s work culture.
- Scaling. How much will the provide enable you to scale?Does the partner offer other positions that you might need in the future?
- Who would the team work for? Make sure the team works directly for your company and responds to you. I don’t recommend partners who offer services by the hour, as then the staff won’t feel part of your company and won’t be loyal to you. Make sure all the members work full-time for your business.
- Who would pick the team? As mentioned earlier, you should never delegate the selection of your team. Make sure you interview the candidates and that you have the final word. I always suggest making sure that your hiring process and methods are included in the “partners”hiring and filtering process of the candidates.
- Employee turnover rate. This is one of the most overlooked, but crucial,metric when choosing a nearshore partner. Some companies focus so much on costs that they pay very low wages and the working culture is not great; therefore, their employee turnover rate is higher. Remember that training an employee, especially a remote one, is costly and takes time. You don’t want that employee to leave you in a year.
- Country/time zone. Do you need the company to be in the same time zone?
- References: Make sure you ask for references and do your due diligence.
- Follow your instinct. Listen to your gut; if you are not 100% convinced, keep looking.
Pick a partner that thinks like you. Do you want a partner that focuses just on costs over the employees or quality? Or do you want a partner that might have a higher price but focuses more on the employees and quality?
I recommend the use of nearshore staffing not only when you are a startup but in all stages of your business. In my personal experience we were able to grow one of our family business because of the benefits of nearshore staffing. I have seen many clients and personal friends form the USA taking advantage of the great talent and wages of Mexico and building their remote team. They have been able to grow faster and scale in no time when needed. Just remember, having your nearshore remote team is like everything else in a startup, you have to do it right and put the time (at least on the beginning) in order for it to work.