How to acquire programmers from abroad

The battle for top talent is intensifying

This is especially true in the IT industry, where we are seeing a perpetual shortage of specialists. Given that demographic trends are not optimistic, it is worth looking to the east, for example, in search of qualified staff. But what is the best way to recruit foreign nationals?

Foreigners, becoming less foreign

It’s July 10th. A special day, because the European Football Championship final starts in two hours. In a pub in Łódź, I meet Vasyl, a friendly Ukrainian in his thirties who has been living in my city for nine months. We met in the same pub a few weeks earlier during the Belgium vs. Italy match. Since there is still some time before the big final, we grab a seat and talk about work and life on the Vistula. After spending six months in Bratislava, Vasyl asked his manager for a transfer to Poland. He works for one of the world's largest BPO corporations, so he could have fought for a slightly more exotic destination, but he chose our country, and he insists that he made this decision after a single weekend trip to Kraków. He wasn't disappointed. What’s more, at his encouragement, two of his friends moved to Łódź: Alina to accounting and Igor to IT. They aren't interested in football, though, so they joined us after the match.

It’s a story like many others—an increasingly common one. Today, no one in Poland is surprised by the sight of non-tourist foreigners doing their daily grocery shopping or taking the tram to work in Rzeszów, Poznań, or Toruń. It is estimated that up to 1.3 million foreigners are working in Poland, and there is no indication that this number will decrease in the coming years. The vast majority are Ukrainians, followed by Chinese, Vietnamese, Belarusians, and arrivals from Western Europe. For several years, the number of work permits issued to foreigners has been growing dynamically. In 2013, it was just over 39,000, while in 2015, it was already over 74,000. The situation is similar with declarations of intent to employ a foreigner. In the same period, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy recorded an increase from 235,000 to over 782,000. It is worth remembering that these figures do not include, for example, workers from EU countries.

The greatest needs in IT

It is becoming apparent that migrant workers are increasingly taking on not only hard, manual labor for minimum wage but are also providing high-level expertise to domestic companies. Data from the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy clearly shows that foreigners choosing our country as their destination for labor migration are increasingly qualified programmers, engineers, and economists. It is the former that are in the highest demand. Given that there are never enough database, Java, or .NET specialists, and that every popular programming language is a kind of lingua franca for the industry regardless of the coders' nationalities, there is nothing standing in the way of looking for specialists across our eastern border. But what is actually the most effective way to recruit developers from outside Poland?

The competition for talent

The competition for talent is becoming fiercer, and costs are quite high, which is why it is worth paying attention to the most efficient use of recruitment funds. Market research, searching for new tools and channels to reach potential candidates—unless we have an office in a given country and people with the right know-how, the whole process becomes problematic. On the other hand, recruitment agencies offering specialized services in this area can help, though, incidentally, they also come with a hefty price tag.

Programmers recommending colleagues

You can also recruit through referrals. Like Vasyl. The friendly man from Vinnytsia received a reward for bringing in two friends, which allowed him to buy a new gadget or pay for an extra Polish language course. That same amount wouldn't have convinced employees of specialized agencies to get out of their chairs. It turns out that foreign employees are among the most engaged in the employee referral process. Once you find a "Columbus"—the first brave person to work at a given company—who learns the organizational culture, customs, and breaks the ice, they themselves become eager to encourage their unconvinced compatriots and take an active part in co-creating the team.

Companies like Ciklum—a firm with Scandinavian-Ukrainian roots that has offices in Gdańsk and Wrocław, among others—know a lot about the benefits of this recruitment method. They form a tight-knit IT team and are happy to recommend their colleagues from Ukraine, and others, for work. It is also worth mentioning that IT companies are often assisted by body leasing service providers or independent efforts aimed at collaborating with programmers on specific projects for a set period. After such a project, when both sides are satisfied, it is even easier to collaborate on the next one, either with the same contractor or another one they recommend.

It’s worth the risk

In the case of foreign employees, some of the advantages of referral-based hiring are particularly highlighted. Referrers usually encourage their friends to apply—people they know and, in effect, pre-screen and try to fit into the landscape of the organization. For obvious reasons, foreigners have specific needs in this regard. Employers who use this form of acquiring staff from outside Poland consistently point to the benefits of significantly simplifying the adaptation process and shortening the onboarding ritual. This is a value that translates directly into financial savings, and furthermore, it significantly facilitates and aggregates activities related to diversity management. Companies where a multicultural environment is co-created by people who already know and trust each other from the start show much better results in their diversity efforts. Additionally, referred individuals show greater loyalty to the company and are therefore more inclined to commit to their employer for a longer period.

Capitalizing on the trend

In the second half of 2015 alone, over 450 IT specialists from Ukraine and Belarus started work. Creating a simple, intuitive, and attractive tool for recruitment referrals can successfully boost the acquisition of specialists from the east and make it easier for employers to reach the best candidates outside the country. A dedicated recruitment referral app, like RolePoint in the USA or ShareHire in Poland, will help create or solidify a referral culture within a company. As a result, recruitment costs will gradually fall over time, while efficiency and satisfaction levels among employees and the organization's external environment will rise. It will do what simple referral programs based on emails, Excel, or paper forms cannot.

There is no need to delve too deeply into geopolitics to confidently state that the situation in the east will not improve anytime soon. It is worth welcoming those displaced by the turmoil of war and hiring them in accordance with their specialization. They will certainly be happy to recommend their friends for work, and in doing so, we will gain more specialists and a cohesive team.

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