3 Mistakes To Avoid When Recruiting Tech Talent In Vietnam

Recruiting tech talent in Vietnam is not simple. Aside from the harsh competition and high demand, there are also other hiring mistakes that can make it difficult for companies to secure Vietnamese programmers. 

Just Relying On Job-Portals For Searching Talent

Job-portal’s streamlined application process can help employers to search and locate available tech talent on the market quickly. So it is no surprise that many organizations are using these career boards as their sole method for recruiting tech talent in Vietnam. 

Unfortunately, developers are passive applicants. This means they are not actively looking for new jobs, hence, searching for tech talent through job portals will only lead firms to developers who did post their resumes on those platforms. In other words, you effectively throw away more than 75% of the potential candidates who are willing to consider new opportunities if presented to them by other means.

To ensure the optimal outcome, companies must expand their recruiting practices beyond just career boards. This is where personal referrals and headhunter networks come in. From our experience, they are the most productive sources for successful new hires. 

Neglect Candidate Engagement

Finding great developers does not help if they do not want to work for you. At JDI, we believe that passive talent needs a more personal approach to catch their attention. Communicating frequently is the key! 

Firms will have to tailor their interaction to match the tech talent’s expectations and resonate with them. Their recruiters are required to invest their time and resources into forging those bondings. By actively engaging with the developers, keeping them well-informed upon application, during the waiting periods, and at status updates.

Beyond initiating and responding as soon as possible, we recommend businesses communicate with the candidate using their preferred channels. This personalization can drastically brighten up the candidate experience and make them more likely to respond to your inquiry, thus, improving your talent pipeline considerably.

Long Screening Process

From checking background, and reviewing applications to asserting developer skills and experience, screening candidates can often be arduous for organizations. 

It is a cumbersome task yet so vital to the success of recruiting tech talent. You can not take the shortcut by randomly picking a few available developers on the market and calling it the day either. 

Instead, firms will need to optimize and streamline their screening process to match the best candidate profile with the job description in the short-time possible. On average, it can take about 3~4 weeks on average for searching and screening through one cycle of developer applications with an HR team of 2 to 3 members. 

But the best developers never stay in the market for a long time, thus, indicating that  the process should actually take a lot less time. At JDI, we constantly build and curate a network of great Vietnamese developers with monthly updates on their availability. Therefore, the screening can be cut down considerably as we already know which developers are the best fit for the client’s requirements. 

How JDI Helps Firms Build Up Their Dream Offshore Tech Team

Since 2016, JDI has been helping tech startups and growing businesses to scale up their remote tech teams with offshore developers in Vietnam. Here is how we do our hiring process:

Step 1. Receive the Job requirements

It is crucial for us to understand our client’s hiring needs and requirements, including: 

• • • • Job Description
      • Salary Range
      • Special Requirements
      • Compensation & Benefits

Based on the given information, JDI will proceed to source suitable candidate CVs from our network. Depending on clients’ demands, it may take less than 2 days to ensure all requirements are well listed.

Step 2. Sourcing & Screening Candidate CVs

During the sourcing, we also kick-start a pre-eliminate process, consisting of phone calls or face-to-face meetings to verify the candidate’s skills and background information. Overall, it takes around 1~2 week for the back and forth between us and our clients to approve those applications. 

During this period, our recruitment team will be responsible for: 

1. Communication channels

JDI will select and set up an optimal communication flow and system based on client preferences such as Email, Skype, WhatsApp, or Viber.

2. Candidate Progress Tracking

Our recruitment team will send CVs and prior information summary to clients, including:

• • • • Candidate notice period
      • Candidate skill set and experience
      • Candidate expectations about the new environment, salary, benefits,…

If a candidate got rejected by the client, we will ask for their detailed feedback to improve the screening process for future applicants.

If the client is happy with the candidate’s CV then we will proceed to the next step of an interview. The screening process for this cycle is considered done.  

Step 3. Set-Up Technical Test And Interview

JDI helps schedule interviews and run technical tests according to the client’s requirements. The process often takes 1 week.

1. Technical Test

Depending on each particular position and Employer preference, the technical test can be arranged:

• • • • Online: HackerEarth, Codility…
      • Offline: Submit a mini project on GitHub…
      • Onsite: Work through paper test/assignment at JDI office.

2. Technical Interview

Based on each particular position and Employer preference, a technical interview can be

arranged:

• • • • Online: via Skype or other platforms.
      • Onsite: meet hiring managers directly at the office.

3. Interview Topics

• • • • Go through candidates’ tests/assignments with hiring managers and technical teams.
      • Business domain and position briefing.
      • Past project and working experiences.
      • Cultural, motivational and behavioral fit.

Step 4. Offer negotiation and Onboarding

Offer negotiation shall be conducted by JDI after the developers have passed all previous stages. We are also in charge of collecting all necessary personal documents and keeping in contact with candidates until they successfully onboard:

• • • • Prepare offer letter and send to Employer to review
      • Collect acceptance from Employee
      • Provide working space (if required)

Conclusion

Recruiting tech talent overseas may seem like an extremely difficult task, especially for those who are new to the tech talent landscape in Vietnam. Nevertheless, if you can avoid these recruiting pitfalls and be well-prepared for all the necessary factors from the start, securing great developers for your dedicated remote tech team will become much easier. 

If you are still unsure or do not have the time and resources to build an offshore software development team in Vietnam by yourself, please reach out to us for a free in-depth discussion on how we can help.