Solving Technical Recruiting Challenges Through International Expansion
By Itzik Spitzen, LeasePilot
Did you know it takes an average of 120 candidates to make a single software engineering hire? That is an enormous amount of time, energy and money sunk into the recruiting process. Imagine our frustration at LeasePilot when we had difficulty hiring software engineers in Boston, a booming hotbed rife with top technical talent.
As most tech companies will contend, competition for top engineering talent is tough. Many recruits — from entry-level to senior leaders — gravitate toward the big tech giants. They’re lured by spectacular headquarters and the clout that comes with a splashy name on his or her resume. Pair that with the fact that more and more recruits are looking for flexible work options, and technical hiring is more difficult than ever before. Because we want to build a collaborative environment where our developers can ideate in real-time on software exercises and product development, keeping our employees centralized is important for our organization.
After exhausting our local recruiting options — from hiring firms to online job-boards — it was clear we needed to look into new markets to build out our team. That’s when we began thinking about international expansion.
A primary consideration for any business thinking about setting down roots in multiple countries is if operating across time zones makes sense for your organization. If real-time collaboration between international teams is essential, you’ll want to think twice before establishing a satellite office abroad. Hosting 6 a.m. ET conference calls to accommodate your team in the U.K. will get old very, very quickly. But if your teams can work asynchronously, having engineers in various geographies provides some major benefits. For example, having a presence in two time zones enables your team to work on the software essentially around the clock. An international team that’s seven or eight hours ahead of the Eastern time zone can perform regular system maintenance in the middle of the night when U.S. customers are likely offline.
From a logistics perspective, before opening a new office, you need to make sure you have a team of trustworthy lawyers and accountants with experience working internationally and specifically in the country where you plan to expand. Depending on the country and relationship with the U.S., you may run into unexpected roadblocks if you don’t have the right professionals on your side. Things like opening international bank accounts, tax regulations and employee benefits — while certainly not the most exciting things to think about — need to be heavily considered before you dive headfirst into a new location. Having experts on your side who understand these intricacies helps immensely and can keep your growing business out of hot water.
After evaluating these considerations, we knew that international expansion was right for LeasePilot. It was no longer a matter of if or when, but where. Israel was the obvious first choice. As a native-born Israeli, I already had an established network of engineers, I spoke the language, and I knew the culture. We also already had an outsourced team in Israel, so creating our own team in Tel Aviv just made complete sense. Perhaps most importantly of all, the city is brimming with the engineering talent we need to grow and support our business.
Once you’ve decided that an international office is the appropriate next step for your business, think about how you’re going to staff it. As you start to build out your team, prioritize hiring great, trustworthy leaders to run that arm of your business. Search for a lead developer who is not only a technical expert, but someone who is a true leader and great communicator, who understands your business and industry, and whose values and views align with your businesses’ goals and values. Recruiting such a person is no small task. It will undoubtedly take time and money, but a strong leader makes a world of difference and helps better ensure your new office’s success.
We’re happy with our decision to open an international office to expand our pool for recruitment and help fuel our company’s growth. While it’s not the right move for every organization, it’s worth weighing the various benefits as you think about expanding your operations.
About The Author
Itzik Spitzen, co-founder & CTO of LeasePilot, leads the company’s technology strategy and engineering department, where he brings more than 20 years of relevant software experience building market-leading products. As the technical team lead, Itzik shapes the product layers and leads everything from software development to architecture, cloud infrastructure, IT and security.