Offshore Recruitment Services Boost Recruitment Firepower for Top IT Services Firm.
"Our investment in TEAM International’s services has yielded a return of greater than 100%. TEAM International is very strong, trustworthy and responsive. It is wonderful to work with them.”
- Chris Cosmos, Senior Vice President, Nelson Technology
The Client
A division of $400M Nelson Family of Companies, Nelson Technology (Nelson) is an IT recruiting and contract staffing firm with eight offices located in Northern California. The company works with customers to understand their technology-based business objectives and deliver quality talent to help them reach their goals. Nelson provides skilled IT professionals for leading companies, including many of the Fortune 500.
The Challenge
Nelson focuses on delivering the best talent for a wide range of technology and development requirements in the areas of Project Management, QA Engineering, Technical Writing, Web Development and Network Administration. As demand for Nelson’s IT staffing services sharply intensified during the past few years, so did the marketplace competition for qualified IT professionals. As a result, Nelson’s recruiters found themselves spending more and more time scouring the Internet for viable candidates, and having less time available to focus on high-value activities such as screening, qualifying and placing consultants.
The Solution
Nelson decided to explore the feasibility of supplementing its recruitment efforts using offshore recruiters. When its initial attempt at “testing the waters” using two independent Indian recruiters did not generate expected results, Nelson investigated other offshore options.
“We knew the outsourcing concept made sense. It was a matter of selecting the right firm — one that had a well-functioning offshore recruitment business,” said Chris Cosmos, senior vice president at Nelson.
After meeting with TEAM International an offshore division of Florida-based TEAM Information Services and personally assessing its operations in Ukraine, the decision was made.
“TEAM International is a U.S. owned company that specialized in recruiting long before developing its offshore service. They had the experience to back up their offering, knew what they were doing and had a first-class operation in Ukraine.”
The Process
Nelson and TEAM International executives together designed a custom recruitment strategy.
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Cosmos was impressed that TEAM International’s offshore manager hailed from the U.S. and had significant domestic experience.
“When you are working with an offshore manager who is from the U.S., there are no major hiccups. I thought it was pretty powerful to have a U.S. manager in Ukraine serving us,” Cosmos said.
The two firms decided that TEAM International’s recruiters would focus 100 percent of their efforts on sourcing candidates. Nelson’s director of recruiting emails the requirements to TEAM International’s recruiters, and leads a daily meeting to ensure they are working on the most critical openings. According to Cosmos, “TEAM International recruiters are good communicators and stay in constant contact with our recruiters via email, Instant Messenger and phone. I believe the frequency with which Nelson and Team recruiters stay connected has been the pillar of our success.”
The Results
In 2006, Nelson established its offshore partnership with TEAM International and currently engages three full-time TEAM International recruiters to source IT candidates for many of its requirements. The results have been impressive.
“TEAM International set realistic expectations with us, explaining that the offshore recruiters needed time to learn our culture, develop rapport with our recruiters and understand our processes,” said Cosmos. “Although we were cautioned that the first year is a building year and not to expect significant results, in reality, our investment in TEAM International’s services yielded a return of greater than 100 percent the first year.”
Nelson has embraced offshoring and considers TEAM International’s Ukrainian recruiters part of its team. Cosmos has revisited Ukraine operation and built a strong partnership with TEAM International’s recruiters through his support, mentorship and recognition of their contributions.
“I believe you will get the best performance when you make the connections, invest the time building relationships, and treat the offshore recruiters as you treat your internal team,” he stated.
TEAM International’s recruitment services have also allowed Nelson recruiters to invest the time needed to build their own personal databases and develop deeper relationships with consultants, knowing that TEAM International recruiters are scouring the market to find candidates that fit their openings. “TEAM International is very strong, trustworthy and responsive. It is wonderful to work with them,” concluded Cosmos.
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