There is a high demand for Ukrainian tech specialists and developers. The information technology recruitment market, for now, is overcrowded. There are multiple recruiting agencies (more than 1 000) and freelancers. Many IT companies also have internal recruiters.

Surveys show that more than 40% of recruiters have 1-3 years of job experience, 20% of specialists are in recruiting for 2-3 years and 20% have 5 years of experience. Also, there are about 10% juniors with less than 1 year of experience.

Only 30% of Ukrainian recruiters intend to get a certification or already have it.

The practices at work

• More than 50% of positions are filled in within a month, almost 30% of openings require 6 to 8 weeks to fill in. 17% require only 2 weeks – most often, in outsourcing companies, where there are multiple, versatile projects and thus multiple job opportunities suitable for one candidate.
• The most popular sources are LinkedIn, djinni.co, Telegram, Facebook groups, and GitHub. Recruiters use referral reward programs and ask for referrals in Skype and Telegram chats and channels. They visit tech conferences and workshops to meet new specialists in person.
• Experienced recruiters often use their personal brand to fill in the positions. The candidates for the top positions and rare positions are often found using personal connections or referrals. 
• The favorite paid resources are LinkedIn, djinni.co, and TurboHiring.
• Quite surprising, at the beginning of 2019, more than 30% of recruiters maintained database in Excel (most often, in product companies). Cleverstaff ATS was used by 29 % of respondents (and preferred by recruiting agencies). 25% used self-made systems (usually, outsourcing companies).

Compensations 

Recruiters are paid salaries and bonuses for completed tasks. Some work for salary only. Freelancers usually get only the commissions for filled positions.

The standard salary is between $500 and $1000, $2000+for leading managers. It depends on the qualification and location. 

The monthly income of middle-level recruiters with developed skills, who can independently work on standard tasks, is usually $500-$1000. 

Senior specialists with 3+ years of experience and the skills of Boolean search, GCSE, Х-ray search, who can fill in difficult and rare job positions and think out of the box posting jobs and searching for candidates, get $600-$2000.

The problems and challenges of IT recruiting in Ukraine

As there are a lot of inexperienced IT recruiters in Ukraine and a big gap between the recruitment practices of specialists, some specific problems arise. On one hand, IT specialists have got used to the approach, ethics, and understanding of professional recruiters. On the other hand, these standards are often disregarded, and the attitude of the IT community towards the recruiters becomes less and less favorable. 

Developers complain about constantly reappearing, annoying issues. The companies looking for candidates suffer from these problems because they hinder the hiring process.

• The recruiters cannot explain the basic technical aspects of the position. 

Many recruiters don’t even provide detailed information on the project or a company in general.

As a result, they cannot communicate the advantages and value of the vacancy.

• The recruiters often spam candidates and offer irrelevant vacancies.

Batch messaging usually won’t attract qualified IT specialists and can harm the image of the company. 

• The job positions don’t correspond to the candidate’s experience and skills. 

60% of candidates often receive irrelevant job propositions.

• A description of a job position doesn’t match the requirements of the team.

When a candidate gets to the tech interview, both sides suddenly find out that he or she matches the job description but doesn’t match the requirements of the team. 

Recruitment in Ukraine and in the USA 

• Both in Ukraine and in the US, there are often more jobs than seekers, so employers cannot rely on need-based recruiting efforts. Talent scouting and sourcing are constant. Especially, considering that the majority of Ukrainian developers scarcely ever actively look for a job. They usually work for one company until they receive a better offer.
• The US trend of the employees to be interested not only in the salaries and perks is gaining momentum in Ukraine. 
• Ukrainian recruiters actively use channels and chats on Telegram messenger to find candidates: post vacancies and ask for referrals. In the US, the price of posting a job position is on average $75. In Ukraine, the starting price is $10.
• The US candidates sell themselves well. Ukrainian IT specialists often have great expertise but are not that good at presenting themselves in a favorable light. Recruiters should be very attentive and ask the right questions not to miss a good candidate.
• While in the US, irrelevant candidates just don’t get any answers, rejected Ukrainian specialists expect feedback. Detailed feedback is a plus for the recruiter and the company they present. 
• In the US, the search for candidates and finding the best match for a position can last up to 6 months, with 5-6 interviews. In Ukraine, there are usually up to 3 interviews, and the positions are filled in within 2 months.  
• The interviews in Ukraine take usually much longer. Developers and other tech people get used to greater attention.

Conditions and costs. An in-house recruiter vs an agency

When you need to hire employees, there are two options: 

• to hire an in-house recruiter;
• to outsource this task to a freelancer or an agency.

Which way to take?

Let’s look, how to calculate the cost. The searching process includes such expenses:

1. Posting a job description on the job-boards, access to resume database
2. Phone service, Internet
3. Recruiter’s working time
4. An equipped workplace.

If your company is actively hiring and there are always some open positions, you’ll also need software to automate the recruitment process and to store a systematized database of applicants.

Comparing the expenses of keeping an in-house recruiter and the agency/freelance recruiter, it appears that the first option is profitable only if your company needs to hire 5 to 7 new candidates monthly. If you need about 1-2 employees monthly, the company should outsource hiring. 

You can make the same calculations if you already have a recruiting specialist or team in your company but the workload is increasing.

How do external recruiters work?

76% of IT companies in Ukraine turn to external recruiters, more or less often.

Freelance recruiters

Freelance recruiters often refer candidates for a definite reward, for example, $300 for a Middle-level candidate, $500 for a Senior, $800 for a Lead. Then, they just batch message candidates, receive a couple of CVs and then send them to the companies. Sooner or later, one or another company hires someone and pays. 

Such recruiters are not interested in maintaining the image of their clients, in finding the best fit, etc. They also are not very concerned about their own professional growth.

The agencies

The availability of recruiting services at low prices (and of low quality) distorts the market. At the beginning of the 2000s, the cost of hiring one candidate was about 25-30% of the annual salary at this position. At the beginning of the 2010s it was about 18%-20% of the salary. Now it’s even lower.

Some agencies uphold their reputation. But on average, it results in a poorer quality of the service. Many IT recruiting agencies save on the software and tools, office equipment, and salaries for recruiters. And as the salaries are low, they have to scale down professional requirements.

More reputable agencies try to stand out by quality. They provide only relevant candidates, interested in the client’s company, conduct skype/telephone interviews to check candidates’ skills and test references. Such agencies usually offer specific, measurable conditions and strictly defined deadlines. 

Business models and pricing

Usually, the agencies receive a commission pegged to the job position salary. Some offer fixed prices.

The pricing can depend on the type of search. An exclusive search is when an agency carries out the recruiting process alone. Non-exclusive search is when an agency works on a vacancy simultaneously with internal recruiters. Non-exclusive search will cost you more.

The usual fee is equal either to a monthly salary of the job position to fill in or to the percentage of annual salary (10%-20%). There are options with prepayment and without it.

Some agencies also provide warranties, for example, a free-of-charge search for a replacement if the candidate fails during the trial period or the guaranty not to poach the employee.

Why DNA325 

DNA325 is a proven local partner for global companies and startups to recruit specialists in development, design, marketing, sales, customer support, etc. 

The team of professional recruiters with 10+ years of experience in IT provides a simplified and cost-effective way to hire IT specialists in Ukraine. 

• DNA325 has 80 000+ candidate database
• The agency usually finds an appropriate specialist in 2-4 weeks.
• DNA325 maintains employer branding. 
• It helps to create and execute a full-cycle new employee orientation and onboarding program.
• The price is fixed and not bound to the percentage of the salary of the job position. 
• DNA325 has tech experts on staff. They can both explain technical details of a job position to the candidates and provide full reports on candidates’ expertise.

Grow your business in Ukraine effortlessly

DNA325 provides not only recruiting and HR services. 

It’s a full-cycle agency that can open a functioning office for you in Ukraine, CIS or Eastern Europe. we provide for our local and international clients all operations maintenance, including:

• Open the local office. 
• Register your company. 
• Develop corporate documents. 
• Provide legal, personnel, and tax filing support. 
• Investigate the market. 

Space-as-a-Service

DNA325 opened a hub and offers Space-as-a-Service providing the equipped workplace, office and admin management, team presence reporting, HR and PM services. You can start your business in Ukraine fast and easily and then scale.

With the Space-as-a-Service, you get

• Workspaces equipped with computers, WiFi, chairs, tables, etc.
• Comfortable conference rooms to meet your corporate needs.
• 24/7 support.
• Admin management.
• Office management.

Such companies as Advandmedia, ISG2, and ZipporMedia prefer Space-as-a-Service to opening and maintaining their own offices.

Why Ukraine? 

Hiring IT specialists in Ukraine is profitable because the rates are lower. 

Compare monthly salaries of junior frontend and backend developers in some countries (according to PayScale):

Frontend

• US — from $5,738
• UK — from $3,104
• Ukraine — from $1,900
• Switzerland — from $6,409
• Israel — from $3,242

Backend

• US — from $5,758
• UK — from $5,297
• Ukraine — from $1,000
• Switzerland — from $2,945
• Israel — from $6,250

In other information technologies, the Ukrainian specialists’ rates are also lower.

The expected growth of the Ukrainian IT industry is to $5.4 billion in 2020 and $8.4 billion in 2025. Siemens, Boeing, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Samsung, and Huawei have R&D centers in Ukraine.

There are 185,000 IT professionals in Ukraine, and this number grows. Ukrainian Universities and colleges offer high-quality, practice-oriented IT education. 

Professional Ukrainian recruiting agency DNA325 will help you to build a team and start working – fast, effortlessly and efficiently.