Why Staff Augmentation Means Buying a Trusted Filter

Hiring a new team member sounds simple and straightforward until you consider the amount of time it takes to find, interview, and thoroughly vet candidates. And when you’re hiring for an IT position, you also have to screen candidates beyond their experience to make sure they have the right technical skills. The truth is, most CTOs and founders can make the mistake of thinking this process is easy and opt to do it themselves, when that actually comes with costly delays in getting the help they need.

CTOs and founders should stay focused on what they do best, managing long-term strategy, and instead look to staff augmentation as a powerful alternative. It does the job of a recruiter, through the perspective of an engineer. After all, the best person to assess the technical, behavioral and cultural requirements needed for the job is someone who is familiar with that work themselves. Staff augmentation saves time and money, but is best for finding the right fit and scaling resources quickly.

Save time and money by letting a staff augmentation expert find the right resource for your specifc needs

Staff Augmentation can help you find ideal candidates that may otherwise be a needle in a haystack.

They know the work. Good staff augmentation partners come from IT / Software Engineering backgrounds themselves or have experience in your specific industry. They’ve worked in the trenches and are familiar with the capabilities a project requires. From the get-go, they have a pulse on what you need for the particular role you need to fill.

They assess technical expertise. Resumes and interviews can only reveal so much about a candidate. But the success of any IT project lies in execution, so staff augmentation firms test candidates on their ability to complete your specific tasks, their familiarity with your tech stack and how they will perform in your operational model. These tests can vary from hands-on simulations and coding challenges, to peer reviews that give them a well-rounded view of someone’s capabilities.

They affirm skill sets. As part of the vetting process, a firm will also review portfolios of past work and confirm certifications or training the candidate has completed, as well as ask interview questions that simulate real-world scenarios. This ensures that candidates aren’t just claiming skills - but that they’ve actually used them successfully in professional environments.

They evaluate soft skills. It’s important to understand what a candidate can do, but also how they do it. These are the soft skills, or personality traits, that indicate how they might perform in certain situations. A firm will ask behavioral questions to reveal how they’d handle real-world challenges, such as how they’ve approached conflict or changes in a previous project. These scenarios reveal emotional intelligence, teamwork, adaptability, and accountability. In addition, the firm may source peer and employer reference checks or conduct mock team interactions to reveal subtle interpersonal cues, like confidence, humility, and respect, that matter in long-term engagements.

They look for cultural similarities. This work begins with the client, so the staff augmentation partner understands the organization's mission, communication style, work pace and overall environment. With that information in hand, a firm can screen candidates to make sure that they’ll fit the desired dynamic, such as identifying their preferences for collaborative versus independent work, or structured versus flexible hours.

They offer test runs. Screening alone won’t always determine success. Most partners will allow clients to “test drive” a candidate, and place them in a limited engagement to see if they’re a fit. By offering a trial period, staff augmentation firms make sure their clients have the right auxiliary hires before committing long-term. And if someone isn’t a fit, the firm can easily find a replacement from its existing, pre-vetted network.

By the time candidates reach you, they’ve already cleared several layers of scrutiny and have worked with the firm for years - so they’re proven talent. This minimizes the chance of mismatches and accelerates onboarding, which is one of the core advantages of working with a staff augmentation partner.

Next time your resources are strained, or you need particular skills to complement your team, consider staff augmentation to give you the solution. Chances are, the solution is already in their network, ready to go to work. Learn more about how we think about Staff Augmentation for software developers or product managers here.