The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing and Offshoring in Testing & Project Services

With the landscape as it is today — the internet has enabled businesses to connect with people resources anywhere in the world to complete most tasks. As a result there is a rising debate over the pros and cons of outsourcing and offshoring. For many companies today, the that is the question. But the other question is whether or not either are worth it.

 

To outsource is to contract work to a 3rd party, say a Project Management company, for example, to manage the build of platforms or systems. To offshore is to have work done in a different country. Of course, it’s possible to outsource and offshore – engaging a 3rd party in a different country to complete this work.

 

Both outsourcing and offshoring come with a host of benefits, but they can both also come with many challenges, particularly in Testing & Project Services.

 

Here we will aim to explore both the good and the bad, to help paint a picture of the opportunities to be had and the challenges to be wary of.

 

Pros and Cons of Outsourcing or Offshoring

 

Let us start with the pros.

 

It’s pretty easy to spot the benefits of engaging a 3rd party. Typically there are only two reasons why a company is like to even consider it:

1. They want to tap into expertise that they lack in-house
2. They could do it cheaper externally.

 

Outsourcing is a pretty compelling option if there is a skill gap internally. Perhaps there are even staff that could do the job, but they may not have the same level of experience or support to bring the ideal level of expertise to the project. A 3rd party organisation, on the other hand, with a specialism in this area and expertise in outsourcing to various businesses, comes with a whole package around them – additional staff, experience, etc.

 

If you’re considering outsourcing, you may as well compare prices abroad, right? That is where offshoring is no doubt going to catch your attention. Offshoring to a 3rd party in a cheaper country will inevitably bring with it the ultimate benefit of cost saving. As the costs are lower, it usually means you can afford more people and get things turned around faster.

 

As with all good things, it’s not all good, all the time.

 

There are a number of potential downsides to outsourcing and offshoring. When you outsource work, communication becomes more difficult. Many organisations can take for granted the fact that everyone within the company knows their lingo, the vision of the company and the project. When dealing with a 3rd party, it can be tough to communicate these things and often will require conscious caution to change your language and thoroughly explain things that you would usually expect people to know.  

 

This means that outsourcing can end up much more hands-on than one may initially think.

 

When you then take that offshore, the challenges only increase. In many cheaper countries, the geopolitical climate can be unpredictable, and the language difference makes communication even more challenging. Even if you’re dealing with people who speak perfectly, the lingo and Australianisms, again, may not translate, making it difficult for everyone to get on the same page.

 

Another additional factor that many businesses may not consider is that when they begin to rely on 3rd parties, they may be creating a skill deficit within the organisation, which brings a severe risk of overreliance where the 3rd party is the only one able to manage certain functions. This is pretty scary if you imagine that something happens to that business, could your in-house team take it all back and be able to stay afloat?

 

Outsourcing and offshoring can be a godsend, and many organisation utilise these services with amazing results. Should you do it or not? We can’t give those answers, unfortunately, but if you decide that you’d prefer to have those staff internally, whether permanent or on a contract, we can certainly help you there.

Give us a call today to help find the right Testing & Project Services person for your needs.

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Pros and Cons for Contract vs Permanent Employment in Digital

The traditional terms of work have changed dramatically over the past decade. When the GFC hit, many companies were forced to downsize, then as the market picked up, many tentatively engaged new resources in a contract capacity, giving them more flexibility to operate lean, picking up and putting down people resources as required.

 

A decade on and contracting has become an increasingly more popular option for skilled workers. Particularly as technology has advanced and those in digital are in higher demand. Self-employed persons currently make up 18 per cent of the Australian workforce, and this number is growing.

 

Contract Employment

Contracting has enabled them to keep their wages high and pick and choose what they wish to work on, picking up and putting down projects based on what is out there, interesting and benefiting to their experience.

 

Contract work comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, candidates may charge hourly, or daily, and the lengths of contracts may range from a few days to a few years. The benefit for the business is that they only pay for work done; no holiday pay, or sick pay, just work completed.

 

The benefits for contractors are many:

• Contract roles typically pay more than permanent roles
• Contracting candidates tend to move around more, gaining experience on different projects, in different industries and with different teams
• Contractors can often be more flexible with their time, as they only charge for time worked, so it’s easier to negotiate days off or different hours.

 

The flip side, however, requires us to take a different look at some of the perks – contractors have flexibility because they only get paid for the work they do. This, of course, means that there is not as much security. If a contractor is sick, has a family emergency, or anything comes up that stops them being able to work for a period, this is going to have a significant impact on earnings.

 

Just as a contractor can drop clients as they please, the client, too, can drop contractors as they wish.

 

Permanent employment

Permanent employment, on the other hand, is stable. The organisation pays a salary which includes great things like paid annual leave, as well as sick and carers’ leave. There are also often opportunities for bonuses, promotions and access to professional development.

 

The downside for the employee may be if there is a lack of exciting work and the downside for the employer is the responsibility of managing an employee that may become disengaged.

 

Of course, the above is a pretty black and white look at the employment landscape, and anyone working in the digital field today will know that the options for engagement go way beyond a typical permanent arrangement and typically contract arrangement. More and more permanent roles today offer workplace flexibility, so what was once only enjoyed by contractors exclusively, can now be enjoyed by permanent employees – things like remote working, hot desking and flexible hours.

 

Whether or not contracting is right for you is really up to you. If you’re good with your savings, welcome periods of forced leave while you look for new opportunities, and enjoy the flexibility to move around and try different things, then contracting is likely to be an amazing option that gives you the flexibility to explore and grow in your career. If you have a lot of financial responsibilities, uncertainty brings you stress, and you want to grow within a set structure, then chances are permanent employment suits you best.

 

Just remember, there is no right or wrong when it comes to deciding how you like to work. Whatever your style, there is a company to suit you, and we can help you find them – whether it’s in a permanent or contract capacity.

Give Launch Recruitment a call today.

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5 tactics to improve your hiring process

For many years now, securing the best staff in tech and telco has been tough. Demand for skilled employees has increased exponentially, and the number of people available has decreased while more tech jobs are available than ever before and universities are unable to magically age and rapidly progress the education of young workers. This has put organisations in a challenging position, all vying for the best candidates, pushed to revamp their processes to guard against missed opportunities and gear them up for securing the best available talent.

We believe that the same steps are going to get you the same results. Fortunately for us, we gather insight daily from conversations with candidates and companies telling us what they need, what they want, what works and what does not. Fortunately for you, we like to share good tips.

Here are five ways for you to improve your hiring process

Build an excellent employee value proposition (EVP)

Whether you like it or not, tech candidates are in high demand, and with that, they have the right to be more discerning about what they expect from an employer. The EVP is essentially the complete experience of working with your company. It should include:

• Work
• Rewards
• Environment
• People
• Opportunities

Setting out a clear EVP helps your online voice (websites, adverts and job ads) to resonate with your ideal candidate, leading them toward you and away from competitors.

Move quickly

It will come as no shock that time is of the essence when in a competitive environment. What should not happen is a loosening of the process. On the contrary, this is an opportunity to tighten up the processes, improve your interview techniques to reduce the number of times a candidate has to come in, all the while maintaining the same stringent thorough analysis and questioning.   

Use behavioural descriptive interviews (BDI) or topgrading

Employers needing to act fast and make sure the hire is right should look to apply some tactics designed to guarantee the interview process is thorough, and the person is being assessed correctly for the specific role in which they are applying. BDIs help to get the candidate to detail their experiences, which can then be reviewed against the need of the role. Topgrading leverages detailed chronological interviews to help organisations learn about applicants based on patterns from various rounds of interviewing and competency questioning. The benefit to both is that they keep the focus on the applicability to the role, not just their likeability.

Embrace recruitment tech and social media

Today there are excellent AI tools available to assist your recruiting efforts. These tech tools can help to review and select the best CVs, through to assessing your organisations’ skill gaps. Digital marketing is another big must-do. Not only does social media help you to keep in touch with your ideal candidates and customers, but it helps you to learn about them through insights and analytics. You can promote the internal culture by posting about new hires, bringing together a community watching how you treat your staff, creating a pool of interested candidates.

Use a specialist recruiter

As the availability of quality candidates has reduced, the need for skilled partners who can find them and tap them on the shoulder has increased. Working with an agency gives you unique insights into the market, we can consult with organisations on what they need to do to get the best people over the line, and we have the best people in our networks. Candidates today are mostly not actively looking; this means a lot more candidate care is required to get the details and the trust of the best in the market. Agencies can help uncover candidates that would never respond to a job ad and will only take the guidance of a recruiter they trust.

If you’re ready to revamp your process and secure the best person for your role, get in touch with Launch Recruitment to speak with our tech and telco experts about how they can help.

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LinkedIn Etiquette As We Enter Facebookification

We. Love. LinkedIn! I mean, what recruitment agency cannot adore a tool which allows professionals to identify and network with one another? There is likely not a recruiter on this planet who doesn’t invest half their life on this platform. Considering this, if there was any individual industry that was going to have significant gripes about how people behave on this platform, it’s going to be us. So, as the self-proclaimed authority on how one should conduct oneself on LinkedIn, let’s talk about etiquette.

Gone are the good old days when the biggest gripe about behaviour on LinkedIn was lacking a good photo, or not logging in frequently enough to respond to connections or messages. Today it feels a little like LinkedIn has lost its way, after selling to Microsoft in late 2016 users and the platform itself seems kind of confused about what’s going on. Perhaps it is this which has led us to the Facebookification of LinkedIn, which now appears to be plaguing the platform.

I’m sure everyone knows what we’re talking about. If you’ve logged in lately and wondered why your LinkedIn newsfeed looks a lot like your Facebook feed, that is what we’re getting at.  

With the lines blurring a bit between how much you should be reflected on your professional networking page, let’s go over some tips for staying on the right side of professionalism.

LinkedIn is not Facebook

We know it can be tempting to share cute Happy Friday cat videos, or memes about Monday’s that counter the anti-Monday culture and make you look uber motivated and stoked for work. While they’re cute and yes, people stop to engage with them, this sort of content could work for or against you. While one company may love that you show personality on the platform, there will be five that view it as unprofessional.

Observe your behaviour on the platform. Is it becoming too casual? This goes for both what you share on the newsfeed and how you engage with connections.

LinkedIn do’s and don’t’s:

Newsfeed do’s:

What you share can be useful to your network and can demonstrate that you have a finger on the pulse of what’s happening within your field. Do share useful articles and insights relevant to your role or industry.

Newsfeed don’t’s:

Avoid the memes, videos and whatever else could be borderline unprofessional. If it adds no knowledge-value to your network, it is probably not worth sharing.

Networking do’s:

Send an introduction to everyone you connect with. LinkedIn is a networking platform, and the best connections go from a little electronic link to a conversation, to potentially a job, doing business together, or being able to ask one another for advice. Without the introduction, the connection added no value to you or the person you connected with.

Networking don’t’s:

Everyone you connect with is not automatically obligated to meet you, be your friend, buy from you or hire you. Relationships online work the same as they do offline, you have to invest in them, this must be developed, but only if the other party is wanting. Be careful to respect the people you connect with, offer to meet or assist, but also respect if they are too busy or do not get back to you.

Where do you stand on the blurring lines of the social platforms? If you’re in need of some direction on how best to present and secure your next role, get in touch with the team at Launch Recruitment. We would love to hear your LinkedIn stories and help you put your best foot forward.

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How to make your job application stand out from the crowd

We may be in a candidate-short market right now but securing the role of your dreams cannot be left to chance by submitting a sub-par application. Now, more than ever, employers want to see applicants that look like they care about the role they’re applying for, not just throwing their hat in the ring knowing they will get an interview because they have the right skill set and are in high demand.

In a race between two candidates of equal skill, it will be the one who showed the extra engagement in the process, that will get ahead of the pack.

Tailor all applications to the role and company

Carefully read the job description, educate yourself about the company you’re applying with, and craft your application to speak to them. You don’t need to re-write your CV for every application, but do write a bespoke cover letter that pulls out your skills and experience that are relevant to their role. Go into detail about how you believe your previous experience can be applied to their current position, and if able to, describe how you would approach the job.

Your cover letter should also include an introduction of who you are. With the companies values and focus in mind, link your values and interests so that you can demonstrate, in just a few sentences, how you fit their culture, as well as the job they are looking to fill.  

Inject your personality

This goes for your CV and cover letter. Today culture fit is important, and companies do genuinely care about the people they are hiring. Highlighting the best parts of your personality in your application is one way to help you stand out. List your personal interests, what you do outside of work, or even what you’re currently reading or watching and what you think about it. All of this helps to give the reader an idea of who you are, making you a more whole and interesting person, thus making them more curious to meet you.

If you have a personal blog, include this. If you’re connected to a charity, involved in events, be sure to add these in, along with how you believe these activities strengthen you in the workplace.

Get creative

If you’re in a creative role, this should be demonstrated in your application. Use visually rich samples to make an eye-catching PDF portfolio, or create an online portal to demonstrate your work. Use graphs, write case studies; clearly highlight what benefit you brought to the project through a visual story of your work.

If you’re not in a creative role, there are still creative ways to get noticed. You could put in a video application, or put together a first week, month and quarter presentation on how you would approach a new role.

Once you’ve wowed the right people and locked in a meeting, here is how to ace the job interview.

If you’re looking for the best new role, call Launch Recruitment today, or visit our blog or careers page for more tips and tricks to help you stand out from the crowd.

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Launch x NEXION

NEXION Networks are one of the fastest growing Cloud providers in APAC, building secondary cloud, DR, backup and data protection solutions across Australasia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. NEXION Networks are experts in Secure Converged Data Networks, Global SD-WAN, Enterprise Security, Voice, Data Centre, Cloud and Telecommunications Solutions. Formed with the aim of being a new, unique, modern and niche Global ICT Solutions company, NEXION Networks are developing their channel strategy with like-minded partners equally focused on rapid growth and fully complementary with what NEXION specialises in.

Launch are pleased to announce that NEXION Networks have selected Launch to facilitate their rapid national growth. Our recruitment services were chosen due to our extensive experience placing highly-skilled candidates in the areas of Telecommunications, Infrastructure & Cloud, Software/Application Development, Project Services, Digital, Security, IT Sales & Marketing, Business Intelligence/Analysis, and Emerging Tech. The origin of this partnership saw Launch successfully source their Business Development Manager in Adelaide.

NEXION Networks have expanded their business in Adelaide on the back of the Ten Gigabit Adelaide rollout and this position is vital in driving the company’s growth. “NEXION Networks are a unique and fast-growing ICT company and see Adelaide and the Ten Gigabit Adelaide rollout as the bedrock for our growth and we continue to invest locally in the building of our Adelaide presence,” says CEO of NEXION Networks, Paul Glass.

The Business Development Manager role in Adelaide is just the beginning of the Launch x NEXION Networks partnership. We are excited about this partnership and are looking forward to supporting the business during their rapid growth.

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Catfish: When the role you applied for suddenly looks nothing like it did online

Catfish – the term made popular in the context of online dating has, like all strange modern phenomena, made its way into the world of recruitment, with many candidates being “lured into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona”. Causing candidates to apply and go into recruitment processes, only to learn along the way that the role they’re interviewing for does not actually match the job description they applied for.

Let’s be clear, it’s unlikely that companies are actually doing this with ill intentions as a means to mislead candidates into applying for jobs they wouldn’t actually want. The most common scenario we see is when a company changes the brief as they gradually realise what it is they actually want. The challenge, however, is that this can often happen after candidates are in the mix (those that applied off a different, OG brief), leaving the hopeful applicants feeling frustrated and confused.

Getting caught up in a catfish is annoying, there are no two ways about it, but this is life; businesses are made up of people, and we are all guilty of discovering what we want as we go, rather than from the get-go. It doesn’t all have to be bad. In fact, there could be opportunities to explore in this situation.

Here’s are some suggestions on how to handle getting caught up with a catfish:

Consider this catfish a learning opportunity

Often the evolution of the brief can include some new skills that weren’t originally listed. If you’d known they wanted skills you didn’t have, you wouldn’t have applied, right? Well, obviously, but you’re in the mix now so why not look at this as an opportunity. If it’s a job you want and a skill set that you would like to develop, take advantage of being in the room, able to sell yourself, and suggest that you would like the opportunity to learn.

Challenge the JD

Think outside of the box that is the job brief and consider if there is a chance you could still be qualified for the role. If you have the opportunity, learn what they really need in the business — not just what they wrote on the JD — and see if you have the experience to fulfill their needs.

Explore alternative options

Chances are, if a company has brought you into a process and then changed the brief on you, they’re going to feel pretty bad about wasting your time and should be rather warm while making their apologies. Take advantage of this dynamic to politely dig and ask if there are any other opportunities within the team or broader company that they could recommend you for.

Be thankful you found out

Of course in some cases, the changing of the role is not going to work out in your favour. All you can do in this case is to approach the annoyance with a positive attitude. Fortunately, you found out before you got the job, rather than when you’re in there and began to feel a sense of underachievement because they were demanding unexpected things of you.

Although this doesn’t happen often, we can take the burden off you and act as your personal agent; poking, prodding and questioning on your behalf. Call Launch Recruitment today to speak to our skilled team about your next career move.

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