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How to find a middle business analyst for a German IT startup in 21 days?
Recently, our junior IT recruiter Alika filled the job opening of middle business analyst in a German startup in just 21 days. If you want to know how we managed to find an IT talent for a position with a wide list of requirements, a large number of selection stages and a test task, read the case below.
Tech recruitment: the task and difficulties
Some time ago, a client from Berlin approached us with a request to select an experienced business analyst for the team. His startup has already moved from the initial stage to the scaling stage and has been actively developing. The company has been developing a useful B2B product — a platform that speeds up and automates most of the routine tasks of employees of large companies (for example, searching through web pages or copying the information). Thanks to the ability to optimize time costs and automate many processes, the platform significantly increased employee productivity.
The customer was expanding the team and he needed a business analyst on staff. Even though the profession of a business analyst is not the rarest in the IT market, the vacancy still had several features:
The customer was expanding the team and he needed a business analyst on staff. Even though the profession of a business analyst is not the rarest in the IT market, the vacancy still had several features:
- 1The necessary specialist had to have at least 2 years of experience in product companies that were engaged in B2B solutions. Moreover, it was of great importance to the customer that the candidate directly interacted with clients at the previous place of work. This was important because the position involved the ability to identify client and business “pains” and effectively communicate them to the development team in order to improve the product;
- 2Considering that the startup was international, it required a confident command of English — not lower than the B2 level;
- 3The position assumed the presence of a test task — in the IT industry, candidates traditionally do not really like vacancies for which they need to fulfill the test assignment, so such moments alarm many. In addition, according to the feedback of some candidates, the test task was quite complex and involved a limited amount of time to complete, which was tracked by a special tracker;
- 4The customer clearly understood what kind of IT specialist he needed, so he was quite scrupulous about the selection. In addition to completing the test task, there were 3 more stages: an interview with a recruiter, a technical interview with the customer's service station, and a final online meeting with a successful candidate. In addition, the client had a very busy schedule and it was not always possible to schedule interviews promptly — given this moment and several stages of selection, including the completion of a voluminous test task, the recruiting process took quite a lot of time;
- 5Due to the unstable situation in certain regions due to current world events, the client somewhat limited the geography of the search — for example, at his request, we did not consider candidates who were in Russia at the time, which also narrowed the range of possible tech talents.
Nevertheless, the customer offered adequate conditions: competitive salary, remote employment, and the opportunity to work on a useful product in an international team.
How we've filled the job opening
Taking into account these requirements, our recruiter Alika decided to prioritize LinkedIn and specialized telegram chats for business analysts when searching for candidates. It was in such a chat that we managed to find a candidate who liked the customer and received an offer. An interesting point was that the professional had less than two years of experience, which differed from the initial requirements, but at the same time the client was interested in his professional background as a whole — the candidate worked a lot with foreign customers and was well-versed in the specifics of the Western market of digital solutions for B2B, in addition, he had excellent knowledge of English.
It is also noteworthy that the candidate wasn't in active job search and did not plan to change jobs, but Alika was able to competently build a motivation strategy and interest him in interesting tasks, the possibility of professional development, and the general concept of the product offered by the customer.
The professional lived in Uzbekistan and joined the startup team in a remote format. The whole process from the removal of the vacancy to the acceptance of the offer by the candidate took about a month — in addition, the specialist needed to finalize two more weeks at the last place of work to complete and transfer the cases and go to the project to the customer.
It is also noteworthy that the candidate wasn't in active job search and did not plan to change jobs, but Alika was able to competently build a motivation strategy and interest him in interesting tasks, the possibility of professional development, and the general concept of the product offered by the customer.
The professional lived in Uzbekistan and joined the startup team in a remote format. The whole process from the removal of the vacancy to the acceptance of the offer by the candidate took about a month — in addition, the specialist needed to finalize two more weeks at the last place of work to complete and transfer the cases and go to the project to the customer.
Success factors
- Accurate drawing up of the portrait of the required candidateThis is always one of the keys to success. The client had a clear idea of what kind of employee he needed and what moments were important. Alika discussed the specifics of the position in detail with the customer and drew up a portrait of a business analyst who fully met all the key requirements;
- The principle of partnershipWe always pursue a common goal with the client — a quick and effective hiring of the right IT specialist, so it is important to act together and build communication on an equal footing, openly and adequately discussing controversial issues, if any. Despite his busy schedule, the client was always in touch with us and tried to promptly give feedback on reviewing resumes and conducting interviews — this helped optimize recruiting processes even with several selection stages;
- Lucky Hunter expertiseThanks to the right motivation strategy, Alika was able to get interested in the vacancy of a specialist who was in a passive search. A thorough search and targeted selection helped to find the candidate with whom the client immediately had a “match".
Do you need to find business analysts for startups? Contact us, and we will do tech staff recruitment for you!
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