Offshore software development companies are firms that offer engineering teams or individual experts to design, build, test, and maintain software applications or systems. Rather than hiring and managing an in-house team of software engineers, QA engineers, DevOps specialists, etc., the offshore partner provides you with the necessary personnel and environment.

What is important to check:

• Ask the potential partner for the list of companies he is working with.
• Take two relevant managers from the companies above to talk with and get their opinions about the work with the partner. Read this full document and use the points mentioned to guide your conversation with these managers.
• A serious offshore partner will conduct a kickoff meeting with the company representatives to understand the needs. This offshore partner will not rely on the job description supplied by the company but will use the kickoff to understand the specific needs to increase the probability that the candidates will fit the profile of the position the company is looking for.
• Ask the Offshore partners if they give the option to use online test systems such as HackerRank, TestGorilla, etc. to create an online test together with the company that will filter out the non-fitting candidates. This stage is a preliminary stage conducted by the partner itself before technical interviews.
• Check if the offshore partner has a proper recruitment team. The recruitment team must conduct personality interviews (and not the company) to avoid any cultural gaps and misunderstandings.
• A crucial point is to check who is the focal point you will work with. You must have someone to address during the recruitment process and after it (not necessarily the same person).
• Request a detailed explanation of the recruitment process. You need to know the stages and that you are allowed to be a part of this process. For example, the partner conducts a personality check, and the online test, and later on the passing candidates will continue to technical interviews with the company.
• The partner that you are looking for will recommend you what is the recommended process, the right duration, amount of stages, etc. In some countries, it is not recommended to have a long process, in others it is not recommended to give home tasks.
  We are not suggesting that the above are not right but the amount of candidates that will apply or complete the process can be low and can lower the expected results.
• Ask about the benefits and average salary in comparison to other companies in the market. The partner you are looking for gives the benefits expected in the market such as yearly team building, gym card, insurance coverage, etc. The same goes for salaries. It is crucial to increase the probability of a long retention period.
• Ask for the average retention period of the partner’s employees. You do not want to make all the effort of recruitment and onboarding and losing the employee after a few months.
• Check if there is an option for a buy-out. Some partners may allow you to transfer employees to your direct employment. Review the terms of this buy-out, including the duration required since the employee started working for you and the associated fee (which may vary in different markets).
• The most important! Remember that for this partnership to succeed, you need to treat it as a partnership and not as a service provider relationship.