Staff Augmentation Services

In the US, staffing agencies provide companies with over 16 million professionals annually. In the UK, recruiting agencies reached more than 27,000 in 2022.

The IT staffing market evolves with technological advancements, making the digital industry one of the most innovative sectors of the global economy.

Digital businesses often delegate the task of hiring developers to third-party organizations for several rational reasons:

• Time efficiency: It takes less time to hire through a staffing agency.
• Technical expertise: Employers can find suitable candidates without extensive tech skills.
• Administrative relief: It alleviates the burden of paperwork and legal issues.

Organizations that need IT professionals but lack the resources to fill vacancies often turn to staff augmentation providers. These resources include:

• Developer network: Access to a network of developers in contact with the company, ensuring quick and positive responses from candidates.
• Technical assessment: Solid tech skills to evaluate candidates and find the perfect match for the position.
• Legal expertise: Familiarity with employment laws, especially for remote work and international collaboration.

Reaching out to a top staff augmentation company is an optimal solution for companies with intermittent hiring needs and specific skill requirements. An HR manager with up-to-date contacts with IT engineers can offer appropriate candidates within hours and ensure proper assessment.

While collaborating with a staff augmentation provider offers many benefits, it's important to be aware of the model's limitations:

• Loyalty and culture fit: In-house IT professionals often exhibit higher loyalty and are more immersed in the company's values, which can motivate them.
• Cost considerations: Temporary contracts typically come with higher pay rates. For long-term positions, it might be more cost-effective to hire in-house.

By understanding these factors, you can decide whether to use staff augmentation services or hire in-house professionals based on your specific needs and circumstances.

Staff augmentation service refers to hiring IT professionals on a short-term basis through a third-party company. The key feature of this concept is flexibility, allowing companies to hire the expertise they need only for the duration required. Once the goal is achieved—such as launching an app or building a data model—the collaboration ends.

Imagine your project team as a LEGO set perfectly tailored to your needs. If you're building a windmill and suddenly realize you need a purple brick you don't have, you face a problem. Here's where staff augmentation comes in. Just like adding the exact LEGO piece you need, IT staff augmentation allows you to bring in specific expertise precisely when required.

When you need that "purple brick" or specialized skill, you have three main options with IT staff augmentation:

1. Access to a network of developers: A top staff augmentation company maintains a network of developers. This allows employers to contact candidates quickly, increasing the likelihood of a positive response.
2. Technical assessment: These companies possess the solid tech skills to assess each candidate, ensuring the perfect match for your specific project needs.
3. Legal and administrative expertise: They are well-versed in employment laws, especially those concerning remote work and international collaborations, alleviating the administrative burden from your shoulders.

By contacting a staff augmentation provider, you can hire developers, architects, UX designers, or project managers with the required expertise for the duration your team needs them. 

Hiring IT professionals is more challenging than it appears. Despite a market saturated with candidates, there is a global talent shortage. According to a McKinsey survey, 43% of top managers worldwide struggle with a skills gap. The IT industry ranks second in this challenge, alongside executive management, HR, and sales.

These days, when people tend to work remotely and seek competitive salaries, negotiations between employers and candidates have become more challenging.

Professionals know how to hire. They are responsible for:

• Providing candidates with the required skills
• Legalization of employment relationships
• Facilitating a smooth onboarding

One significant advantage of using an IT staff augmentation agency is that it takes on all the challenges and responsibilities of hiring and managing temporary staff.

However, the hiring company retains the ultimate control and leadership of the project. Team members are fully aware that the company executing the project is their primary employer, ensuring clear authority and project alignment.

Ready to enhance your project team with expert IT professionals? Contact us today to explore our staff augmentation services and find the perfect fit for your needs!

Choosing between building an in-house team and outsourcing is a strategic decision that depends on various factors, including cost, time, and the specific needs of a project. Here are scenarios where software development staff augmentation is particularly beneficial:

1. Short-term projects: Staff augmentation is ideal for short-term projects, such as a startup launching a product within a few weeks. The core team, typically the founders, can bring in additional teammates to meet specific goals and timelines. For example, once the app’s design is completed, the collaboration with the designer can end, optimizing cost and time.
2. Need for niche professionals: Staff augmentation is advantageous when a project temporarily requires a niche professional with a unique skill set. Finding such seasoned professionals can be challenging. IT recruiters from staff augmentation providers use advanced search techniques and personal networks to locate the right talent for these specialized roles.
3. Hiring from abroad: If a developer from a foreign country is needed, staff augmentation can simplify the process. It addresses legal and organizational issues, such as time zone differences, cultural nuances, and contract signing. Staffing agencies manage these formalities, ensuring the new hire can integrate smoothly into the client’s team, especially if they are tolerant and eager to work in a multicultural environment.

However, staff augmentation may not be the best choice in certain situations:

• Long-term projects: A dedicated in-house team is often more suitable for long-term projects. Temporary staff might lack the long-term commitment and deep integration needed for sustained project success.
• High motivation and engagement: Companies expecting high motivation and emotional engagement from developers might find it challenging with augmented staff.

The success of a new member’s adaptation to the team largely depends on the employer’s efforts to integrate them effectively.

Software team augmentation is a form of outsourcing because it involves delegating the task of searching for and hiring professionals to a third-party vendor.

However, in practice, the term "outsourcing" typically refers to a broader model where a company hands over an entire set of tasks, including management, to a vendor.

The outsourcing model offers several benefits:

1. Reduced management burden: Employers are relieved from coordination, control, and maintenance responsibilities. It includes not managing equipment, time, team building, or document flow. The client receives the final results as per the initial goals discussed.
2. Ease of project launch and execution: Outsourcing simplifies the project launch and execution process. A team lead keeps everything on track, and if control metrics are effective and the team is dedicated, the project runs smoothly. The project's CEO only needs to review reports and provide feedback, which is less time-consuming than comprehensive management.
3. Seamless integration of new team members: When a new team member is required, the outsourcing vendor manages the entire process without the employer's involvement. It includes selecting the right candidate, integrating them into the team, and ensuring the legitimacy of the collaboration.

The decision between app development staff augmentation and outsourcing hinges primarily on time and cost.

If you have long-term projects spanning several years, consider using an in-house team or outsourcing. However, if you require professional assistance for specific tasks immediately, partnering with a reputable staff augmentation company could be a game changer.

Another critical factor to consider is cost. While you have control over salary payments with an in-house team, staff augmentation offers a more flexible payment structure.

By contacting a top staff augmentation company like StarNavi, you can efficiently expand your team to the proper extent for a set period and at a reasonable price.

This approach ensures that the team size is perfectly adjusted to your project's needs, deadlines, and specialization areas, such as accounting, sales, healthcare, or education.

App development staff augmentation is particularly popular due to the rapid growth in app creation globally.

Since its inception, StarNavi has honed effective staffing practices to meet client expectations. Our hiring, assessing, and vetting techniques ensure we can quickly fill positions with qualified professionals.

However, before engaging with StarNavi, there are a few prerequisites:

1. Position list: Provide a list of positions aligned with your company's strategy and the tasks currently lacking expertise.
2. Position descriptions: Offer brief descriptions for each position, highlighting the required hard and soft skills.
3. Financial outline: Present your vision of the pay rates for the developers your team needs.

A general understanding of these needs is sufficient for an initial conversation with StarNavi. This discussion helps clarify your questions and goals, enabling StarNavi to prepare a detailed service offer. We aim to add the required number of professionals with the appropriate level of seniority to your projects for the specified duration.

StarNavi guarantees the principles of privacy and information safety. As soon as we seal the deal, our team contacts candidates whose skills and experiences match your requirements, ensuring a seamless and efficient team scaling process.

Ready to scale your team with expert IT professionals? Contact us today to learn how StarNAVI's staff augmentation services can help your business thrive!

Staff augmentation services are cost-effective mainly because there are no upfront fees; clients only pay for the results that meet their needs and expectations. At StarNAVI, responsibilities are discussed and specified in an agreement, ensuring financial transparency. 

There are generally no additional fees beyond the payment for new team members and the cost of StarNAVI's expertise.

A common challenge arises when an IT specialist quits after a few months. This situation can be challenging for employers due to the time and money invested in hiring and adaptation. However, StarNAVI addresses this by offering another candidate with similar expertise to fill the gap, ensuring continuity and stability for your projects. 

It is a significant advantage over independent searches through freelance platforms, as it provides a reliable way to maintain an entire team.

Motivation is critical to reducing the risk of newly hired developers leaving. StarNAVI filters out candidates who are unclear about their professional plans and focuses on finding dedicated individuals who value the opportunities a reliable employer provides.

Outsourcing and team augmentation are more cost-efficient than hiring an in-house team. Delegating managerial and financial issues to a partner saves money you would otherwise spend on HR managers and accountants. 

Additionally, outsourcing eliminates office maintenance expenditures since it typically involves remote work. The main challenge for employers is onboarding and knowledge transfer, which are simplified when the candidate is motivated.

There are multiple ways to hire IT staff in partnership with StarNAVI, allowing you to choose the collaboration model that best fits your current needs. One key option StarNAVI offers is to enrich your team with professionals who match your project's specific requirements.

Our set of staff augmentation services includes:

• On-demand assistance: Helping outline the professional profiles of candidates needed to fill talent gaps
• Candidate search: Finding candidates whose expertise aligns with your demands
• Vetting process: Evaluating both the hard and soft skills of developers
• Formal hiring procedures: Managing the formal aspects of the hiring process, including contract signing.

StarNAVI emphasizes identifying each candidate's strengths and weaknesses to ensure they can contribute effectively from day one. The hiring process is comprehensive and involves several steps:

1. Candidate pool: StarNAVI provides a pool of candidates who match your team's skill gaps
2. Pre-interviews: After you shortlist the best candidates, pre-interviews are conducted
3. Tech interviews: If a candidate stands out, StarNAVI arranges an online technical interview
4. Formal hiring: Once you decide on a candidate, StarNAVI initiates the formal hiring procedures

The outsourcing model means that a third-party vendor handles the job. However, app development staff augmentation requires more effort from the employer for onboarding and mentorship. StarNAVI aims to minimize your time expenditures by hiring highly motivated specialists with relevant skills and experience.

Working remotely, StarNAVI understands the challenges of remote work and identifies candidates who are prepared to work from a home office with minimal micromanagement.

This remote format offers significant opportunities, including the potential to collaborate with IT engineers from Eastern Europe, whose salary expectations are typically lower compared to those from the U.S. and Western Europe.

Ready to hire top-tier developers for your project? Contact us today to explore StarNAVI's staff augmentation services and find the perfect candidates for your team!

The staff augmentation rate can vary depending on several factors, including the industry, the level of expertise required, geographic location, and the duration of the contract. 

Generally, companies charge an hourly rate for augmented staff, ranging from $15 to $60 per hour or more, depending on the complexity and specialization of the tasks involved.

In the work context, augmentation refers to improving an existing team by adding additional skilled resources. It can be done to address temporary increases in workload, fill skill gaps, or bring in specialized knowledge for specific projects. 

The goal is to improve the team’s capabilities and productivity without the long-term costs and commitments of hiring permanent employees.

Staff augmentation and consulting are two different approaches to addressing skill gaps and project needs:

• Staff augmentation: This model allows you to bring in outside experts to work alongside your team under your management. They assist in completing specific tasks or projects, providing a flexible and cost-effective way to expand your team's capabilities swiftly.
• Consulting: Consulting entails enlisting the services of an external company or experts to offer professional guidance and solutions. These consultants usually operate independently from your team and concentrate on delivering strategic insights, recommendations, and project-specific results. Consulting is desired for larger organizational transformations or intricate problem-solving that demands specialized knowledge and experience.

Staff augmentation is about adding temporary team members to fill specific roles while consulting focuses on bringing in external expertise to guide and improve business strategies and processes.