How to Hire Software Developers in Latin America: Tips and Best Practices

Hiring software developers in Latin America is one of the cornerstones of a tech and IT support company’s success. It is undeniable that a company can benefit from such skilled engineers and march toward more opportunities regardless of the pool of competition in this industry. 

Over the years, Latin America has emerged as a hub of nurturing tech talent, including software developers. Regions like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico are relying on this talent to sustain the IT and tech industry. 

In Latin America, companies hire engineers on an annual salary of USD 75,000. As compared to the USA, the employee on the same job post of a software developer is earning USD 150,000 per year. 

Talent recruiters and HRs have to stick to a process when hiring software developers. They need to dodge the language barriers, adhere to the market dynamics, and consider different legal formalities in this regard. 

In this article, Latam Recruit gives you different tips on how to hire software developers in Latam so that a person coming from a talent recruitment background can easily avail of these extensive tips. 

Why Hire Software Developers in Latin America?

• Tech talent brings more caliber with it and also better competence. Some companies don’t like nearshoring because there is a common perspective that hiring software developers on a lower salary can result in demotivation and ruin their performance. However, this is not true. Latin American software developers are equally hireable as compared to US software developers in terms of their skills and performance.
• Latin America is pacing for state-sponsored tech education for the young tech talent within the region. The government is aiming for extensive investment to empower software developers to stand on their feet and get promising jobs within the sector.
• Over the years, Latin America has become a home ground for different tech institutes and companies. The tech itself is rising in the region because of research-used advancements and experiments. Even investors like Latin America. In the year 2016, Latin America witnessed an increment in its tech investments, and the numbers are still growing.
• The region of Latin America is not too culturally diverse, and the differences are less. It is beneficial in hiring, and the recruiters can also adjust people in tech teams without struggling for anything.
• Moreover, the software developers of Latin America are fluent in English, which is why the language barrier problem is not common among Latin American recruiters and HRs.
• Another edge for Latin American software developers is that the time zones are the same, which does not hamper the operations. Also,  Latin America’s time zone is very similar to North America, which helps recruiters during the talent hunt process.

Tips and Best Practices to Hire Software Developers in Latin America

Right after the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the globe started to invest in the tech industry more than ever. There is a major difference today in the sectors like VC and Private Equity. In the VC sector alone, the investment has crossed $100 Billion during the fundraisers in the year 2021. 

In some cases, the amount also skyrocketed and touched $195 Million. After the pandemic, the companies also got familiarized with the concept of remote working/working from home. This is how they learned that if they are unable to recruit tech talent and engineers from the home ground, they can rely on remote workers from other regions and mimic the same results and performance. 

Cultural differences

Talent recruiters need to tilt their hiring strategies to cultural differences that can result in top talent selection. A few tips for this include: 

• Local Firms and Educational Institutions

Identifying the ideal talent for a technology firm is relatively straightforward within the United States. However, when discussing Latin America, it becomes evident that a broad spectrum of universities and educational institutions offer IT and tech programs. Some companies encounter challenges seeking information about local educational institutions during their talent acquisition efforts.

• Diverse Engineering Backgrounds

Many software developers in Latin America pursue formal degrees and engage in boot camps, coding academies, remote tech learning, and continuous skill development. Consequently, Latin American developers often possess an entrepreneurial mindset, which can yield various advantages for their employers.

• Contrasts in resumes

Latin American software developers’ resumes stand on the contemporary spectrum in most cases. Therefore, analyzing their resumes completely is crucial. Since the recruiters are going to adjust them in a team, only eligible and deserving applicants should be given a chance. Their resumes don’t include personal achievements and past milestones. Their resumes are also extensive as compared to US software developers. It is important for the talent acquisition experts to fully adhere to the specs of these applicants before proceeding with them further. 

Interviewing styles

When it comes to interviewing Latin American software developers, some tips can help a lot in this regard. These tips are time-saving and also save HRs and talent recruiters from the everyday hustle that they go through.  

• Be upfront & translucent about the procedure.

The first thing that is crucial to do is to open up about the hiring process. There should be nothing hidden between the interviewer and the interviewee. Some companies have a compelling interviewing mechanism that adds to the comfort of the applicant. In this way, they can confidently answer the questions and prove their skills at the same time. Also, some companies promote role-oriented tasks and assignments to interviewees to practically put their skills to the test and see where they land them. All in all, always be upfront and honest with the interviewee, which will help them understand the hiring process in a better way. 

• Begin your interview by smashing the ice.

The beginning of the interview in Latin America is not like the US one. Due to this reason, the software developers might feel uneasy. Therefore, the recruiters of Latin America must consider this fact and make the space comfortable for the interviewee so that they can focus on the interviews with ease and comfort. The initial questions asked by Latin American recruiters are also different. However, below are some questions that will help make the interview comfortable and also help the recruiters pick the best talent for the company. 

• Tell me about your hobbies and how you spend your free time.
• How do you handle pressure situations, and what is your common approach to it?
• What sort of remote working do you prefer?
• Can you share a mistake and the solution you used to resolve it?
• Elaborate on one of your favorite projects that piqued your interest.
• Explain some compressing technical challenges that you faced and how you solved them.

After asking such questions and more, the recruiters can finally disclose more job details and expectations from the interview along with the budget. However, in some cases, the recruiters can also dig deeper and analyze the interviewee and their resume more before sharing further details of the job post with them. 

Invoicing & payments

When it comes to paying the remote workforce, it includes two stages. Invoicing and payment are the common ones. Every month, the employee will make an invoice about their work and the hours they have spent working on a project for the company. The company will cross-check the details and confirm the details mentioned in the invoice. After this, the company pays the remote employees through different payment methods. 

• Invoicing

The remote workforce uses an invoicing system to bring their work, hours spent on working, and important details about the projects into the account of the company. For the employees using this system, it is important to fill in all the information in the invoice to reduce the chances of confusion. The employees use the following platforms to curate invoices monthly and send them over to the employers. 

• Invoicely
• Xero
• Freshbooks
• Scoro
• Inoice2Go
• QuickBooks
• Zoho Books

The next step after receiving the invoice is to consider the employee payout. However, before doing this, the company has to cast an eye on the invoice and double-check it to ensure all the details are accurate to ensure no complications later. 

• Payment

The next step is to pay the employee. If they have a bank account, then bank-to-bank transactions are easier. However, some employees don’t have a bank account. In this case, the employer needs to rely on a transaction platform that the employee finds suitable. Below are some options with their details for better understanding!

• Paypal: It is a global platform for transactions and works better for remote operations. After checking the invoice, the employers can send over the payment to the contractors without any trouble. It is a fast method of doing this and is also a trusted platform. A transaction fee and the employee receiving the amounts should be well aware of this by researching PayPal on the internet.
• Payoneer: It can be another option for the transactions. Payoneer is a common platform for business transactions because of its low transaction cost. It is functional in 200+ countries around the world. Payoneer is a trusted platform for safe and secure transactions, and many remote contractors are relying on it.
• Wise: It is famous for its currency conversion feature. Employers can send over money using different currencies, which is why using Wise becomes highly feasible for both employers and employees. It has fewer transaction and conversion fees.
• Cryptocurrency: Doing transactions in crypto is not a common method, but many companies are gradually considering this method. Using Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies is being normalized. It is another safe and fast option to release the payouts for the contractors.

Remote work contracts

For relying on remote contractors for company operations, it is important to consider some of the crucial tips to make everything happen in a flow and without any interruptions. 

• Work Arrangement: It is important to curate a detailed work agreement for the contractors and bring deliverables, minimum work hours, and job expectations into their account through this agreement and give them sufficient time to read and understand this agreement before signing it.
• Negotiated Package: The agreement can also contain the compensation and the payout packages that the employer and the employee have negotiated and locked.
• Remote Work Essentials: The gear that the remote contractor needs to use while working off-site, including a computer/laptop, a stable Wi-Fi connection, and a comfortable workspace.
• Duration of the contract: It is important to mention the duration of the collaboration of this employee with the company in the work agreement. In this way, there will be no complications with the payouts and other operations.
• Exit plan: The work agreement should also include how the developers can submit their projects and crucial codes to the employers. The file formats, platforms for the projects, deadlines, and all the necessary details should be stated in the work agreement. This will help the developers do their work without any misunderstanding and deliver it on time as well.

For Latin American employers, it is mandatory to follow the legal protocols of W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E. Their purpose is to inform the US government that a company is hiring remote contractors who are not residing in the country. 

This is important to do because later, the government can induce the tax on the employer in case of any confusion. Therefore, declaring this before the government authorities is beneficial. 

Conclusion

It is hard to deny that Latin America is demanding tech associates and experts from all over the world. It means there are better professional opportunities in Latin America for IT professionals and skilled tech enthusiasts. 

Latam recruiter is here to help in the job of talent recruiters, and HR is important to hire software developers in Latin America. More solutions are needed to make their task easier so that they can highlight the best talent from the region for the employers. Contact us today for more details and information!