Task
In 2019 we had a request from a global R&D company developing a revolutionary equipment and perception software for computer vision of autonomous vehicles and other domains. They wanted is to to form an automation team in Minsk from scratch, then they opened new engineering and administrative positions as well.
One recruiter was assigned for the project as the Single Point of Contact. We also consulted on the compensation and benefits package on IT market in Belarus, provided labor law insights and assisted in finding the best option for an office.
The client’s demand was to identify and hire top talent for the new R&D center in Minsk. The requirements included:
- Engineering Degree;
- 6+ overall testing experience, 3+ years automation testing experience;
- Proficiency in Python 3x;
- English speaking level - B2+.
Another request for Mechanical Engineer with data gathering skills, knowledge in electronics, driving license and reasonable English. Сompany is planning to test autonomous driving system on usual vehicles collect data in different weather, road, landscape, etc. conditions.
And most recently we were asked to find a Senior Office Manager (5+ years of experience) with Bachelor’s Degree, proficient with local human resources documents policies, accountancy and purchasing, speaking English fluently, and with own car as administrative, office of the company is 40 km from the city border.
Solution
The main challenge was that the client was specific that experience working on autonomous vehicles, embedded systems or AI projects is a huge advantage. So we’ve contacted everyone in Belarus who had relevant experience - basically executive search, circulating around 5 companies, same teams involved in automotive or IoT projects. Then we widened it and excluded only candidates with only web testing experience (the majority).
The two technical interviews that required in-depth understanding of code patterns and math algorithms also eliminated a lot of candidates, even those with a lot of relevant experience.
Also two of the candidates that received a job offer faced 2 counter-offers from their current companies, tough competitors, well-known in Belarus. Before the company became the part of China-Belarus Industrial Park and was able to employ the selected people, we also were supporting and negotiating with candidates to make sure they’re not headhunted.
To satisfy the request of Innoviz we’ve searched on the markets of:
- Belarus, Russia and Ukraine: candidates from all these countries were all present at the final interview in Minsk.
- Germany: we presented 5 CVs of Senior Computer Vision Developers, all English speaking, for the Munich site of our client. Our interviews with them were via Skype. As the result, one candidate received a job offer. There we were successfully competing with 3 other German and UK based recruitment agencies.
Results
Test Automation team: out of 13 candidates who were presented to the final stage met VP Engineering and VP HR in person 6 received a job offer and 4 were hired. Mechanical Engineer: we interviewed 5 candidates and out of 2 presented for the meeting, one was hired and the other one saved for the future.
Also Innoviz hired one out of one office manager presented for the meeting (after 3 refusals from our side to other candidates).
All hired employees visited the HQ in Israel and are an asset of the international team of our client.
