Task
In 2019, we were approached by an international high-tech company headquartered in Israel, developing innovative equipment and software for computer vision of autonomous vehicles. The request was to open a local R&D office and form a test automation team from scratch. The client received from us analytics on salary rates offered for similar positions in other IT companies and on the specifics of local labor legislation. Our specialists constantly maintained English-language communication with decision makers.
Considerable work was carried out to coordinate the terms of cooperation and prepare a contract. A common requirement for all positions was that the candidates had a good English level. The task was further complicated by the fact that the local office was located more than 40 km away from Minsk and some candidates it might not suit.
Vacancies
Test automation engineer:
- Higher technical education.
- 6+ years of experience in testing and 3+ years in test automation.
- Excellent programming skills in Python 3x.
- Level of English B2+.
Embedded Computer Vision SW Engineer:
- Experience in collecting and uploading data.
- Knowledge of electronics.
- As well as an excellent level of English.
- Many years of driving experience. As the company planned to test autonomous driving systems on conventional vehicles in various weather, road and landscape conditions to improve its product.
Office Manager:
- Experience 5+ years in this field.
- Higher education.
- Well versed in local personnel matters, accounting and procurement.
- Fluent in English.
- Also having a private car.
Solution
To achieve better understanding of the tasks we had to go deeply into the project. We had to search for relevant candidates with experience in automotive IT projects that worked with embedded systems, artificial intelligence or computer vision. Initially, a direct, targeted search was used among similar 5-7 companies involved in projects related to cars or the Internet of things. We contacted with candidates in Belarus and also abroad.
Employees of the client company conducted two in-depth technical interviews with each applicant. It also took a significant amount of time for the client to enter the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park (Great Stone), while this process lasted we kept in touch with the selected candidates and kept them from being poached. The candidates attended a face-to-face interview in Minsk. In particular, 5 final resumes of the Senior level in the field of computer vision were presented for the position of Embedded Computer Vision SW engineer. Interviews were conducted with all of them.
As a result, a job offer was made to one of our candidates.
Results
Test Automation Engineer: For the testing team, out of 13 candidates were presented for a meeting with the customer, 6 received a job offer and 4 were hired.
Mechanical Engineer: After 5 telephone interviews and 2 face-to-face interviews, 1 employee was hired and 1 candidate added to the talent pool.
Office manager: We had three candidates for consideration and one of them received a job offer and was hired. All hired employees have visited the head office in Israel and are part of our client's international team.
