[rtdq]

We ended up making use of hiring partners (basically consultancy companies) for this. They gave us access to a somewhat vetted candidate pool to interview from i.e. they could skip a tech test stage of an interview process.

Overall it has been a positive experience. It allowed us to scale up our engineering numbers relatively quickly. Potential cons to consider are the culture changes that come with it, the risk of outsourcing too much domain knowledge (direct vs. indirect hires) and potential time zone differences. It has also bought us time to focus on growing our direct hire count, which takes longer.

[GordonS]

Wouldn't this be vastly more expensive? (like, 2-3x?)

[rtdq]

Pass, wasn't privy to the financials on this one.

What I do know is that for various reasons we struggled with direct hires and needed to grow quickly. So I guess the numbers somehow worked in its favour.

[GordonS]

I've been involved with hiring consultants before (in UK and Norway, using consulting companies like Capgemini and Sopra Steria), and it was always the case that it was a lot more expensive - but yes, it means you have instant access to a large talent pool. It also meant that if someone didn't work out, we could swap them out with 2-4 week's notice, depending on the provider.