It’s no news that Latin America has been a hotbed of technical talent in recent years, causing American and European companies to focus their recruitment processes on this region through nearshore and offshore outsourcing companies. Central America stands out in this scenario, especially due to the high supply of professionals and the closer time zone to most of the USA. Find out more about hiring talent from Central America in this guide prepared by Stateside.
Central America Tech Talent
Central America today stands out as a hotbed of technology professionals, demonstrating expertise in areas such as software development, engineering, and data science. A Crunchbase report highlights that US companies will have increased hiring in Latin America by 50% by 2023. A combination of good professionals with excellent backgrounds, growing educational interest in technical areas, and highly competitive costs make Central America stand out among the Latam regions most sought after by American and European companies.
In What Time and How Much?
One of the main advantages of hiring talent from Central America is the reduction in costs without compromising the quality of the professional. For example, the average annual cost of a remote software developer from Costa Rica is $48,000. The annual cost of a Silicon Valley software developer is $85,000. Because of the significant pay disparity and the similar time, Central America is a desirable location for American businesses. The main Central American countries, such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, are in the CST time zone with UTC-6, ensuring convenient communication and collaboration with the US teams.
What to Take into Account When Hiring?
These key considerations that we implement at Stateside will ensure a seamless hiring process when employing remote talent from Central America:
- Finding the right talent: Focus the search on the skill set required for the position and ensure that the professional knows how to work remotely.
- Understanding legal differences: Understanding the specific labor laws and regulations of each Central American country is key to avoiding problems later on.
- Multicultural approach: Embrace cultural differences, creating a vivid multicultural context within the company and fostering effective communication and collaboration.
- Remote work tools: Adopt digital tools like Jira, Trello, Discord, Asana, Zoho Cliq, and Slack to ensure seamless remote communication, collaboration, and product management.
- Flexible schedules: When working with people from different time zones, it is important to ensure they have flexible schedules, enhancing team productivity and harmony.
- Continuous learning: Promote ongoing training and development to keep the team’s skills updated with the latest trends. This is also an excellent way to retain top talent.
Stateside’s Role in Streamlining Your Hiring Process
Stateside specializes in connecting businesses with top-tier talent from Central America. We simplify the hiring process by providing access to a pool of highly skilled professionals, ensuring legal compliance, and offering support in fostering a multicultural and collaborative work environment. We offer two different partnership models:
Recruiting
- Your hire—we source and vet them.
- Conduct interviews and hire top-tier, pre-screened professionals, ideally suited for permanent and long-term roles.
- Pay a fee per hire.
Staffing
- We hire; they’re part of your team.
- Collaborate with Stateside’s elite performers, fully integrated into your team, while we manage all legal, compliance, and complex matters; plus, you get a dedicated Account Manager.
- Pay monthly.
