It is with great satisfaction and enthusiasm that we announce the launch of the first recruitment research focused exclusively on the IT sector. MiNDS’ debut surveying project in Bulgaria sets off with the ambition of establishing itself as the most authoritative annual insight into the status, the dynamics and the development perspectives of corporate recruitment in the field of IT.

The first issue of the survey would review IT labour market from The Corporate HR Perspective. The scope of the research covers both quantitative and qualitative aspects of IT recruitment. Data will be collected from companies from all major core IT and IT-related sectors as hardware solutions, software development, communications, Internet services etc.

Being one of the most dynamic sectors of economic and labour market activity alike, IT has been included in all major HR-related research carried out in the last years. The Annual Recruitment Survey, however, is the first 100% dedicated investigation of the current status and the dynamics of the recruitment of IT personnel from the corporate HR point of view. The research will look into key indicators such as access to qualified labour, motivational factors, recruitment policies, staff turnover and mobility and the like.

Furthermore, the study will go into greater depths differentiating between traditional IT staff grades and job functions when assessing the weight of the factors accountable for whether a candidate is perceived as an attractive hire or not. The research will cover the job candidate perspective as well and will look into the deal-makers and the deal-breakers in the candidate-employer negotiation process.

MiNDS People & Solutions joined the International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA) in promoting the Business Analyst position among university students in IT majors. Emil Tanev, MiNDS Managing Director, delivered a presentation on the recruitment perspective to the Business Analyst position, still new for most of Bulgarian companies.

The Seminar was hosted at Sofia University’s Department of Mathematics and Informatics, academic home of one of the key audiences – university students who are either in their last year of study or are enrolled in postgraduate programmes. The organisers from IIBA rallied support from MiNDS and Start It Smart, the university’s own Entrepreneurship Club.

MiNDS presentation focused on the current status of the Business Analyst position vis-a-vis signals from employers and HR Managers. The presentation was followed by an open discussion and a ‘lite-bite’ socialising pause, during which Mr. Tanev provided useful insight into the profile and requirements that companies in Bulgaria have with respect to business analysts.

The new contracting arrangement between MiNDS People and Solutions and Bianor Bulgaria will add manpower and expertise to the local mobile software development team of the company. While the selection process is ongoing, the first assignment is a fact and a MiNDS’ contractor has already assumed duties at Bianor’s Sofia office. The contractor team is expected to grow to 4-5 IT specialists in the coming months.

Contracting and staff lease are recruitment tools that are widely-used in the mature labour markets but are still only sporadically deployed by IT companies on the local market. On one hand, pulling off a contracting deal in IT requires certain know-how which – as the instrument is fairly new to Bulgaria – has yet been accumulated only in a few companies. On the other hand, and more importantly, on the part of the client it requires unquestionable stability, reliability and confidence in the recruitment company, which makes us list the Bianor project as a noteworthy success.

MiNDS recently closed with success the negotiations for its first RPO project. The lead partner in the deal is Agile Global Solutions, a major U.S. recruitment services company.

The gist of the project is to set up a remote office based in Sofia recruiting IT talent in the U.S. The team will act as part of Agile’s recruitment department and will provide specialised IT recruitment services to some of its major international clients. The complete process – candidate sourcing, data collection, intelligence and communication with the candidates – will be performed online, as if from the very office of the company.

MiNDS People & Solutions will be responsible for identifying the recruiters and will supervise the operations of the team under a partnership agreement with Agile. The implementation of the project starts in April 2011. By the end of the year the RPO team is planned to grow up to 5 recruiters.

A team of MiNDS' recruitment experts travelled to Barcelona in the end of March to move forwards the plans for expansion of MiNDS' operations in Spain. The primary focus of the visit was to follow-up on recent placements facilitated by MiNDS and to strengthen the contacts with existing client companies there. The trip had a reconnaissance dimension too, as MiNDS' team had a round of fact-finding meetings to get update on recent developments and trends on the Spanish IT market.
„Our research shows that the Spanish IT market has good perspectives for growth and development”, MiNDS’ Managing Director of Emil Tanev explains. “We expect to see increasing demand for IT talent in the next couple of years, especially for specialists with experience in the development of web and mobile applications and we’ll continue to pursue placement opportunities in these fields.”
MiNDS has been eyeing the Spanish IT talent market for almost a year now and made its first successful placement in December last year.

In February MiNDS’ team grew with two new Technical Recruiters, who will strengthen the company’s recruiting capabilities on both the national and the international market.

The expansion of the recruitment team is plan of a broad business development effort, aimed at repeating the success of 2010 in terms of growth and revenue increase. MiNDS will continue to add more people to its team, mainly on the recruitment front, thus guaranteeing that submissions and communication with candidates run faster and smoother, even in the light of the almost doubled client list of the company.

FY 2010 proved to be very successful for MiNDS. The revenue for 2010 increased with almost 400%, exceeding even the ambitious business development plan of the company.

However, growth was not the only occasion for celebration when drawing the line at the end of the year. Throughout 2010 MiNDS continued to improve the quality of its services, raising the submission / interview ratio to 62%. This means that almost two out of every three candidates submitted to clients were considered strong and suitable and were invited to an interview. A total of 275 interviews were scheduled for 2010, which is a threefold increase as compared to 2009.

Further to that MiNDS boasts a less than 5% drop-out rate for hires of candidates it has provided to clients. This number not only looks good on paper, but is probably the best mark for the quality and adequacy of candidates delivered by MiNDS, especially in the context of a highly-volatile, payment-driven labour market in an economy that is lagging behind in its recovery from the financial crisis.

Looking forward into 2011 the company adds new priorities to its business agenda, mainly as regards international business operations and partnerships with clients from the Western European markets.

MiNDS joined efforts with Bulgaria's Freelance Lodge in broadening the work perspectives of Bulgarian IT specialists with independent careers in different branches of the industry. As Recruitment Partner of the Lodge, MiNDS participated in the one-day seminar on November 26, attended by some 120 members of the Freelance Lodge and other freelancers working in different fields ranging from IT to interior design.
Co-hosted by the Freelance Lodge and My Time, the seminar included lectures and practical advice on maximising the working opportunities for Bulgaria's freelance community. MiNDS' presentation focused on Contracting: an IT service in high-demand in Western European IT hubs, which combines the professional development and payment benefits of permanent employment in top-notch IT companies, with the flexibility and freedom of a freelance career.

Responding to an increased demand for junior IT specialists for some of its major clients, MiNDS People & Solutions launched a road-show recruitment campaign in technological universities across the country. The campaign is titled "First-Rate First Job" and is targeted at young specialists facing graduation, with little or no previous working experience. In a series of seminars in Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and Rousse, MiNDS' recruiters will present dream-start job opportunities in leading international IT companies with welcome environment for promising young professionals. The vacant positions are mainly for ETL and Database developers, as well as for QA analysts.