Working with seasoned headhunters in Colombia could be your best choice if you are looking to fill an IT, tech, or executive position in the country.
Because a good executive, IT, or tech recruiter will have expert knowledge of the local market and an established recruitment network to tap into, so should be able to find strong candidates quickly.
Table of Contents
If you are interested in securing the best talent via headhunters in Colombia, the following article offers an overview of the market and insight into executive and IT recruitment.
Headhunters in Colombia will help you tap into a strong market brimming with talent
Colombia has emerged as an increasingly popular destination for foreign investors over recent years, with foreign direct investment (FDI) as a percentage of GDP following a generally upward trajectory over recent decades.
That is reflected by the fact that in 1988 FDI represented just 0.5% of GDP, according to figures published by the World Bank. Yet by 2019, prior to the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic, it represented 4.3% of GDP – almost nine times the figure seen three decades earlier.
That is in part thanks to Colombia’s success in improving its security and crime situation, with the intentional homicide rate tumbling from 84 per 100,000 people in 1991 to 25 per 100,000 people in 2018.
The country still has a significantly higher homicide rate than many other countries in Latin America, with Colombia continuing to struggle with an internal armed conflict driven by drug trafficking and organized crime, especially in its most remote peripheries.
However, the country has witnessed palpable improvements over recent years, and today foreigners flock to its major cities and tourist hotspots safe in the knowledge that by taking basic precautions they can generally expect to be safe.
As Colombia’s security situation has improved, its economy has also grown considerably, with the middle class growing over recent decades.
That has seen the country emerge as a significant producer of professional talent, with the second highest proportion of law graduates in the world, More recently, Colombia has earned increasing recognition as a hub for innovation.
Today, capital city Bogota hosts a large number of tech companies, including some of the most high-profile startups from the region, and second-largest city Medellin has been heralded as one of Latin America’s new “Silicon Valleys.”
While some headhunters in Colombia will be able to assist you with almost any type of role, others will specialize in one particular area, be that professional or executive recruitment, or acting as an IT or tech recruiter.
Headhunters in Colombia can assist with professional and executive recruitment
Given that tech is still a realtively new and emerging sector, most well-established headhunters in Colombia will have a longer track record in professional and executive recruitment.
Top executive recruiters in Colombia will have a track record of filling a variety of roles, including administrative leadership, sales managers, consulting jobs, and any type of c-level role you may need occupied.
Other highly-educated and skilled roles that a headhunter in Colombia may have experience filling include lawyers, engineers, and medical professionals.
A good headhunter in Colombia will have knowledge of the best local educational programs and firms relevant to the type of work you are recruiting for, so will be able to sift through candidate profiles and easily identify the strongest options.
Do you need an IT or tech recruiter?
You may also want to seek assistance from headhunters in Colombia in filling IT or other tech-related roles.
Given the rapid growth of the tech ecosystem, many providers today focus entirely on this job field, and will frequently advertise themselves as a tech recruiter or IT recruiter.
The burgeoning tech scene in Colombia has given rise to an increasingly large pool of IT talent, with an estimated 34% of university students graduating in science and technology-related fields – the fourth highest rate in Latin America, behind only Chile, Mexico, and Argentina.
While the victory of leftist candidate Gustavo Petro in presidential elections held in June 2022 has raised fears regarding the direction the economy could take, Petro’s campaign pledged to significantly bolster tech knowhow among the population and public access to the internet.
That suggests Colombia’s already impressive production of tech graduates could yet grow further in the years to come.
Among the many IT and tech roles you may seek to fill include:
- Back end developers
- Computer systems analysts
- Data engineers / Data scientists
- Information security analysts
- Front end developers
- Full stack developers
- IT managers
- Network administrators
- Software developers
- Systems engineers
- Web developers
Some headhunters in Colombia provide professional employer organization (PEO) services
While many headhunters in Colombia are purely dedicated to seeking out talent that you will then add to your team, other providers are able to actually hire them on your behalf via a professional employer organization (PEO) arrangement.
That essentially means that your staff will be officially employed by the PEO firm, which will manage their onboarding, payroll and subsequent offboarding, but those staff will report directly to you.
Such an arrangement is a particularly attractive for investors who are only seeking a limited number of local staff, or who need people to complete a particular project, because it allows them to avoid company formation and subsequent liquidation.
Providers of PEO services are regularly referred to as an employer of record (EOR), and like a standalone headhunter in Colombia, such providers will have established recruitment networks to find the local talent their clients are in need of.
Biz Latin Hub can help you with hiring & PEO in Colombia
At Biz Latin Hub, we provide integrated market entry and back office services throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, with offices in Bogota and Cartagena, as well as over a dozen other major cities in the region. We also have trusted partners in many other markets.
Our unrivaled reach means we are ideally placed to support multi-jurisdiction market entries and cross border operations.
As well as hiring & PEO , our portfolio of services includes accounting & taxation, company formation, bank account opening, and corporate legal services.
Contact us today to find out more about how we can assist you finding top talent or otherwise doing business in Latin America and the Caribbean.
If this article on headhunters in Colombia was of interest to you, check out the rest of our coverage of this South American country. Or read about our team and expert authors.
