How TriCom’s Nearshore Hiring Streamlined AMC’s Business Operations

The Project  

When AMC was ready to expand their capacity last summer, the Leawood-based entertainment company looked into nearshoring, a form of outsourcing centered on hiring talent from nearby regions such as Latin America.  

It’s a simple, cost-effective solution that allows companies to work with candidates outside of the United States while staying in the same time zone. Unlike offshoring, nearshoring lets companies and their international employees communicate and collaborate in real time, which minimizes friction and maximizes productivity.  

The benefits of nearshoring were clear for AMC. But executing it wasn’t as simple. That’s where TriCom came in. We helped them field, screen, and vet candidates to find IT professionals who not only met the skillset requirements but meshed well with the company culture. 

For instance, our thorough candidate screening process includes: 

• Third-party technical assessments that we use as part of our standard operating procedure 

• Multiple in-person or video interviews to get a sense of the candidate’s soft skills, behavioral aptitude, and communication style 

• A third-party reference-checking platform for a fair approach 

Based on the high caliber of talent we provided, they landed on TriCom. 

The Solution 

TriCom found nearshore talent who could work seamlessly with AMC’s existing team. We took the time to truly understand their organizational culture, which has resulted in the highest success rate of interviews for their nearshore hiring process. 

After assessing our initial pool of candidates, we narrowed it down to a small handful that we felt the most confident in. From there, we submitted a tailored batch of potential candidates that aligned with AMC’s criteria. This saved them significant time in the recruiting process. 

Nearshoring has also granted the AMC staff a renewed focus on their work and the wherewithal to tackle more complex projects. Core team members can stay engrained in the institutional knowledge of their systems while nearshoring candidates can handle various support roles to fill in the gaps as needed. Having a highly technical candidate who doesn’t need to understand the company’s subscription products or order processes can tackle ad hoc tasks to buttress in-house staff. 

Hiring from countries such as Brazil and Argentina means that contractors are only a few hours outside of the central time zone. In AMC’s case, these contractors are willing to work during business hours because they won’t be up at 2 a.m. to clock in or out. 

Other benefits of nearshoring include: 

On the other hand, offshoring in cities like Mumbai or Hyderabad can lead to miscommunication, due to their location on the other side of the globe. Because of Latin America’s confluence of time and work culture with the U.S., however, the nature of work becomes highly collaborative. 

“From a hiring manager’s perspective, our challenge is always getting high-quality candidates,” Romero said. “In my experience with TriCom, including on this nearshore project, they do a good job of whittling down and making sure that the candidates that they submit fall within the line of what AMC traditionally looks for. It takes the onus off our plates.” 

The Difference 

IT staffing is first and foremost a people-focused business. That’s why we listen to our clients to not only meet their needs but also understand them on a deeper level. In AMC’s case, they expressed a desire to find candidates who possessed both advanced technical skills plus an interest in leadership and managerial roles. One of our account executives then found several excellent candidates for them to choose from.  

Here at TriCom, we don’t abandon you after placing with your company. We maintain a relationship to guarantee long-term support. Like we do with AMC, we periodically touch base with all our clients and candidates to ensure that the placement is going well and that it’s a positive experience for all parties involved. If there’s any misalignment, then we’ll remedy it as soon as it comes up.  

“We did have one issue with a nearshore hire that just wasn’t producing,” said Stephen Innes, a manager of application development (API) at AMC. “[TriCom] worked closely with me by addressing that situation and getting a replacement, and the replacement’s working out well.” 

The team at AMC knows that they can call TriCom for future nearshore hiring as their needs evolve and change. And if a hire doesn’t work out, then we immediately address the situation. Here’s how we do that: 

• Our two-week transition promise means that you won’t have to pay for the time that it takes to find a suitable replacement.  

• Our four-week guarantee means that, if your contractor doesn’t meet your expectations, you won’t be billed for those hours. 

“Generally, we’ve always gotten high-quality candidates from TriCom,” Innes said. “I’ve always been happy with TriCom.”  

That’s because our comprehensive quality assurance decreases the odds of a bad hire occurring in the first place. At TriCom, we recruit connections, not job-fillers. 

“We have seen the highest success rate of interviews through TriCom,” said David Bastow, Vice President of Digital Systems at AMC. “TriCom did a very good job of recognizing and respecting the boundaries that we’re setting for how we wanted this to run.” 

Connect with us today when you contact us online. Let’s start building a relationship today so we can help you find a solution tomorrow.