Tech talent signed, sealed, and delivered: Inside a logistics startup’s efficient regional hiring process
We live in a time where our online orders can arrive at our doorsteps insanely fast – and that means quick delivery times are what consumers have come to expect.
With the pandemic forcing many brick-and-mortar stores to shift online, logistics companies are finding it critical to make their processes more efficient to keep up with the increased demand for last-mile delivery services.
Image Credit: Park N Parcel
How are these businesses smoothing out their operations? For Park N Parcel, one of Singapore’s fastest growing logistics networks, the plan is to double down on technology.
The Singapore-based startup wants to build a new SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform this year, as well as enhance their route optimisation, driver management, and order management app, to grow their market share in 2022. But these are goals that will not be possible, according to CEO Bryan See Toh, without the right talent.
“In a tech-based company such as Park N Parcel, we need to enable seamless integration with our partners and with our customers. It will hamper us if we do not have good talent and manpower to build these applications for us.”
Related: Inside the minds of tech talent: What startups need to know about hiring and retaining in 2022
Just two years ago, Park N Parcel boasted one of the largest parcel collection point networks in Singapore, with more than 1,600 scattered across the island. The business leveraged this unique selling point to fulfil the majority of their orders by the following day. However, the pandemic threw them a curveball in the form of a nationwide lockdown, which meant a lot of these retail points were deemed obsolete overnight.
Despite this, Bryan explained that the company was quick on their toes. “We pivoted our business at the start of 2020 when Covid-19 happened and started our home delivery [service] – and we managed to grow our volume of home delivery by 8,000% in these 24 months.”
The business has thus far adapted well to circumstances by shifting their product focus. But its CEO remains cautious; he knows more challenges lie ahead.
“In the future, we are also facing a lot of supply constraints – such as drivers. They have more choices to go for other delivery jobs, ad-hoc delivery jobs or on-demand delivery jobs for Grab and other different on-demand platforms.”
Due to the increasing competition, its management team understands that the startup needs the right talent to innovate continuously – internally and externally – in order to stay ahead of the pack.
That’s why one of Park N Parcel’s priorities this year is to leverage technology to expand their range of services. The company intends to beef up their capabilities for on-demand and same-day delivery, which requires a substantial amount of tech bandwidth to ensure proper integration across the partners they work with. But the reality of the scarce local tech talent pool is not lost on them. “This lack of tech talent is a huge issue,” Bryan says.
Need help building a team? Glints can help match you with skilled tech talent across Southeast Asia quickly and affordably. Visit our website to find out more about our talent solutions.
In its early years, Park N Parcel outsourced their tech capabilities to a third-party tech company in Vietnam, before eventually deciding on building their own in-house team. Unsurprisingly, hiring local tech talent did not come cheap.
In 2021, it was estimated that Singapore had 19,000 vacant tech jobs, with the economy requiring another 1.2 million people with digital capabilities in the following three years to fill the talent gap. Another poll by the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) found that 91% of startups found it difficult to find qualified tech candidates. It is therefore unsurprising that local engineers and product specialists are among the highest paid across all industries, with salaries going up to $17,000 depending on levels of experience.
Hiring beyond borders has hence emerged as the most feasible avenue for scaling startups like Park N Parcel to beat the talent crunch. They identified several reputable markets across Southeast Asia, but sourcing and subsequently managing remote talent was nonetheless a daunting prospect for the team who were unacquainted with the process.
Related: These Are Greater Southeast Asia’s Top 3 Emerging Markets to Find Startup
Bryan expressed that they were also apprehensive about how difficult it would be to relay and receive information fluidly. “How are we going to work with a remote team? We did not have experience with that so we were concerned about the communication aspects of things, and the potential language barriers with developers as well.”
Their worries are not uncommon amongst startups looking for tech talent in the region, but the numbers show that these concerns might be unfounded. The large, youthful talent pool in Indonesia ranks #13 in Asia for English proficiency, with Vietnam and Taiwan coming in at 10th and 7th respectively. A multitude of companies from Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore for example, have largely benefitted from tapping on tech talent from their regional counterparts without a hiccup.
After hearing positive reviews from a fellow startup, Park N Parcel decided to engage talent recruitment and management partner Glints to assist with their search for tech talent.
Within weeks, Glints tapped on their active regional network of talent to shortlist a suitable pool of candidates, then facilitated the onboarding process after screening interviews were conducted. The company has since brought on more than eight tech talent in Indonesia to fill their frontend and backend developer roles. Bryan reports that his new hires have all integrated well with little to no complications.
“They have settled very seamlessly into the company,” Bryan says, adding that his first hire has since been promoted to the startup’s tech lead. “I think this is helped by the fact that we have been recruiting through this same network of tech talent – it helps to get future hires to adapt to our system and company and culture.”
Business-wise, Bryan believes that the move to engage a reputable recruitment partner has made a substantial difference, and enabled the company to push on with their business growth.
Need help building a team? Glints can help match you with skilled tech talent across Southeast Asia quickly and affordably. Visit our website to find out more about our talent solutions.
“We were able to develop our app and develop technologies to enhance our software to adapt to our operational needs; these are very important aspects. Even for additional aspects such as blockchain, some of the talent have that additional knowledge to help explore future strategy and plans.”
Park N Parcel currently holds large accounts like Lazada, Alibaba, and Samsung in their portfolio – with their new hires playing a key role in building the tech capabilities needed to meet the growing demands of these e-commerce giants. What was once a major cause of concern in the boardroom is now a non-issue thanks to their strategic partnership with Glints.
“I’ve been most impressed with the system that Glints has, the supply of manpower, and the quality of manpower,” Bryan affirms. “The service provided by Glints is full-suite, holistic and seamless. It feels more like a partner than a service provider.”
For a company whose mission is to optimise last-mile efficiencies across Southeast Asia through the means of technology, the ability to bring the best tech talent across the region onboard is essential to the heart and soul of the business. Now that a capable team of tech talent has arrived on their porch, Park N Parcel have shifted their focus back to what really matters: achieving faster fulfilment for your everyday needs.
As Southeast Asia’s largest talent recruitment and management platform, Glints can help connect you with skilled talent from Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines – so you can focus on growing your business without the hassle.
Hire anyone, anywhere in Southeast Asia. Start your remote hiring journey with Glints.
This article is brought to you by Glints TalentHub. Leading companies are actively building their borderless teams in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and beyond. However, the prospect of going borderless can be daunting due to complex regulations and cultural ambiguities. With Glints TalentHub, you’ll have a dedicated team of in-market legal, HR, and talent experts by your side at every step of the way.
Glints TalentHub offers an end-to-end, tech-enabled talent solution that encompasses talent acquisition, EOR, and talent development. We empower businesses to leverage the strengths of regional talent efficiently to build high-performing, cost-efficient teams.
Schedule a no-obligation consultation with our experts to receive a tailored proposal today.
