What are staffing agencies? An IT hiring glossary

How to use this glossary for nearshore and Latin American hiring

Start with the decision in front of you. If you need candidates, read the recruiting and shortlist terms. If you have chosen someone, focus on the employer, monthly cost, and start date. If you need a project delivered, check who owns the work and accepts the result.

Use the definitions to review a proposal. A familiar service name can leave the division of work unclear. Ask the provider to identify the employer and name the person who handles employment questions. Your engineering lead also needs to know who assigns work and addresses missed expectations.

Opus is one option to discuss when defining those responsibilities. This site is an Opus-owned reference; recommendations are editorial. The client chooses the finalist and manages day-to-day work.

Talk to Opus about a role.

Before comparing proposals, write down the role and the work you expect the hire to own. Include required working hours and the manager who will support the person. A broad request for a senior engineer leaves room for very different candidate lists.

Use the same requirements with each provider. Keep unresolved questions beside the relevant contract clause. A verbal answer about fees or replacement terms should become a written term before you sign.

What do the terms mean for your hiring decision?

The terms above define common hiring labels. The checks below explain how to use them when reviewing candidates, pricing, and contracts.

Separate recruiting from employment

Recruiting describes the search for a person. Employment describes the relationship under which that person works. A recruiter may introduce the candidate you choose while another party handles employment.

For direct hire, confirm which business will sign the employment agreement. For an EOR arrangement, identify the employing entity and ask which employment tasks it handles. Also check whether you must bring your own candidate or pay separately for recruiting.

Draw the proposed arrangement in plain words: your business pays this entity, this entity employs the person, and this manager directs the work. If the provider cannot confirm that description, resolve it before approving the service.

Ask who handles a payroll error or a request for leave. Your hire should know where to take those questions without having to work out the contract structure.

Distinguish temporary staffing from contract-to-hire

Temporary staffing describes a limited assignment. Contract-to-hire describes an arrangement that allows a later move to direct employment. Neither label tells you the full cost of extending the assignment or making that move.

For temporary work, state the expected end date and how extensions are approved. Name the person who can authorize more work. Check whether the invoice follows hours worked, a fixed period, or another basis.

For contract-to-hire, ask about conversion fees and eligibility dates. Confirm what happens if you want to hire the person earlier than planned. The worker's agreement to a change also needs to be addressed.

Avoid treating the initial assignment as a promise of permanent employment. Describe the decision process to the candidate and set a date to review it.

Decide who manages the engineering work

With IT staff augmentation, plan for your manager to direct the specialist's daily work. Reserve time for code review and feedback. Include the hire in the meetings needed to understand the product.

With project outsourcing, describe the result you expect to receive. For a migration, name the systems in scope and the checks required before acceptance. Ask who owns the delivery plan and fixes work that fails those checks.

A managed service needs a defined operating scope. If it includes production support, specify who receives alerts and who can approve changes.

Choose a model your team can manage. If no one has time to assign tasks or review code, adding a specialist leaves that management work unresolved.

Turn the shortlist into an interview plan

A candidate shortlist is a set of people to consider, not a completed hiring decision. Give the recruiter must-have requirements that you can assess. Explain which skills the hire needs immediately and which can be learned on the job.

For technical vetting, request the assessment method and the findings for each candidate. A statement that someone passed screening tells you little about the work they completed. Ask what the assessor observed and where they had doubts.

Then design your interview around the remaining questions. A backend role might need a discussion about a production incident or a database change. Keep the exercise close to the actual job.

Assign interview owners before candidates arrive. Decide who can approve the hire and how conflicting feedback will be resolved.

Compare fees using the same scope

A placement fee and a monthly rate describe different billing structures. Ask what triggers each charge and when billing ends. Check how a delayed start, a changed role, or an early departure affects the invoice.

Opus charges one flat monthly rate per hire. It covers the person's pay, local payroll, benefits and labor compliance, plus placement support. There is no separate recruiting fee. The rate depends on role, seniority and location.

Published Opus dollar rates: Not published. Ask for a written quote for the role you want to fill.

Keep candidate pay and service charges distinct in your comparison. Ask whether equipment or other expenses fall outside the quoted amount. Finance should be able to see the expected recurring bill and the events that could change it.

Build a budget beyond base pay

Base pay is one part of total employment cost. Ask for an itemized budget that explains employer costs and service fees. For a Latin American hire, request the calculation for the actual country and employment arrangement.

Confirm how paid leave and required local benefits are reflected in the quote. Ask whether the monthly invoice spreads costs across the year or includes charges when they become due. That distinction affects your cash forecast even when the annual total is the same.

Record the billing currency and payment terms. If the worker's pay and your invoice use different currencies, ask who bears exchange-rate changes. Also confirm how a pay increase would affect your bill.

Have finance review these answers before the offer goes out. The hiring manager should not have to renegotiate an approved budget after the candidate accepts.

Put dates around the hiring process

Time to shortlist, time to hire, and start date measure different milestones. Ask when each clock starts and what event stops it. A candidate introduction does not mean that someone is ready to begin work.

Build your own interview steps into the schedule. Reserve reviewer time and set an owner for candidate feedback. If a final decision requires budget approval, obtain it before asking the candidate to wait for an offer.

Treat the first working day as a separate commitment. Confirm any notice obligations and agree on a start date with the hire. Avoid planning a release around an assumed arrival date.

For internal tracking, use the same milestone definitions across searches. Otherwise, a faster reported hiring cycle may simply reflect a different starting point.

Check overlap against the actual schedule

Nearshore describes geography. Shared working hours depend on where people live and when they work. Ask for the person's city and proposed schedule, then compare it with your team's meetings.

Mexico City stays on UTC-6 without seasonal clock changes. Tijuana follows US daylight saving changes. Bogotá stays on UTC-5, while Buenos Aires and São Paulo stay on UTC-3. IANA North America, IANA South America.

Write required shared hours into the role requirements. Specify which meetings require live attendance. If incident response is part of the job, discuss that duty separately from ordinary working hours.

Recheck the schedule when your US team changes clocks. A calendar invitation can move in the hire's local time even when their own city keeps the same offset. Agree on how the team will handle that change.

Keep contractor status separate from tax paperwork

An independent contractor arrangement needs a review of the proposed working relationship. Ask how the arrangement has been assessed where the person will work. Describe the actual duties and schedule instead of relying on the contract's title.

Tax paperwork has a separate purpose. The IRS identifies Form W-8 BEN as a certificate of foreign status for individuals for US tax withholding and reporting. IRS Form W-8 BEN.

Keep that purpose clear when reviewing onboarding documents. Ask the appropriate adviser which forms are needed and who retains them. Do not treat a completed tax form as the answer to every employment question.

If the role changes during the engagement, raise the change with the party responsible for reviewing the arrangement.

Read the remedy behind a replacement guarantee

A replacement guarantee needs an operational explanation. Ask what triggers it and who opens the new search. Check whether you must report concerns within a stated period and what happens to billing during the gap.

Read the remedy carefully. A replacement search, a fee credit, and a refund have different effects on your budget. Confirm which remedy the contract promises rather than assuming those terms mean the same thing.

Also plan for the work already in progress. Name someone who can receive a handover and review unfinished changes. A replacement search does not assign a temporary owner to the departing person's work.

Raise performance concerns with specific examples. Record the expected result and the feedback already given so everyone understands the issue.

Write service promises into the agreement

A statement of work defines the work covered by the engagement. A service-level agreement defines measurable service commitments. Use each document to answer questions your team will face during delivery.

For a project, state the deliverables and acceptance criteria. Describe who reviews the result and how defects are handled. If the scope changes, name the person who can approve the new work and its cost.

For an ongoing service, define the event being measured. A response time needs a starting event and a clear meaning of response. Confirm coverage hours and the process for escalation.

Make sure sales promises match the signed terms. If your team depends on a particular commitment, ask for it to appear in the agreement.

Assign onboarding and offboarding owners

Onboarding starts before the first working day. Assign owners for equipment and account access. Give the hire a named manager, a first assignment, and a way to ask for help.

For an engineering role, decide which repositories and environments the person needs. Keep access tied to the work. Confirm who approves production permissions and how the hire will learn your review process.

Plan offboarding while those responsibilities are clear. Name who collects equipment, removes access, and receives the handover. Include shared accounts or credentials that may need to change.

Before choosing a provider, bring the role requirements and open contract questions into the discussion. Ask for a proposal that your engineering lead and finance team can review against the same checklist.

Talk to Opus about a role.

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