Interviews with startups

Stakha - Get the best permanent full-time remote jobs!

What is the story behind Stakha?

I was a young dad willing to spend more family time and open a better balance work life/balance. I left Paris to move back to my hometown. I've thought it would have been easy to find a full-time, permanent role as a tech recruiter with numerous years of tech recruitment. Unfortunately, only French companies rated my background, but they weren't ready to hire me as I wasn't physically in Paris anymore, even if the world went remote since Covid. I've started to share my frustration with candidates and realized we are many to share that frustration. At the time, many companies didn't want to go remote. I quickly understood many candidates were sharing the same frustration, and employers will have to adapt. On the other hand, I've thought if Parisian companies hire candidates from everywhere in France that will work fully remote, why couldn't they hire candidates from everywhere in Europe? Also, by bringing more diverse and inclusive tech teams, companies will build products with a broader and better market fit! Covid was the wake-up call to think in a more European scope and less national. Building something great requires more than one brain! More than the idea, my co-founder, an old colleague and, of course, friend Arnaud I've known for years just left a startup and was eager to stamp its print on the tech world. In building a distributed company, he saw the flexibility that would allow him to work from anywhere in Europe and give him limitless opportunities for his family. We've worked together only one year, but even if Arnaud wasn't living in Europe for some time, we also followed our respective lives and achievements. In a certain way, we succeeded in keeping a distributed friendships, which was a good sign for building a distributed company. Finally, we both agree that more than simply following the WFH trends, we could use remote talent to leverage a European talent tool that is not national anymore to help European companies better fight against China and the US.

Why is this the right moment for your company?

Covid scared every individual and company in the world. The economy had been on a weird pause for some months. On the other hand, people were also willing to enjoy their life in the new normal and trust in the market were back. Companies, especially tech, were ready to hire again. Some of them even regretted firing their staff. On the other hand, a line had been crossed, every country house, igloo or island with a proper internet connection were fully booked. Employees really took the best of their WFH's time and didn't want to get back in their old habits. Plus, fully distributed companies for which remote is their DNA were not struggling to hire as more and more people wanted to embrace that change. For The "normal" companies, it was another story. They wouldn't have much choice. Either they adapted, either they don't hire. The number of full-remote opportunities would skyrocketed!

How do you envision the future of the Talent Acquisition market?

More than stop wasting time in commute, the WFH trend showed the value of work is not linked to a location but more than the individuals that got it done. People will choose more their place of living based on their personal choice than for working reasons. Many "big brains" are already going back to where they come from and where they enjoy living. Even countries such as Italy offer tax plans to attract remote workers. Three yo from now, it will be expected for a high growth tech company located in Germany to hire someone in Ireland or Slovenia. The competition for Hiring top performers will be fiercer than ever as companies won't be limited by distance. If European tech companies want to get and keep the best engineers, they will need access to a European talent pool and not local anymore. Last but not least, I assume salaries and perks in Europe will grow consequently in the years to come.

How are you different from the competition?

Stakha is all about understanding what the tech candidate wants wherever he lives and then, use technology as leverage to find the fully remote position that matches the best with his expectations and values. We are an international distributed company from day one. Hence, we know what is essential for our candidates and clients when building a fully remote and distributed team. Companies work with us because our platforms allow them to access a talent pool with senior and qualified candidates anywhere in Europe. Also, our technology will enable us to suggest candidates automatically depending on the clients’needs.

What are your ambitions for the next three years?

Keep a high level of empathy for the candidates by understanding what they want and helping them at every step in the process of getting their next full-remote tech position.
We will strengthen our operations and offer our services to tech companies in several hot tech countries like France, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden. We will also build a customer success manager pool to help our clients in their recruitments better.