Brainy Agency

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the HR manager at a Cyprus-based software development startup, and we’re building ad-driven products for the B2B market. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainy Agency?

We were experiencing a lack of candidates. We’re a small country with a small talent pool, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of foreigners coming to our country has decreased. As such, we needed help recruiting talents here in Cyprus and abroad to fill our job vacancies. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainy Agency helps us look for candidates to fill our job openings. The positions and the number of people they’re looking for varies depending on what’s going on in our company. 

What is the team composition?

I usually work with our account manager. 

How did you come to work with Brainy Agency?

Brainy Agency was recommended to me by our CTO. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We have started working together in May 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Brainy Agency has provided candidates in every position that we asked their help on, and we successfully hired their recruits. They provide a variety of candidates that are different from Cyprus locals. We rely on them to continue bringing the candidates that we need.

They’re definitely cheaper than many of the recruiters here, and they offer much better services. They are more than reasonable when it comes to their fees. 

How did Brainy Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Brainy Agency’s account manager is always available. I don’t need to send reminders or wait a long time to receive a response. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with their availability and responsiveness. 

Brainy Agency is unlike the other agencies I worked with. They read the job descriptions that I send to their team, and they pay attention to finding the most suitable candidates for the position. They don’t just read headlines, they go into details.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide as many details as possible about your requirements, and be straightforward. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a project manager at a mid-sized software development product company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Brainy Agency?

We started a new project and it was necessary to create a team of senior developers for it. We wanted to close this position as soon as possible.

How did you select this firm and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking in many directions at once, so we worked with many HR agencies, trying to work with everyone who suited us. We continue to cooperate with the best of them in the future.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package.

Recruiters listened carefully to our requirements for candidates, and after a couple of days they gave preliminary results. After a few adjustments, we reached a good understanding and the work went on very quickly.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked directly with the HR manager, but there were several other recruiters behind him who participated in the search.

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

We got very fast and relevant results for open positions. We ended up hiring two people. Both positions were difficult - senior developers with a narrow specialization.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Every day we communicated via chat, all candidates were in a separate file. If questions piled up, they called up. I am happy with everything.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Our requirements were carefully and patiently listened to, taking into account the peculiarities of our company. As a result, we got a quick and high-quality result.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

All is well for now. We continue our cooperation.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of LUXRIOT. We’re in the security and investigation industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainy Agency?

We had the challenge of hiring well-qualified software developers at a price level on par with our industry. For example, if we were Google, we could hire a developer for a million dollars a year, but in our industry, there isn’t such a budget. We can’t spend half a million or a million dollars a year on software development. We needed good software developers at a budget price.

Overall, we were looking for remote employees. The geography was extended, but we specified the area. We wanted people to be in European time zone so we could fully communicate.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Brainy Agency as a recruitment agency to find qualified software developers for us. They looked for 2–3 software developers, and then they decided how many candidates they should source for us.

We provided them with our required qualifications, and they started feeding us candidates almost immediately. In 2–3 days, the candidates started to flow. We don’t know how they filtered the candidates; I believe they had a database with people that were looking for a new job.

They initially gave us a list of four, and they added 1–2 candidates every day. They sourced them either actively or passively. Compared to previous experiences, they did a great pre-screening of the candidates.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Lesia (Head of Business Development).

How did you come to work with Brainy Agency?

It was a cold approach. We were contemplating hiring more people, and they chose the right moment to introduce themselves as a recruiting agency that could help us find exactly what we were looking for.

They didn’t charge any upfront fees; they started to work for free. Other recruiting agencies we used before required some kind of collateral upfront, and if they found someone good for us, we needed to pay commission. If they didn’t, there was no skin off my nose, and that’s why we signed an agreement with Brainy Agency.

How much have you invested in them?

Brainy Agency charges 10% of a candidate's gross annual salary. Half of that is due when a candidate starts their job, and the second half is due after a three-month probation period. If a candidate doesn't go through the probation period, Brainy Agency guarantees to find a replacement candidate, free of charge. In our case, we have filled two vacancies totaling €13,800 (approximately $16,900 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We gave them the task around April 2021, and they fulfilled the project within a month. We issued two job offers and both were accepted, so we’ve pretty much closed this project.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

In our previous experiences with recruiters, if we had four people for one vacancy and we let them know that none of them were a fit, they would provide two more, and then we would get a call saying we were too picky. With Brainy Agency, the number of candidates was overwhelming and every person was worth hiring; we could maybe disqualify a maximum of two.

Also, some recruiters do simple things like matching keywords, but Brainy Agency understood our exact requirements and found the right candidates, fitting our budget as well.

How did Brainy Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They did it very fast. We’d never had such a quick and seamless experience working with a recruitment agency. It was somewhat amazing, and I believe they can match their deadlines for hiring.

We communicated over email. For the recruitment process, they established a Google worksheet with the candidates and their CV attached, as well as their basic information —  salary, when they could start, and more. In that worksheet, we were able to put in our own information; whether we disqualified that candidate, were in the middle of the interview process, or how successful it was.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was the quality of the candidates that they supplied to us. They were all top-notch, high-quality candidates within the budget that we had outlined. My whole team — including HR, a project manager, and the lead developer — told me that they’d never had such a good list of candidates. We were choosing from the best of the best.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could lower the price, but the results have paid off, so they charge well. Based on all of our previous experience, this was the best one we’ve ever had, so I have no comment on what could be better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

First of all, I would recommend Brainy Agency to friends and industry colleagues. They really did a great job. Secondly, they proved that they do a great job looking for software engineers, but I can’t say if they’re as efficient in other areas as well. It remains to be seen how they’d perform on salespeople or mid or upper management.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a headhunting company that provides IT experts to customers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainy Agency?

We are just two people working together full-time at our company, so we needed Brainy Agency to support us with research for candidates.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainy Agency provides us with the candidates we are searching for. These are mainly from Ukraine, Russia, or Eastern Europe; sometimes, they can get people from Germany and India. The team gives us the information about the prospective candidates so that we can jump into the first interviews and decide if they’re the right person to be presented to our customers.

What is the team composition?

Normally, I only work with Lesya (Technical Recruiter), so it’s very straightforward. 

How did you come to work with Brainy Agency?

Brainy Agency contacted my business through LinkedIn to ask if they could provide us with the candidates we needed for our customers. We then talked about a potential partnership and set up a contract. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our business has invested around €6,000 (approximately $7,300 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in December 2019, and it’s ongoing. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our business has different ways to measure the success of Brainy Agency’s work. The team only gets paid if we’re able to place any of the candidates they recommended with one of our customers.

When there is a hiring requirement, I have to decide how many people I’m going to interview. Brainy Agency’s work has been quite good since I end up interviewing 90%–95% of the candidates they propose because all of them are really interesting.

How did Brainy Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is always quick, and the team is very responsive if I have any questions. I can clarify everything with Lesya, and it all has worked out perfectly. We use shareable spreadsheets to have an overview of the statuses. 
    
What did you find most impressive about them?

Brainy Agency is not pushy when it comes to getting feedback because they know I’m dependent on my customers. The team understands that it’s quite normal to wait for our customers’ response. They ask us about the performance of their candidates after a month or two, so they have a good balance between asking for updates and not pushing too much. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything for them to improve. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of a tech startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainy Agency?

We are hiring front- and backend engineers from Europe. Brainy Agency helps us identify good candidates.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I provided Brainy Agency with a job description, and they have helped us through the whole process. This has included identifying and finding the right person to making an offer.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Lesya (Recruiter). 

How did you come to work with Brainy Agency?

I had reached out to a couple of recruiters, and I liked the approach of Brainy Agency. I gave them a chance.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested somewhere between $15,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021. We are almost finished with the recruitment.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They work very quickly, and, since they know the pipeline, we've met with a lot of valid candidates. We are able to choose the best candidate to join our company, and I'm very happy with that. I'll be working with Brainy Agency in the future.

How did Brainy Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything is great. We communicate mainly through Gmail and WhatsApp. Our main point of contact updates me on all of the candidates, and they are efficient. We haven’t had any miscommunication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The best part of working with Brainy Agency is that they're transparent about the process, their business model, and how they work. They like to work directly with the candidates after you hire them to know there's nothing funny going on. Everything is super efficient and professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It has been a good experience; they don’t have anything to improve at this time.

Any advice for potential customers?

Define the roles that you need so that they can be efficient in finding the right candidate. Also, communicate quickly about the results of the interviews so they can adjust their search.