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To fill the shortage of qualified IT staff, Lithuania is looking to the international talent market, although successful cooperation still lacks more favorable conditions and simpler recruitment procedures. The Digital Explorers program, which has been in operation for a year and brings together Lithuania and Nigeria for cooperation in the field of ICT, helps break the ice. Twelve Nigerian ICT talents have worked successfully in six Lithuanian companies for a year and are developing future plans in our country.
According to Mindaugas Ubartas, head of Infobalt, the greatest need for programmers in the IT field is currently. Speaking about the changes needed to remove obstacles to attracting talent to Lithuania, he first emphasizes the need to trust Lithuanian companies and employers.
“If a company chooses an IT specialist that it would like to invite and is willing to pay him a competitive salary several times higher than the national average, his decision should be trusted and received a response from the institutions in a few days. Lithuania should be very interested in that, because our population is aging anyway. Meanwhile, it is quite difficult to invite specialists, because we are competing for them in the international space “, says M. Ubartas, encouraging to consider a more flexible granting of the national visa (D).
Photo by Digital Explorers / IT Specialists
According to the Infobalt director, by creating liberal employment conditions and giving employers more freedom of choice and decision-making power, we would gain a competitive advantage. A sufficient number of specialists would enable much larger projects to be carried out as well as attracting more IT service centers to Lithuania. Employees from different countries and cultures would also help create more innovation.
The complexity of the hiring process makes it difficult
Daina Kleponė, CEO of Verslios Lietuvos, recalled these Belarus and IT specialists began to look to neighboring countries due to the unfavorable situation, and the Baltic States competed with each other to attract representatives from this sector.
“The situation reaffirmed the importance of attracting international talent at the state level and, at the same time, encouraged the perception of a competitive disruption: imperfections in the regulatory environment. When together with our partners we began to implement the professional development program“ Digital Explorers ” More than a year ago, from the beginning we faced a considerable challenge in attracting Lithuanian companies to the project. We heard many risks and fears, but we found the answer to why this happened: the business was not determined by cultural differences or the uncertainty of the distant export market, but because of the difficulties of hiring foreigners ”, admits D. Kleponė.
Versli Lietuva notes that Lithuania lacks a focused strategy to attract talent from third countries and highlights the experiences of three digital explorers related to the imperfection of the regulatory environment. The first is an overestimation of documents indicating the experience and qualifications of the candidates selected by the employer. The second problem is related to the fact that foreigners employed in Lithuania for a period not exceeding one year are not covered by compulsory medical insurance. Thirdly, the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Legal Status of Foreigners establishes the obligation to pay a foreigner not less than the statistical average salary if the Lithuanian citizen is not currently working in the workplace where the foreigner is admitted . This limits the opportunities for smaller Lithuanian companies to hire younger ICT professionals from third countries, as the average statistical salary in the sector exceeds their current qualifications.
“When it comes to highly skilled mobile professions that can work anywhere, anytime, the charge of wage dumping makes no sense. Especially when there is a shortage of skilled employees and higher education institutions fail to prepare them sufficiently,” he says. M. Ubartas.
Lithuania is fascinated by opportunities for peace and development
One of the participants in the program is the programmer and data analyst Ajibola Ladoja, who came to Lithuania from Nigeria in March and works for the company Beyond Analysis. From the beginning, due to the situation of the pandemic, he had to work remotely, but then he managed to integrate perfectly into the team of colleagues.
“The first impression that has survived so far is that Lithuania is a very colorful, calm and modest village country. So far, I don’t get used to how quiet it is here. Meanwhile, starting to work remotely was quite a challenge. But in the long run we all got used to it and finally we got to know each other better, ”says A. Ladoja.
Personal file photo / Ajibola Ladoja
A Nigerian data analyst is often faced with the need to break stereotypes and reveal what it means to be a girl, something that is less commonly found in the information technology field.
“So far, I don’t think it’s me, it’s digital technology itself. I came here from a completely different field: Before I started working as a junior IT specialist, I studied agronomy, but then I completely immersed myself in data analysis. In fact, being the only woman in the room among colleagues should not be scared. Sometimes it happens that you are judged on your appearance, even though you haven’t had a chance to speak yet, but then you have to say your word anyway, whatever. otherwise people won’t recognize you anyway, ”says the Nigerian.
Looking to the future, the data IT specialist hopes to create his own company offering various digital products and services, perhaps even setting up in Lithuania. He is also making plans to help his country.
“The opportunity to join new communities helps to create the best version of yourself, regardless of the country you look in: Lithuania or Nigeria. In the future, I hope to find and offer a suitable waste collection and recycling solution for Africa. ”Says A. Ladoja about future dreams and aspirations.
See the intercultural environment as an advantage
One of the companies participating in the program, UAB Telesoftas, is happy with the new hires and believes that they could solve the shortcomings of the limited market for IT staff in Lithuania, limiting the companies’ expectations of qualitative growth.
“Our company currently employs nine colleagues, five of whom came with the Digital Explorers program, so by then the general communication in the company was in English. We very much appreciate their participation in the project. We note that multiculturalism is increasing in the company and this brings new angles of approach, fosters a better reflection on the clarity of communication and improvement. Undoubtedly, the attitudes derived from the lack of knowledge of the different work cultures have changed, so we all grow together as personalities ” says Gintarė Jasonė, Human Resources Manager at Telesoft.
She points out that international talent has more knowledge of how work is going and what trends are in other markets and countries, they may notice subtleties that are impossible to see from the inside. The competitive advantage also comes from the fact that employees can work with colleagues from different cultures, so when working with foreign clients this becomes a distinct advantage.
We believe that the shortage of personnel and candidates could certainly be filled by professionals from foreign countries, all the more so since teleworking has no longer become an advantage but one of several forms of work and this opens the way to new opportunities.
“We are sorry for the lack of several experienced specialists, including JAVA, PHP, Swift programmers, as well as specialists who perform automated tests. Thanks to the program, four programmers came to TeleSoft, two of them working with the Java programming language, the other two, including a girl, working with JavaScript technology. Recently, she also teamed up with a data analyst to work on artificial intelligence projects. We believe that the shortage of employees and candidates could really be filled by specialists from foreign countries, all the more so since teleworking has no longer become an advantage, but one of several ways of working and this opens the way to new opportunities ” says G.Jasonė.
Share experiences and recommendations
The Digital Explorers program is one of the few new initiatives in the European Union to promote mutually beneficial migration from third countries and attract highly skilled workers who are in short supply on the local labor market.
“We hope that in the near future there will be more positive changes, and the project experience will help transform the existing immigration regulatory environment into one that is easier to understand and more competitive by attracting international talent to Lithuania,” says D. Kleponė.
A videoconference session that will close the first phase of the program will take place from 6 to 8 October, during which the participants and organizers, EU institutions and Lithuania, representatives of the ICT sector will discuss the experience of cooperation, obstacles to the international mobility of talent and the expected changes.
The idea of promoting ICT cooperation with Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, was born after the establishment of a strong partnership with the Ventures Platform in Nigeria by the African Center for Research and Consulting AfriKo and the Agency for Business Development and Exporter Versli Lietuva. 7 Lithuanian ICT companies have joined the Digital Explorers program: TeleSoftas, Syno International, Beyond Analysis, Ruptela, NRD Systems, TransUnion and iTo.
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