SESO Labor Scales Hiring + Boosts Engineering Productivity with Terminal
SESO, a fast-growing agriculture startup, connects farmers with labor through an H2-visa program. When SESO launched in 2021, Head of Engineering William Dembinski quickly realized that its largely referral-based internal hiring strategy would be a barrier to growth. After carefully sourcing the right partner for their needs, SESO chose Terminal to help source, hire and support seasoned software engineering professionals across the world.
“Terminal boosted our productivity,” said Dembinski. “Before, it was a hard and emotionally draining process. Now, I don’t have to sit on a call and figure out the complicated logistics. We’ve got a partner that reduces the pain, solves difficult problems, and helps us scale.”
Move past referrals to hire at scale
SESO was growing fast, and Dembinski knew that hiring engineers locally in the Bay Area was a non-starter. “It would have been so much slower. No one was leaving their jobs.” he says. “We wanted to hire Latin American engineers from the beginning due to the cultural component of our business. We knew hiring in LatAm could help us better grow and improve our product offering.”
If you’re serious about your time and serious about scaling your engineering team, work with Terminal.
William Dembinksi,
Head of Engineering, SESO Labor
SESO had acquired several developers through referrals, but Dembinski quickly realized that a referral-based recruiting strategy wouldn’t allow them to achieve meaningful scale. So, he began to evaluate alternative hiring solutions, looking for a company that would offer a white-glove approach and work closely alongside them to build the right team.
“Communication was critical for us in a hiring partner – it’s not easy recruiting engineers in a different region and handling the language barriers,” says Dembinski. “And we needed someone who could help beyond hiring to really support payroll, HR and other services in new countries.”
Find a white-glove partner with 360-degree support
After reaching out to Terminal, Dembinski and Terminal talent partner Rajan Kooner quickly formed a hiring plan of action, based on the needs of the SESO engineering team.
Terminal tapped into its candidate pipeline, as well as expert recruiters located in each region, to quickly source candidates for SESO. Within one month, Dembinski and team were actively interviewing developers.
“They were great candidates,” Dembinski said. “Our team at Terminal was fantastic at identifying what kind of engineers we were looking for and building a targeted candidate pool with the modern skillset we needed.”
As SESO moved through the interview process, Dembinski found the Terminal Talent Hub useful, taking advantage of the portal to watch interview recordings and peruse candidate materials.
In September 2021, Seso hired its first Colombia engineer, “Our first Terminal hire was a match made in heaven. I said yes via email, and the Terminal team took care of the rest.”
Less pain, more growth with a perfectly matched team
By fall of 2021, SESO had hired three full-stack developers through Terminal, including a Canadian developer. After the initial hire, Terminal’s Remote Management Platform ensured seamless onboarding, HR, payroll and remote support for each new employee.
As the Employer of Record, Terminal takes on the risk and complexities associated with global hiring – from compliance with local employment regulations to benefits and payroll administration. Every Terminal member receives a remote work stipend and IT support to build their at-home work station, as well as access to the Terminal community – offering educational events and topic-based online communities.
“I like that Terminal also provides a community for our engineers outside of our company,” says Dembinski. “They are putting in care for these people so they have a positive experience.”
Dembinski continues to work with Terminal to grow his team and access cost and time-savings, adding, “If you’re serious about your time and serious about scaling your engineering team, work with Terminal.”