News
November 11, 2015Transfinder Corp. Opens Shanghai Office
Transfinder Corp. announced it opened its first international office, located in in Shanghai, China, to hire top-tier programming talent for work on new and existing products as the software company expands into new markets.
Transfinder Corp. finalized the incorporation of its subsidiary, Transfinder Shanghai, on Nov. 3, 2015. The process of opening the office began in January when Transfinder located and leased its office in the heart of the city of 24 million people and hired five programmers. Today, Transfinder Shanghai has eight programmers and is hiring six additional programmers at its China location within the next three months.
Transfinder president and CEO Antonio Civitella said this was a decision he put off as long as he could as he sought to hire and locate talent at its Schenectady, New York headquarters. Transfinder makes school bus routing and logistics software for more than 1,700 school districts in North America and the Caribbean.
Earlier this year, the company announced it was expanding into a new market, providing logistics support for municipalities. Its first client in this new market is the City of Schenectady, which hired Transfinder to provide intelligent and responsive routing for fleets handling garbage pickup and snow plowing.
Civitella said Transfinder’s expansion into the municipalities market increased the need for more developers.
Transfinder remains committed to growing in Schenectady and has undertaken a number of strategies to hire the best and brightest college graduates. Those efforts include:
- Working with five recruiters who specialize in tech
- Attending off-site job fairs
- Hosting job fairs at its headquarters in Schenectady
- Visiting area colleges, including UAlbany, RPI, Union and Siena.
- Covering the costs associated with obtaining visas for international employees
- Paying finder’s fees to Transfinder employees who identify prospective job candidates
Civitella said those efforts will continue and new recruiting efforts will be launched this year as well. The company plans to bus students in from area colleges this year to introduce students to Transfinder’s culture, with an expectation of hiring the top candidate or candidates on the spot. Transfinder is also initiating a co-op program to bring top students into the company prior to graduation.
“We have to do whatever it takes to bring the best talent in-house so we can develop the products our clients are craving,” Civitella said. “We cannot allow a skills gap to slow our growth.”
The development teams in Schenectady and Shanghai will collaborate on projects, with leadership and QA taking place in Schenectady.
Transfinder recently hosted the press conference announcing the results of a tech hiring survey conducted by the staffing company Linium. The results of that survey found that more than half of the region’s hiring managers pointed to a skills gap as the biggest factor in impeding their companies from hiring.
Civitella said he will continue to work with area colleges and recruiters to close that gap, including covering the costs associated with obtaining a visa.
The Shanghai office represents Transfinder’s second satellite office. Earlier this year, Transfinder celebrated the grand opening of its Austin, Texas, office. Texas represents the second highest concentration of clients, behind New York.
“For the first time in 27 years, Transfinder is in three time zones and is truly a 24/7 international operation,” Civitella said. “The sun always shines on Transfinder – from Schenectady to Shanghai!”
