Top Talent Networks: A Comparison [2022]
Your company needs to grow – and fast. You need the best talent. There are several top talent networks out there, all claiming the same thing. So, how do you decide on the best talent network, quickly, so you can get the talent you need to scale?
How the Top Talent Networks Compare
In selecting a hiring partner, there are 3 crucial points to consider:
- Quality
- Time-to-hire (speed)
- Cost
We compared the top talent networks Toptal, Upwork, Turing, and FullStackRemote.
Toptal
Quality: Toptal rarely compromises on quality. They have a several-week testing processed developed by the highest-ranked developers in the world. This testing process is intentionally meant to weed out the great from the good.
Time-to-hire: Toptal claims to hire within 48 hours. This may be the case for common tech stacks, with a large talent pool to choose from. However, when you get into the harder-to-find stacks or the less common languages, this process can take longer. Regardless, when a request for new talent is made, if there are people matching the stack, there still needs to be a check for availability. Having a large network allows for a quick turnaround for talent, in general.
Cost: Toptal is the most expensive of the top talent networks. Additionally, they are not transparent about their markups. A top developer in Argentina, for example, who may be $40/hour USD could cost you $80 or $100 per hour.
Overall: The quality in tech and English speaking skills at Toptal are among the very highest. However, you will pay a premium.
Upwork
Quality: Upwork doesn’t have the best reputation for quality on their network. Because anyone can create a freelancer account on Upwork, it’s a needle in the haystack to find someone who is above average. Upwork Pro and Upwork Enterprise attempt to solve that challenge, and these services provide a more experienced level of talent. Upwork has account managers to help you through this process. However, their testing and vetting is somewhat vague and uncertain.
Time-to-hire: This is essentially the same for most top talent networks. However, with Upwork, count on a longer process in general for finding the right talent the first time. You will likely have to do more rounds before landing on the right hire. The account managers at Upwork are not the high-level matchers with engineering backgrounds found on other networks.
Cost: Upwork charges 20% for their self-service model. Upwork Pro charges a monthly fee starting at $49 and 10%. Upwork Enterprise charges $499 per month and their fee varies depending on each client.
Overall: You can expect higher-than-expected prices from Upwork for access to the best talent as well as a longer hiring cycle with lower quality matching than other top talent networks.
Turing
Quality: Turing is a younger and newer startup that has backing from former Facebook and Google executives. They also have a unique testing process in place to vet talent. Turing has searched the globe looking for engineers. However, their bar is lower than other networks, and have sacrificed price for quality.
Time-to-hire: The only complaint with Turing on time to hire is the quality level of their talent and their English speaking capabilities. This has been a sticky point for them in their growth as clients turn down their matches in search of higher quality. If not for that, Turing has a large pool of candidates and with the right stack, quality, and communication can potentially match quickly.
Cost: Turing has a fixed monthly rate for its contractors, which claims to be approximately half of what you’d find in Silicon Valley.
Overall: Turing has good potential and a solid model. However, where they may excel in cost compared to a network like Toptal or locally in Silicon Valley, they lack in talent quality and communication. Turing has a lot of VC backing, which can be a blessing and a curse – they have the ability to build a large network, but are forced to scale quickly to meet metrics. This has not been favorable thus far for Turing.
FullStackRemote
Quality: FullStackRemote was created by former execs and employees from Upwork, Toptal and other top talent networks. Therefore, FullStackRemote knows that quality cannot be sacrificed. FullStackRemote has its own unique talent vetting system it uses to find the very best. We use the same testing software as Toptal. In addition to the highest level technical talent, FullStackRemote ensures English communication skills are top notch. Communication is critical especially when working remotely and that’s one compromise they do not make. One step above what other networks will do is FullStackRemote also matches candidates based on right culture fit. All clients are vetted and all talent is vetted and linked to create a symbiotic relationship that allows each to excel. Trello/Atlassian is one of the most trusted companies by developers and also trusts FullStackRemote to deliver the best quality.
Time-to-hire: With over 40 years of experience in finding and matching the best talent, including those hard-to-find niche positions, time-to-hire is reduced with FullStackRemote. There are the anomalies, and the client-dependent factors such as timing, interiew schedule, and so on. But FullStackRemote has been known to place people within minutes (though, it generally takes a few days like most networks with an existing on-demand talent pool).
Cost: As a fully bootstrapped company to this point, FullStackRemote intimately knows that startups and growing companies have tight budgets and can’t afford to get hiring wrong. It is the only network with complete transparency in their rates, with a low $10 minimum markup and never charging above 40%.
Overall: This is where FullStackRemote is the true winner. The best quality at the best prices. As companies are looking to scale and beat out their competition – to hire quickly and affordably with a competitive advantage, FullStackRemote ranks highest in all categories.
Top Talent Networks – Conclusion
There is no talent shortage when you can access the worldwide talent pool. The planet has more than 7 billion people. At FullStackRemote, we scour the globe to find the best talent and deliver that to you (we can even tell you which country is best at which skills).
Covid showed us that not only is it possible to work remotely, and be productive, but that employees prefer to be remote. In fact, 55% or more of the most talented employees are refusing to go back to work. People prefer flexibility. Top talent do not need to be micromanaged and will not thrive if forced to fit in a box. Our talent are out-of-the-box thinkers, strategists, doers who care about what they create and contribute.
The client relationships we seek know that the best talent doesn’t want, or more importantly, doesn’t need to be told when to work, or how. The best talent is inspired by the challenging products you strive to build and by the freedom they are provided to get the work done not on a clock, but on KPIs. Great leadership goes hand in hand with attracting the right employees.
FullStackRemote is comprised of industry veteran pioneers. We helped create the systems and the testing currently in place to locate the world’s best talent. To reiterate, our talent is rigorously tested, can communicate well both written and verbal in English, is able to work both independently and on a team, and can contribute out-of-the-box ideas. Our talent has experience, a voice, and is able to help your product scale – without breaking the bank.
Getting hires right the first time allows your company to grow exponentially rather than being outpaced by competition. Great talent is exponentially better than average talent. This is our network, this is FullStackRemote.
Contact hire@fullstackremote.com or schedule a time to meet.