A major U.S. airline implements an Early Talent program to augment their application development projects.

SITUATION​

Our client was struggling to afford the senior full stack developers required to meet their application development needs and were pivoting toward the lower-cost option of a blended team utilizing junior talent. Their internal human resources department was having difficulty attracting and identifying quality junior talent and recent college graduates for consideration. We were chosen as a partner to assist our client with identifying best-fit junior talent and subsequently upskilling this team to meet our client’s technical needs for application development and UI/UX. ​

SOLUTION​

We developed a phased Early Talent Program to identify and upskill recent graduates through the Apex Talent University (ATU) program. The ATU was responsible for qualifying our client’s work and development needs, assisting delivery teams to identify best-fit consultants, and creating a customized training program aligned to our client’s project needs. Our three-step program included: ​

Cut Costs by Around 48% and Upskilled Eight Developers

1. Phase One 

  • Identified, onboarded, and performed gap analysis on consultants ​
  • Conducted customized training based on respective skills gaps 

2. Phase Two

  • ATU consultants rescreened to evaluate improvement ​
  • Consultants paired with respective application development pod ​
  • Set up detailed boot camp training covering client technologies, frameworks, and culture 

3. Phase Three 

  • Launched into 12-month contract, eligible for permanent conversion after six months ​
  • Established constant ongoing access to ongoing PluralSight training 

RESULTS ​

As a result of our phased Early Talent Program, our client was able to effectively build out four application development pods with the expertise required. By identifying and upskilling eight junior developers rather than the more costly senior resources originally targeted, our client saved an average of around 48% per consultant. Since the project, stakeholders have expressed interest in expanding and replicating the program across other business units. ​