The technology industry is navigating significant workforce transitions that continue to reshape hiring practices. According to LinkedIn’s September 2023 report, approximately 9.13% of paid job listings in the US offered remote positions in August 2023, while 13.9% advertised hybrid arrangements. This marks a notable shift from the previous year, when remote positions represented 17.8% of all paid US job listings. Meanwhile, hybrid opportunities have steadily increased from 8.8% in August 2022. Even as remote work offerings decline, specialized roles in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure remain difficult to fill, staying open 30% longer than average positions. This evolving landscape has created intense competition for qualified specialists as companies continue digital initiatives despite economic headwinds. Leading this talent acquisition revolution is Olha Nizhnyk, founder of Uppeople, a tech staffing company, former CBDO at Omisoft, who generated over $1M in revenue, organizer of a Top 100 TEDx conference by engagement, and creator of the WowKids charitable initiative that reached 60,000+ children. Her unique combination of recruitment and marketing strategies is helping technology companies worldwide build resilient teams in this transformed environment.
The Problem: Why Traditional Tech Recruitment Fails
Most tech companies today are stuck using outdated recruitment approaches that treat hiring like a simple matching game – find someone with the right keywords on their resume and hope for the best. This transactional mindset is precisely why specialized roles stay open 30% longer than average positions.
Olha Nizhnyk discovered this fundamental flaw during her time as Chief Business Development Officer at IT company Omisoft, where she developed strategies that generated over $1 million in revenue. Working closely with tech companies revealed a disconnect that bothered her: talented professionals and companies that needed them kept missing each other despite being perfect matches.
“When most recruiters are just matching keywords on resumes, you’re missing the human element,” Nizhnyk points out. “We realized successful matches happen when you understand both what the company actually needs technically and what kind of workplace culture they’ve built. Then you find people who thrive in that exact environment.”
This insight led her to develop what she calls “contextual talent matching” – a methodology that goes far beyond traditional recruitment practices and has helped companies like Nextiva significantly improve both their hiring success and talent retention rates.
The Solution: Contextual Talent Matching in Practice
The results speak for themselves. One standout achievement saw Uppeople connect more than 250 specialized tech professionals with a major European client over just two years. American companies like Nextiva have also embraced Uppeople’s methods, seeing significant improvements in both finding and keeping the right talent.
When Nizhnyk founded Uppeople in 2019, she didn’t just create another recruitment agency – she built a system that combines recruitment expertise with marketing insights to solve the talent acquisition puzzle from both sides.
Instead of merely posting job descriptions, her team digs deep into each company’s culture, team dynamics, and long-term goals. In the case of Nextiva, for example, they didn’t just look for candidates with technical skills. They identified professionals whose ambitions genuinely aligned with where the company was headed.
Rather than casting a wide net across all IT roles, Uppeople narrowed its focus to specific sectors where it could develop true expertise. These specialized niches, as Nizhnyk explains, require not just technical ability but a creative mindset – something that’s hard to find with surface-level recruitment.
And instead of stopping at the moment of hire, Uppeople tracks candidate progress over time — looking at six-month performance and whether people are promoted or integrated into company growth. These longer-term metrics help prove whether the match was truly successful, rather than just a checkbox filled.
Lessons From Crisis: Adapting Recruitment During Uncertainty
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, many businesses came to a standstill. Uppeople, on the other hand, kept growing — expanding its team and client base even under the toughest conditions. What worked? Specialization.
As generalist recruiters scrambled, specialized sectors — especially in tech — continued to grow. Nizhnyk’s team had already built deep expertise in these areas, which gave them an edge when everything else felt unstable.
Rather than chasing crowded markets, they focused on underserved niches where their skills stood out — and where companies were willing to pay for depth over breadth.
They also built in flexibility: instead of rigid systems, they created recruitment processes that could adapt to rapid changes, essential in a crisis environment.
And above all, they prioritized relationships over transactions. In chaotic times, businesses value partners who understand their needs and can stay the course. That trust helped Uppeople land clients who were looking for more than just another recruiting service — they wanted collaborators who could help them weather the storm.
These principles helped Uppeople attract high-profile clients who needed access to talent pools that typical recruitment approaches simply couldn’t reach – a competitive advantage that became even more valuable during economic turbulence.
Scaling Globally: Practical Steps for International Expansion
Nizhnyk’s expansion into North American markets throughout 2023 provides a blueprint for other entrepreneurs looking to scale internationally. Rather than trying to replicate her Ukrainian approach exactly, she adapted her methodology to local market conditions while maintaining core principles.
“Tech hiring in the US comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities,” she observes. “Many companies there are pushing boundaries with cutting-edge projects that demand very specific expertise. They’re often fishing in the same small talent pool as everyone else.”
Her solution involved forming strategic relationships with startup accelerators, giving Uppeople early access to promising ventures and their talent needs. This approach demonstrates how partnering with ecosystem players, rather than competing directly with established local providers, allows new entrants to complement existing networks and add unique value. She adapted her methodology to local market conditions while keeping her core principles consistent, recognizing that tactical adjustments are necessary but fundamental value propositions should remain the same. Most importantly, she started with underserved niches, looking for gaps in the local market where her specialized expertise could command premium pricing rather than competing on generic services.
These strategies helped Nizhnyk’s team gain early visibility into promising new ventures, allowing them to support companies’ growth trajectories by connecting them with exactly the specialized talent they need – a win-win approach that builds long-term relationships rather than one-off transactions.
Architecting Cross-Border Talent Ecosystems
As the tech industry evolves at breakneck speed, finding specialized talent will only become more challenging. Nizhnyk’s distinctive approach positions her company to tackle this growing need through continual refinement of their recruitment strategies.
“Looking ahead, we’re focusing on building our presence in key global markets,” Nizhnyk reveals. “What particularly excites me is finding ways emerging technologies can enhance our human-centered approach to recruitment in specialized fields – not replace it, but make it even more effective.”
For tech companies struggling with talent shortages while rebuilding after pandemic disruptions, Nizhnyk’s methods offer a refreshing alternative – an approach that recognizes each tech sector’s unique characteristics and leverages deep industry knowledge to connect companies with professionals who can truly help them succeed in competitive markets.
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