Hire a Skillful QA Automation Engineer

It seems that hiring a tester is easy because there are many candidates on the market. However, this is only a delusion. It happens that there are no responses for such a vacancy at all. Why? The type of testing, automation tools, and the need for in-depth technical screening can reduce an already small pool of candidates.

Are you looking to simplify recruiting and hire a QA specialist? The ITExpert team shares tips from our experience filling dozens of QA automation vacancies here!

Who is a QA in automation

What does a QA/tester do? Imagine you are developing a Highload product in eCommerce. One mistake on Black Friday can potentially result in substantial financial losses. A skilled QA automation engineer is crucial in simulating product performance under the stress of a million users.

Another scenario illustrates the critical role of automation specialists. Picture a situation where a product release is imminent, with only a few days left. However, due to the sheer volume of units to test, the testing team is overwhelmed and unable to thoroughly test all features, file bug reports, and track bug fixes. As a result, deadlines must be postponed. Yet, this problem could have been averted if the team had had automation specialists. Inadequate product testing = compromised user experience and significant revenue loss for the company

Speed up and empower the testing process — that’s exactly what a QA in automation does.

📌 Automation engineer: who is this specialist? It is a tester who writes tests using scripts for automation. Most often Java, JavaScript, Python, and other languages are used to write automation tests.

The typical responsibilities of such a QA/tester profession include:

• Analyzing requirements.
• Describing automation test cases.
• Writing automation tests and test scripts.
• Integration with auto-start systems (or Continuous Integration).
• Bug reporting and more.

What a QA Automation specialist should know

In the skillset of an automation specialist, you’ll find proficiency in various tools, such as bug trackers, test platforms, and testing tools for UIs, APIs, and more, tailored to different project requirements.

The experience requirements for an automation engineer vary depending on the specific needs of your product. Here’s what a QA/tester should be familiar with based on different scopes:

• Load testing: Apache JMeter, Load Runner, Gatling.
• Web testing: Selenium, TestComplete, Playwright.
• E2E testing: Cypress, Puppeteer.
• Mobile Application Testing: Appium or Espresso. 
• Security Testing: NMAP, Acunetix, Burp Suite, and others.

Additionally, some tools in a QA automation engineer’s arsenal depend on the programming language used for writing the autotests. For example, unit testing platforms:

Python → PyTest
JavaScript → Jasmine, Mocha + Chai
React → Jest
Java → TestNG, JUnit
C# → NUnit

Note: When creating a job description for a tester (QA), highlight 3-4 must-have requirements, without which you would not want to communicate with candidates. Avoid artificially extending the list, as it could deter relevant candidates and unnecessarily lengthen and complicate the hiring process.

How to hire a QA specialist with automation experience: top tips

Hiring a QA automation isn’t always straightforward. Sometimes, a lot of time is spent filtering through responses, only to find no suitable candidates for interviews. We’ll get you out of this confusing recruiting maze with practical tips ▶️

#1 Create a clear list of requirements

Define a candidate profile — highlight critical and nice-to-have requirements. It is this description that a recruiter needs to focus on when searching for specialists.

Mykola Kliestov

CTO and Co-Founder at ITExpert

“When determining requirements for a QA position in automation, pay attention to:

• What autotest language you use (or are going to use);
• What types of testing the candidate should perform: unit, stress and/or load testing; whether you need to test the backend and so on;
• What other tools should be on the candidate’s resume;
• Whether you pay attention to domain expertise;
• What ratio of manual to automated testing should the candidate expect (if this is a General QA position).

The clearer the position requirements, the more suitable candidates the recruiting team will present to you. Include these points in the job brief or ask for a list of questions to refer to — this will help you be in tune with the recruiter when sourcing candidates.”

#2 Choose platforms for spot sourcing and posting jobs

Depending on the hiring location, you can get feedback from IT professionals on Djinni, LinkedIn, or Indeed.

Tip: Sometimes it’s better not to post a job on a job board but to search by spot job offers first. This way, you will spend less time filtering responses from candidates who don’t have the experience you need.

Want to speed up your results on QA automation resume searches? It’s easy to do so with external help. ITExpert has a dynamic candidate database for a wide variety of jobs, with a team of recruiters who will do the initial technical screening and deliver swift results.

#3 Identify a finalist and send a job offer

If the candidate meets all your requirements and is a good match for the team, give them a job offer! You need to be ready to hire the IT talent even based on the first resume.

There are times when you want to wait and look at more candidates, and give them an additional task for automation. In the meantime, your finalist might get an offer from another company and won’t consider yours further. To avoid lengthening the time to hire and consequently increasing your budget, make your hiring decision quickly.

How can ITExpert help you with your search for a QA/tester automation?

Do you need a tester for your project? Key IT terminology or complex requirements are no problem for us — ITExpert recruiters are technically savvy and know niche resources to attract rare candidates. We can help you hire an automation engineer in the right time frame!

ITExpert’s IT recruiting agency team has been hiring tech/non-tech IT specialists for companies in Ukraine and around the world, from the USA to Israel, since 2015. Among our clients are Sony, Deloitte, and Depositphotos.

Finding an automation engineer (QA) is only half the battle. We sell the vacancy by analyzing the candidate’s needs and the company’s offer and select only the most relevant specialists. Hire skillful automation engineers with the ITExpert team!