Where does BRF Consulting find talented IT specialists?

About half of BRF Consulting’s IT professionals joined the company as trainees, being recruited directly from their university’s technology schools.  

In the 25+ years that Solutions Architect Angelo Buss has worked in the technology field, he has found it difficult to find IT specialists ready to work as consultants. That's because most of these skills are developed on the job or through apprenticeships, something he went through himself.

"I had the opportunity to participate in a trainee program at Unisys during my college years," Buss recalls.

"I remember taking a written exam and being interviewed by several Unisys managers. Some of them mentored me in areas such as Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing, which I still work in today."

The start of BRF's trainee program

When Buss founded BRF Consulting, LLC in 2013, he knew recruiting IT students from accredited universities would be important. Two years later, he launched BRF's first Trainee Program to meet internal programming demands.

"I adjusted and improved [the Unisys] successful trainee model to my company's needs," he says.

How BRF's trainee program works

From the start, BRF's Trainee Program has functioned as a paid internship, generally being offered twice a year in response to clients’ and market’s demand. So, whenever BRF has several projects in the pipeline, it issues an open call to universities to recruit junior, seniors, or recent graduates who can speak English. Interested candidates submit an initial online application and a resume via BRF's LinkedIn page.

Human Resources then makes a pre-selection of viable candidates BRF would like to invite for the selective process, which comprises three phases:

1. An invitation to participate in a video interview, in which language skills are assessed.

2. Those who score high are sent a written exam containing questions about Git, SQL, and a choice of Python, Java, or JavaScript programming language to test their technical skills.

3. If the candidates pass it, they are invited to a final team interview, typically led by a former trainee, to explain the code they developed, even if they use Artificial Intelligence.  

"This continuous cycle forces us to keep improving our hiring model… so we can choose the best professionals to be part of our team," Buss affirms.

Since founding BRF Consulting in 2013, Angelo Buss knew the importance of recruiting and training professionals to become IT consultants. So, where does his company find talented specialists? (Image: BRF Consulting, LLC/Canva)

Where trainees work

BRF typically offers one trainee position per offered program to the candidate with the highest score in all three phases. The trainee may work with Data Engineering, Software Development, or Salesforce implementation in a 100% collaborative and mentored environment.

The training may include work with CRM projects on Salesforce and can evolve to APIs and integrations, databases and overall software development leveraging the latest technologies from the market.  

Depending on the opportunities, it may take a few years for a trainee to work on an international project, as it is contingent upon his/her technical skills, interests, and a project's needs.

And while trainees should demonstrate the ability to work in a team environment, think efficiently, troubleshoot, resolve complex issues, and be self-learners, BRF also encourages and pays for IT certifications to improve their skills.

BRF Consulting holds its Q1/Q2 2026 meeting. (Source: BRF Consulting, LLC)

Most of BRF consultants attended the in-person event. (Source: BRF Consulting, LLC)

BRF Founder, Angelo Buss, listens to specialist Gabriel Menino. (Source: BRF Consulting, LLC)

Consultants Felipe Elijah (L), Pedro Angert (R) watch a presentation. (Source: BRF Consulting, LLC)

Angelo Buss watches a presentation on his laptop. (Source: BRF Consulting, LLC)

Consultant Leonardo Farias introduces himself at BRF's event. (Source: BRF Consulting, LLC)

The importance of career development

While most IT and consultancy companies no longer invest in career development, such employer-sponsored training remains invaluable for BRF.

"This is a major program for us because we are always looking for unique talents and better resources," Buss asserts. 

Over the years, BRF has interviewed hundreds of candidates and offered a trainee position to a few dozen. With lower turnover than other consulting firms, most stay with BRF for a few years. As trained professionals, some move to other countries or even get involved with startups and high-tech companies. 

"Having the opportunity to work on high-complexity projects in international teams opens other doors for their careers," he adds.

While about half of BRF's team comprises trainees, the other half consists of engineers with an average of 15 years of IT work. 

"This balance of new grads and experienced talents is a great way to build efficient development teams," he adds. "Nowadays, the majority of companies are replacing inexperienced professionals with AI agents. This will cause a gap of experienced professionals in the short term."

BRF, however, remains committed to developing skilled IT specialists.

"BRF Consulting will keep forming great professionals because we believe that the future will always need specialized consultants, which we are proud to have in our team," Buss concludes.

---

About the author: Anna Lopes is the Communications Specialist for BRF Consulting.

Angelo Buss is the founder of BRF Consulting.

BRF Consulting is a Salesforce ISV partner specializing in Salesforce Agent Force, Artificial Intelligence, Data Engineering, and Software Development, and in assisting businesses to scale and become more efficient. For more information about our services, email us at contact@brfconsulting.com.