Zoho, a private software development company, opened a new location in McAllen in April as part of the company’s transnational localism belief. This is the third office the company opens in Texas and the first in the Rio Grande Valley.
The company has been in business for over 25 years, according to an Oct. 3 email sent by Veronica Yunes, corporate communications specialist for Zoho.
Transnational localism is the belief that Zoho does not need to be based in major metropolitan areas, Yunes wrote.
“Zoho believes that people shouldn’t be forced to leave their hometowns for larger, more congested, and expensive cities to find great jobs offering a global perspective,” she wrote. “We believe transnational localism has benefited many Zoho employees.”
Tejas Gadhia, head of the Zoho McAllen office, said to open a new office, the company looks at what is considered to be a Tier II city and make sure the local area grows with the company and vice versa.
Gadhia said the company decided to open an office in McAllen based on the number of applications being received in the area.
“We were already looking to expand into places outside of Austin,” he said. “And McAllen ended up kind of making the cut based on a bunch of different criteria that we looked at.”
McAllen checks all the boxes in the criteria with its high availability of talent, multiple colleges, growth potential and distinct cultural identity, Yunes wrote in the email.
The McAllen office employs over 30 employees.
“I would say our hiring is a little bit different than others,” Gadhia said. “For us, everybody starts out more or less [at the] entry level in the sense that they’re new to the company, and you kind of have to build your credibility, your reputation and kind of create the influence that you want at the company. And so, for us, when it comes to hiring, it’s really just the hunger for knowledge is probably the No. 1 way I’d say it.”
Yunes has been with the company since February.
“I saw a job opening on Indeed, and all it said was, ‘Learn corporate communication skills in a tech company,’ and that was enough for me to apply because I love the field of communications,” she said. “I’ve never worked for a private company … which is really interesting because you don’t find a lot of tech companies that are private. So I applied, and, luckily, I got the job, thankfully. It wasn’t easy. I had to prove myself.”
Yunes said transnational localism has impacted her life in a positive way.
“I love that my job has such a global perspective,” she said. “Typically, this job is something, I think, that you would find in a tech hub like Silicon Valley, [a region in California]. But, because of Zoho’s belief in transnational localism, they don’t feel that to be successful they need to be in, you know, in those hub areas.”
Asked if there are other offices that will open soon, Gadhia replied that their goal for now is to build up the office in McAllen.
For more information on Zoho visit, zohocorp.com.
