J Patrick + Associates Blog

IoT Security: Protect Your Company and Customers

Posted by Dylan Rivera on Fri, Sep 09, 2016 @ 04:48 PM
IOT Security

IoT Security: Protect your product and your customers

Think of IoT as the gateway between the digital and physical worlds. Products are being created with pattern recognition and monitoring sensors providing valuable data that can be applied for the benefit of its users and producers. This market will continue to expand over the next 10 years with companies connecting more and more devices. However, with the connection of so many devices, also comes an increase in the number of entry points for potential hackers.

Since IoT is relatively new to the market, devices often lack basic security measures (Communication Encryption). Researchers have shown that many IoT device manufacturers and service providers are failing to implement common security measures in their products. Reports have surfaced exhibiting the increase in programmers hacking into products, ranging from baby monitors to self-driven cars.

Standard security technologies (SSL.SSH) are no longer enough when it comes to safeguarding your IoT devices. The only way to stay ahead of the cyber terrorists is to embed integrated firewalls directly within the protocol stack at the link-layer- configured with a specific set of rules on what communication is and isn't allowed.

These firewalls are necessary to stop the cyber-attacks before they begin. 

Failing to implement a strong security protocol will result in:

Loss of Customer Trust

Customers don't want to worry about having their personal information exploited. We all remember what happened to Target.

Increase of Expenses

After being hacked, there is a mass amount of damage control to attend too. That’s a pricey expenditure.

Competition Head Start

To compete in the market, you must offer benefits that your opponents cannot. Don't let your competition leave you in the dust.

Firewall_1.png

Investment in securing IoT machinery is going to drastically increase from now till 2020. If you're in the market, it's time to check your

 


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Tags: Information Security, cyber-security, IoT

The Danger of DDoS: Protect Your IT

Posted by Dylan Rivera on Fri, Sep 02, 2016 @ 02:30 PM

The Danger of DDOS

 

The demand for online security has never been greater. What was once a luxury item has now become a necessary component for your online presence. Whether you're a company conducting business online or a consumer who stores their personal info online, there is a potential risk. With an ever widening range of online attacks, you absolutely need to protect your property. =

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is a digital attack that attempts to disable any online service by sending an overwhelming amount of traffic from multiple sources, also known as 'Botnets". Though these attacks do harm, they are not targeting to expose or steal any personal information, but rather to overpower a service through the hosting server, making it unavailable to it's users. Over 2000 DDoS attacks are observed daily with one-third of all online downtime complications resulting from DDoS bombardment.

 

These attacks can be disguised in many shapes and sizes; however, each strike falls under one of the three core categories:

 

Volumetric

In a volume-based attack (ICMP), the bandwidth of a network/service is affected and flooded.

 

Protocol

Protocol attacks are aimed at saturating networks resources by sending open requests (Pings of Death).

 

Application

An application violation (Slowloris) targets the hypertext transfer protocol with the conclusional outcome of crashing the server.

The process of recovering from a DDoS attack can take hours to days to weeks; all depending on the time length of the strike. All businesses and consumers should take the precaution of purchasing an anti-DDoS service to insure your IT safety.

Here are our top 5 DDoS Protection Selections:

The_Best_DDoS_Protection.png

 

There is just too much on the line when it comes to protecting your online assets. Just remember that one of these attacks has the potential to destroy all the hard work you’ve put in to your online presence. Beat the botnets to the punch, and take immediate action by purchasing a protective service.

 

Related Blog:

IS YOUR CYBERSECURITY AS SOLID AS YOUR BUILDING SECURITY?

 

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Tags: Information Security, cyber-security

How To Hire and Retain the Best Security Analysts

Posted by Nicholas Stearns on Thu, Jul 28, 2016 @ 03:46 PM

Hire the best Security Analysts

The business of hiring and retaining Information Security professionals has never been more important, or more competitive. It's a candidate's market, and if you’re hiring you'll need every advantage you can get.

Here are some tips to keep in mind on how to get the edge in a crowded field.

Tips to hire and Retain Security Analysts

Be Ready to Build

Being afforded opportunities for ongoing education is a strong incentive for InfoSec professionals. Technology is constantly changing, becoming better, faster and more varied. In order to be effective at their job, analysts need to be up-to-date on all of the newest products and solutions. Companies that pay for, and encourage consistent training not only tend to attract higher caliber candidates but they also suffer lower attrition rates. Here’s a list of certifications you can help your analysts achieve.

Challenge

A survey in 2014 by ClearanceJobs found that being challenged was the number one way to retain InfoSec Professionals. Another survey found that almost 40% of professionals would move for more challenging roles, even without the promise of higher pay. Reward your security team for exploring parts of their job that they find exciting or challenging. Host Hackathons where they attempt to beat each other's systems, which, by the way, also has the added benefit of searching out any weakness in your system.

Meaning

The ClearanceJobs survey noted that 2nd to desiring challenge is doing meaningful work. Unlike previous generations that might have been amenable to doing work for work’s sake, today’s professionals are looking to connect to their work, to know that their labor is making a difference, is useable and impactful.

Know What’s Important

We may tend to think that compensation would come in first when attempting to attract talent. But the Clearance Jobs survey shows that it isn’t a major priority for today’s workforce. Compensation plays second fiddle to training and engagement when looking for a new employer. But faced with a tight talent market, it is worth offering a premium to have the best talent for protecting your data.

But keep in mind the actual hiring process is important too. Certainly, due diligence and thorough background checks are vital, but too many companies get hung up in long and protracted interview processes. Too lengthy an interview process, poor communication with candidates and recruiters,  and taking too long to make an offer will cost you.

You have to be prepared to be decisive in order to hire A level talent.

Integrity

Just as you are looking for candidates with the highest level of integrity, scruples, and honesty, candidates are also looking for companies that operated from the very same set of virtues. All of your employee branding materials, as well as every level of contact candidates, have with your company must reflect your integrity. Remember, prospective employees are looking at you long before they apply to an open position. Your reputation is one of your best recruitment tools.

Your info-sec team is vital to your company, understand what they need and want in order to attract and retain the best talent in the field.

 

Related Blogs:

LOOKING FOR JOB SECURITY? THINK CYBER-SECURITY

EMPLOYER BRANDING IS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL RECRUITING


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Tags: network security, Information Security, HR and Hiring, cyber-security

Is Your Cybersecurity as Solid as Your Building Security?

Posted by Kathleen Merz on Fri, Jun 24, 2016 @ 03:40 PM

It's not just about virus protection anymore

When thinking about security for your business, you’ve no doubt seen to it that your office building is well-protected. You’ve got an an alarm system, security cameras and/or a guard posted at the front at your building.

But there is another vulnerability that you might be overlooking that could do way more damage than anything lurking outside.

Increasing Costs of Invisible Threats

The alarming acceleration in the growth of cybercrime is making it difficult for analysts to zero in on what the real cost to businesses is, but it’s reaching record levels. One of the latest findings, according to the IBM Cost of Data Breach Summary is that attacks are growing in both volume and sophistication, increasing overall by 64% in 2015 from 2014, and steadily rising.

The higher complexity of these recent attacks are costing companies more than ever before. The study found that each compromised record can cost $158, with an even higher cost impact in regulated industries like healthcare - a whopping $355 per record. That can add up astronomically when there are thousands of entries.

 

It’s not Just About Virus Protection Anymore

These sophisticated attacks are getting smarter and stealthier, and can wreck havoc on your business unless you’ve got someone watching specifically for them. An undetected breach, even it it's only for a short period of time, can result in a potentially severe impact to both your business and your customers.. Each minute that the data remains vulnerable, the costs of containing the hack skyrocket.

The only way to mitigate the damage is to have a cyber security response team at the ready to perform incident forensics, stop data leakage, and report the breach to the appropriate agencies, partners, legal and customers immediately. A surprising amount of organizations, even ones in critical sectors like energy and utilities, are not prepared enough to deal with a serious attack.

 

An Ounce of Prevention…

With the cost of the average data breach climbing up to $4 million an incident, the only offense is to build the strongest defense and apply enterprise risk management. Given the growth and strength of the threats, security breaches have to be factored into the cost of doing business at this point. Investing in cybersecurity failsafes before you face a catastrophic problem is crucial, as it may be it’s too costly and difficult to play catch-up after an attack.

 

Calling in the Cavalry

Following increased reports of worsening high profile attacks, more and more companies have decided to take the proactive route, and are turning their ships in the right direction and making it a priority to recruit the right cybersecurity talent to properly protect their critical data.

hiring cyber security professional talent

Source: IT NEXT

No one wants to be the next Home Depot, (that recently agreed to pay at least $19 million to 50 million cardholders) or the Democratic National Committee, whose computers got infiltrated and combed for months only to have sensitive campaign information leaked, or completely lose the ability to provide service to customers, so what is a company to do?

 

According to Radware, Organizations under threat should consider:

  • A cyber security emergency response plan that includes an emergency response team and process in place.

  • Protecting its infrastructure from multi-vector attacks that can saturate the Internet pipe.

  • Including on-premise detection and mitigation with cloud-based protection for volumetric attacks.

  • Providing protection against sophisticated web-based attacks and website intrusions to prevent defacement and information theft.

  • Monitoring security alerts and examine triggers carefully. Tune existing policies to allow identification of real threats if and when they occur.


If you’re considering adding cybersecurity experts to your organization, you should:

    • Find the right expert for your business size and function. If you’re smaller, you can consider someone that fits a few classifications. If you’re larger, be prepared to go for a more specialized team if you need to protect a wealth of critical personal information.

    • Don't delay beginning your search. Some organizations are reporting that it can take 3-5 months to fill a senior position in some sectors.

    • Get help recruiting the perfect candidate, someone who fits what your business needs right now, as well as who seeks to adapt, keep up certifications and will grow as you and the tech changes.

 

 

 

 J. Patrick and Associates serves Information Technology firms that are looking to improve or expand their teams in mission-critical functions, where the success of the firm is highly dependent on the quality of certain hires. If your goal is to build a star cybersecurity team, contact us today:

Tags: Information Security, HR and Hiring, cyber-security, recruiting

How an Executive Recruiting Firm Can Help Solve Your Hiring Problems

Posted by Daniel Sullivan on Thu, Jun 11, 2015 @ 10:00 AM

Executive Recruiting

It can take weeks if not months to find one high-talent placement. Candidates can sometimes feel lost among a sea of applicants. LinkedIn, job boards and other services expand the candidate pool but can make it difficult to get through the volume. Investing in high yield recruiting can be the answer. The executive recruiting firm J. Patrick and Associates knows  how to deliver exceptional talent while saving time and money.

 

Connection:  Executive Recruiters are connected to the talent you need to find. This connection allows your Executive Recruiters to search thousands of candidates for each and every hiring decision. By employing a reputable placement agency, you'll  know that important skills have been identified and  high numbers of quality candidates have been screened.  By the time your select candidates are in front of you, you'll know that they have been pulled from the best.

 

Confidence: The number one complaint we hear from hiring managers is that of confidence. Specifically, how does the hiring manager know, really know that a candidate will be worth the time and money to train? Once again, executive recruiting is the answer. Savvy recruiters leverage cutting edge search tools to your benefit. With an established, successful recruiting firm, you’ll interview the best talent possible.

 

Cost: The impact of a bad hire spreads throughout and organization. Working with a successful recruiter can help ensure these mistakes are minimized. In minutes, a professional recruiter can scan hundreds of records that would take an HR hiring manager days to find. A professional recruiter applies screening protocols ensuring that the best candidates are delivered to you. When it comes to placing top talent, using a proven recruiting agency will always be worth the investment.

 

The value of working with an Executive Recruiting agency is highlighted by a recent Information Security placement made by J. Patrick and Associates.

A global leader of application delivery and application security solutions for virtual and cloud data centers wanted to expand their engineering team. The position in question required the candidate to have deep technical experience across all facets of application delivery and application security solutions, as well as virtualization, Private / Hybrid Cloud and Software-Defined Networking (SDN), and their numerous applications in a variety of verticals. It would take some digging to find qualified candidates.

Beyond the technical requirements, the candidate also needed solution-selling experience and hands-on experience with the provider’s intricate products and solutions portfolio. He/she had to provide an initial presentation with customers and sales teams and perform the installation. The company interviewed dozens of candidates suggested by its recruiting firms but were unable to find a candidate that met all of the provider’s requirements. After nine months, the organization decided to explore another recruitment agency option.

That’s when J. Patrick & Associates became involved and executed multiple candidate searches in the Chicago area. The company identified Sales Engineers at the security solutions provider’s direct competitors. Then it turned to trusted industry referrals to further its search.

J. Patrick & Associates cold-called and thoroughly screened dozens of qualified professionals by using its database of over half a million candidates and a global Information Security referral network. J. Patrick's recruiters disqualified approximately 30 candidates for every one that moved on to the next phase, the technical screen.  The recruiters at J. Patrick successfully identified two qualified Sales Engineer candidates that met all of the client’s job requirements within a 30-day period.

The security solutions provider hired one of the Sales Engineer candidates, now a consistent top performer several years running. Since then, the company has retained J. Patrick & Associates as its primary recruiting firm. In the last year, J. Patrick & Associates has successfully placed more than 10 professionals in eight other positions with the organization and is currently working with the provider to fill 12 new Sales and Engineering positions.

 

 

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Tags: Recruiter Tips, Networking, Information Security, HR and Hiring

Network Security: Staffing for Load Balancing & DDoS Protection Solutions

Posted by Daniel Sullivan on Wed, Apr 01, 2015 @ 04:33 PM

Network Security: Staffing, Load Balancing Dealing with multiple recruiting agencies

doesn’t always result in more high-quality

candidates. In fact, sometimes it can be an

inefficient way to attempt to fill highly

specialized roles. A global leader of

application delivery and application security

solutions for virtual and cloud data centers

began working with several recruitment

agencies in order to find a qualified, multifaceted professional that met their strict

and highly technical hiring demands. When the company needed to expand its Sales

Engineering team, it had several specialized requirements that made the position

challenging to fill. It had been nine months and the position had not been filled, even

though they were working with a variety of agencies.

 

Since the position required the candidate to have deep technical experience across

all facets of application delivery and application security solutions, as well as

virtualization, Private / Hybrid Cloud and Software-defined Networking (SDN), as

well as their numerous applications in a variety of verticals, it would take some

digging to right qualified candidates.

 

The candidate also needed solution-selling experience and hands-on experience

with the provider’s intricate products and solutions portfolio.  They had to provide an

initial presentation with customers and sales teams and perform the installation. The

company interviewed dozens of candidates suggested by its recruiting firms but

were unable to find a candidate that met all of the provider’s requirements.  After

nine months, the organization decided to explore another recruitment agency option.

That’s when J. Patrick & Associates (JP&A) became involved and executed multiple

candidate searches in the Chicago area.  The company identified Sales Engineers at

the security solutions provider’s direct competitors.  Then it turned to trusted industry

referrals to further its search.

 

JP&A cold-called and thoroughly screened dozens of qualified professionals by

using its database of over half a million candidates and a global Information Security

referral network. JP&A’s recruiters disqualified approximately 30 candidates for

every one that moved on to the next phase, the technical screen.  JP&A successfully

identified two qualified Sales Engineer candidates that met all of the client’s job

requirements within a 30-day period.  

 

The security solutions provider hired one of the Sales Engineer candidates, now a

consistent top performer several years running. Since then, the company has

retained J. Patrick & Associates as its primary recruiting firm. In the last year, J.

Patrick & Associates has successfully placed more than 10 professionals in eight

other positions with the organization and is currently working with the provider to fill

12 new Sales and Engineering positions. One solid recruiting firm with the right

experience and resources can be easier and more efficient than working with

multiple recruiters.

Tags: SaaS, Information Security, HR and Hiring

Network Security: Recruiting High Quality Sales Engineering Staff, Quickly

Posted by Daniel Sullivan on Wed, Apr 01, 2015 @ 04:33 PM

Network Security: Recruiting High Quality Sales Engineering Staff

 

Sales Engineers are vital to your sales efforts, providing the technical glue that holds deals together. Quality Sales Engineers can be a challenge to find because competition is fierce for effective engineers. Many highly-qualified Sales Engineers are already busy being handsomely rewarded for their efforts and comfortable where they are. For that reason, it’s important to have a nimble recruitment process that’s focused on speed and quality, while being cost-effective.

 

After being acquired by a multinational technology and consulting corporation, a leading

endpoint security vendor needed additional Sales and Engineering staff to support the

release of its new suite of security software. This security software provides cybercrime

prevention against financial fraud and data breaches. Hundreds of millions of end-users

use this software to protect web applications, computers and mobile devices from cyber

threats and attacks. Finding the right salespeople and sales engineers, for a product

that serves such a huge market, required an equally huge commitment to rigorous, yet

efficient recruiting.

 

Initially, the Human Resources Department of its parent company worked with several

recruiting firms to fill several sales and Sales Engineering roles to satisfy its urgent

staffing needs. That worked to fill the Sales Division positions quickly, but due to the

complexity of its software, it was difficult to fill seven open Sales Engineering roles in

the one-month time they had set.

 

The right candidates needed to have a strong solution-selling ability and hands-on

installation experience with multiple facets of endpoint security technology. They

needed a conceptual understanding of how these technologies integrate with other

internal systems that their client’s may be using. In addition to their technical skills, they

would also have to possess strong presentation and sales skills, and interact

professionally with c-level executives and decision-makers. This mix of technical and

soft skills can be challenging to find. They needed a way to speed up the process and

still find solid candidates that met their criteria.

 

The endpoint security vendor enlisted the help of J. Patrick & Associates (JP&A) to help

recruit the additions to its Sales Engineering team. JP&A had the tools and resources to

help source qualified candidates in the company’s limited hiring timeframe. By using

data and number mining software and various social media platforms, JP&A used its

database of over 500,000 candidates and its Information Security referral network to

identify candidates for the initial job screening. It was highly specific as well as labor

and in regards to the time-intensive process. JP&A screened out between 100-200

applicants for every candidate that went on to the next phase of the interview process,

the technical aptitude assessment.

 

JP&A successfully managed the entire hiring process for the endpoint security vendor.

In filling four of its seven Sales Engineering positions in under three and a half months,

JP&A saved the endpoint security vendor significant time and investment in the

process.

 

By quickly finding high-quality candidates, JP&A earned the company’s trust and is the

company’s only outsourced recruiting firm, working with the parent company’s on

ongoing recruitment projects.

 

Related Blogs:

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Tags: Job Search, SaaS, Information Security, HR and Hiring

Colocation: It's a $10B Market and a job machine!

Posted by Daniel Sullivan on Thu, Apr 10, 2014 @ 07:00 AM
Ilissa Miller

Organizations everywhere are choosing to bypass purchasing on-premises equipment in favor of renting hosted space and equipment.  Referred to as colocation, it provides rapid scalability, tremendous cost savings, secure connectivity and all of the stability and protection that is needed to gain a competitive edge in today’s market.

For this reason, colocation is a hot commodity as the market is currently undergoing a 15 percent growth rate that is expected to last through 2014.  And industry pundits are projecting that this growth is far from over, as it is anticipated that it will reach $10 billion by 2017.

As a result, job seekers stand to benefit significantly since manpower is needed to support this growing industry.  Colocation is fueled by data center infrastructure such as racks, servers, cables, switches and power.  Data centers are massive facilities that require both advisors and operators to function properly.

 

Here are some of the jobs that you can expect to find opening up in this space, and what each position entails:

 

Solutions Architect:  This position mandates having the highest level of pre-sales technical compliance on the data center team.  Solutions Architects typically involve managing multiple projects at once, and therefore require advanced knowledge in developing and guiding IT projects.  The Solutions Architect is responsible for developing technical project components and standardizing central processes.

 

Colocation Engineer:  Colocation Engineers are most often involved in providing developing technical designs for colocation, but also have a hand in providing technical support, presenting projects to clients and working closely with them to deliver need-based solutions.  This position mandates a thorough understanding of the technical components of network infrastructure.

 

Director of Product Management: Colocation services need to be created, priced and sent to market—and this falls under the responsibility of the Director of Product Management.  This position oversees not only data center space, but also power and cooling needs.  Essentially, Product Managers ensure that the colocation center is both marketable and profitable.

 

Cloud / Colocation Services Sales Executive: Once the services are created and sent to market, someone needs to make sure that the space will be rented out to businesses.  This is where Sales Executive come in.  Sales Executives are one of the main arms of the colocation enterprise as they are responsible for filling seats and making sure the operation brings in enough business to stay afloat.

 

Operations Manager:  Operations Managers take care of the technical components of a colocation center.  Colocation centers typically guarantee maximum uptime, and these are the people that make sure the promise does not go unfulfilled.  Operations Managers oversee the team that provides day-to-day technical maintenance and support in the colocation center.

 

Datacenter Technician:  Technicians are perhaps the ones who are most immersed in the daily ins-and-outs of colocation center operations, as they are the ones responding to service tickets and fixing equipment.  They work directly with hardware such as fiber optic cables and servers.

 

Facilities Engineer:  Colocation centers have a lot of other components outside of the network, such as water pumps and treatment systems, HVAC, generators, UPS, electrical distribution and network monitoring systems.  Facilities Engineers provide the equipment that keeps the network healthy.

 

Systems Administrator:  Systems Administrators typically install, configure and fix computer networks for end-users.  These administrators are responsible for service delivery and applications that are based off-site.  They typically take an active role in managing network processes for customers.

 

For more information about how J. Patrick and Associates, a firm specializing in data center and IT firm recruiting, can help you find quality and qualified colocation experts to fortify your team, click here.  If you are an experienced industry professional with a strong track record of success as well as technical depth and innate business savvy, contact us today.

Tags: SaaS, Information Security, HR and Hiring

Head Hunters Build All-Star Team for Security Leader

Posted by Elissa Jane Mastel on Fri, Sep 27, 2013 @ 10:00 AM


head hunter places job seekers at information security company in executive jobs.

 

Daniel Sullivan, a head hunters at J. Patrick + Associates placed candidates in executive jobs this past quarter at a prominent Global Information Software Security Firm that is a leader to the Payments (PCI) Security market.  J. Patrick + Associates team partnered directly with the CEO of this 100M firm, built a program, negotiated a custom hybrid contingency-retainer fee structure which built commitment for both sides, saved the clients money by driving down cost-per hire.  It is our attention to client relationships that generates our success. The client continues to rely on J. Patrick + Associates because we are able to delivery quality candidates, control costs and expedited quick hires.  This working relationship exemplifies the kind of service we give our clients. Check out our most recent placements;

 

Director of Marketing, Massachusetts  -  With long term experience in the field, this candidate possesses strong technical skills, the ability to communicate the features to partners, developers and end users.  In his new role, he is developing and implementing an effective sales collateral system, which includes content management, collateral distribution and usage tracking.  This versatile team player has been recognized repeatedly for leadership, initiative and delivery of results with other leading information security, storage and networking vendors.


Channel Marketing Manager, Massachusetts - is developing and managing all aspects of the strategic partnerships which are key to the growth of our client.  The candidate we placed has over a decade helping companies such as Kaspersky Lab, EMC and NMS Communications drive profitable revenue growth through superior channel marketing and demand & program management.


Channel Sales Manager, Dallas, TX - She is responsible for developing and managing all aspects of the strategic partnerships that are key to the growth of the company.  The candidate we placed is an award-winning Sales Representative with proven capacity to grow new business and service & expand existing accounts; instantly establishes rapport with buyers and key decision-makers; demonstrates strong presentation, negotiation and closing skills; develops lasting customer relationships ensuring long-term account loyalty and frequent business with ten years of successful experience in high-level selling of technology, cyber-security, and network-related products.


Senior Manager Customer Product Support, Maryland - We placed a superstar who plans and leads training & configuration sessions in support of sales, product mgt and product marketing to key strategic partners and end users. This candidate joins the team after spearheading the US Technical Services team operating out of his last position acting as a Key Account Manger in technical services for the big commercial accounts.


Business Development Manager, San Francisco - This candidate hit the ground running initiating discussions with new partners, working on custom requirements, negotiating terms, and closing deals.  She is spearheading both existing and new market research, and partner research, driving tactical initiative targeting both customers and partners, and transforming business requirements to strategic requirements.  This candidate is a proven senior manager with broad experience in strategic alliances with technology organizations with a proven track record in post acquisition integration, merging of disparate groups, programs, and functions into a cohesive working model.


Like what you see?  We have the perfect candidate for your company.  Let us hunt for you.  With savvy, experience and the right tools, we have a proven track record putting the right people with the right job. Hiring managers, contact Dan Sullivan, give him what you are looking for and let us place the right candidate for your needs. 

Tags: Job Search, Information Security

Volume-Based Hiring: More Than Just Cost Advantages

Posted by Daniel Sullivan on Fri, Sep 06, 2013 @ 10:00 AM

Volume-Based Hiring: More than just cost advantages

When your organization needs to quickly source multiple candidates across multiple disciplines and even multiple geographic markets, securing the services of a specialty firm has clear advantages.  An experienced recruiter has a long track record of success doing just this for numerous clients.  Now, you are probably thinking (correctly) that using a recruiter to fill multiple positions will net you a discount on a per hire basis. Yes, this is true, and not to be understated. However, the requirements of a hiring firm that needs to fill several positions nearly simultaneously to facilitate, say a major expansion in to a new geographic market, are considerably more complex.  Understanding these dynamics is JP&A’s bread and butter.  Let’s look a bit further and see how a specialty recruiting firm can offer you both lower costs and speed to market, without sacrificing quality.

Stressed out Internal HR Systems

We’ve blogged about the increased pressure on the HR department in a typical mid-sized IT firm before.  Your labor resources continue to shrink while demands continue to pile up in both hiring and other core HR functions.  Now, you have to find and onboard a whole raft of new-hires.  In the case of a single hire, you’d already need to commit valuable internal resources to sorting through dozens or hundreds of resumes from job seekers.  Now magnify that by an order of 10, or even 20.  After all, it stands to reason that to hire more people, you’ll need to be looking at a much larger pool of candidates.  A specialist recruiting firm like JP&A can take this off your plate, allowing you to allocate internal resources to other mission-critical tasks.  Now let’s compound volume with time constraints.  Say your firm could search through an immense pool of candidates.  Could you still expect to find the best potential hires within a tight timeframe?  Your firm is better off engaging a firm like JP&A, which is already prepared and positioned to do the legwork for you.  Then, after screening and interviewing, you choose from only the top candidates available.

Benefits of a Specialist Firm

What does a firm like JP&A bring to the fight?  Here are a few of the key factors effecting the hiring cycle for which a specialty firm had already developed a process:

  • Identifying Sources of Candidates: JP&A sources the available applicant pool using traditional sources of candidates but also leveraging a continually growing proprietary database that gives us unique reach into a reservoir of new potential hires with focused, specific skill sets that meet your needs.  Our track record is a testament to the fact that we access the right candidates, and place them when and where our clients need them.  In fact, many of our former job seekers are now in hiring positions.  We didn’t just help them get hired, we built lasting relationships and now, when they need both quality and speed - many of them turn to JP&A.
  • The Hiring Calendar: JP&A is ready and able to meet your target dates. Responsiveness, agility and dedication are fundamental and inherent in everything we do.  Securing a firm to provision multiple hires requires a commitment.  In order to facilitate your success, we are prepared to dedicate our firm’s resources to a time commitment that far exceeds that required by other, single-hire recruiting processes.
  • Market Insight: JP&A has been around nearly two decades. Over this time, we have developed a clear vision of the IT business environment and workforce landscape; not only as they stand today, but where the industry is heading in the future. Trust us to know the hiring and job requirements in your industry,  helping you find the right candidates for your mission-critical positions, and ensuring your business is poised to meet the larger requirements of an evolving business environment.

Opportunity is a fleeting thing.  If you’re not in position to take advantage of it, it will pass you by. Don’t sacrifice speed, quality, or cost. When you need to find the most qualified candidates to fill key positions, it’s time to consider a firm with proven expertise and resources, like J. Patrick & Associates, to provide the winning outcome your business demands.


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Tags: Recruiter Tips, AV/VTC/UC, Information Security, HR and Hiring