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.

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.

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Optimizing the SaaS Sales Funnel: Strong Prospecting and Negotiation Skills Are Just Part of the Process

An increasing number of business leaders around the world are now choosing to invest in cloud-based applications and services.  In fact, the global Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry is thriving, with an expected 2016 Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19.5 percent.

This strong avenue for revenue means that competition is heavy in the SaaS industry, so that even the best solutions will not sell themselves.  The sales process is shifting away from sales-based marketing to primarily education-based selling.  Advanced, multichannel, content-driven strategies, now used by 93 percent of global B2B marketers, are required to connect with business leaders and influence purchases.  Here are some ways that content is being used to drive sales:

Content educates customers: Customers today want to see more than just a spec sheet before making a purchase—especially when it comes to buying software.  They want to watch videos, read blog posts and listen to podcasts.  To further inform their decisions, they also desire to see case studies and white papers about how other companies benefitted from the same solution.

Content generates leads: A great piece of content will be shared across social media channels, and will be discoverable on Google.  This attracts new leads and helps drive unique visitors to websites.  And by analyzing click rates and downloads, salespeople can analyze great prospects worth following up with a call.

Today’s high demand for content is creating a youth movement in the SaaS industry. Companies are looking for young sales professionals—primarily 26 to 34-year-olds—who have grown up accessing content on the Internet and are, therefore, more expert at social media than some of their senior counterparts.  The current market demands that these salesmen hit the ground running and reach key targets easily and quickly.

Strong selling mechanics are just a small part of the SaaS sales process.  Today’s SaaS companies are investing in young talent with the intention of molding these professionals into high-end inside sales leaders who can generate business through referrals.  In order to be considered in today’s competitive, data-driven market however, candidates must also add a few new skills to the resume: creative and technical writer; strong prospector, lead nurturer and speaker, effective cross and up-seller; and expert marketer.

As an executive recruiting firm that focuses on Executive Management, Sales, Marketing and Technical roles within Information Technology markets, J. Patrick and Associates has a firm grasp of today’s evolving SaaS industry and professional candidate pool.

Looking to fortify your team with qualified SaaS salesmen?  We can help.

Are you a candidate seeking a position in the SaaS industry that satisfies the requirements mentioned above?  Contact us today!

According to Cisco, two-thirds of all traffic moving forward will be delivered through the cloud. This makes it official: we are now in the zettabyte era of cloud technology. In fact, IDC predicts that the volume of digital content will soon increase by 48 percent to 2.7 ZB.

This practice is placing a great deal of strain on private networks. Take Netflix, for instance, which recently saw its video traffic jump 35 percent in just one year. Companies are scrambling to optimize data centers and avoid the expenses of network downtime, which can be devastating for business. As a result, more jobs are being created to accommodate growing IT infrastructure and virtualization needs, specifically in the following areas:

Cloud-based APIs: In order to accommodate rising network traffic, application programming interfaces (APIs) are being sought after in order to ensure that cloud architecture remains strong and efficient.

Software-Defined Technologies (SDN): Some of the biggest names in cloud infrastructure are now investing in virtualization—and as a result, SDN is in high demand. Cloud engineers with knowledge or expertise in this field will therefore be sought after as companies look to SDN to make some big moves in the coming months.

According to recent research, at least seven million jobs will be created over the next three years as a result of virtualization and data management needs. Data center and networking pros—as well as software engineers—will be heavily sought after as companies look to push content to the edge of the network and deliver it as quickly and effectively to end-users as possible.

With over 20 years of expertise in the Executive Management, Sales, Marketing and Technical fields, J. Patrick and Associates (JP+A) has all of the resources to help your organization find the right candidates as it prepares for the zettabyte era.  As an executive recruiting firm, we have been successfully placing IT professionals at industry-leading technology vendors, system integrators, telecom service providers and end-user organizations since 1991.  Reach out to a qualified JP+A recruiting professional today to see how we can help you assemble a talented, motivated and dedicated professional team.

Right now, there are two industries targeted for tremendous growth over the coming year: data centers and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers.  Why exactly are these two infrastructure solutions thriving?  The answer lies in the demand for insatiable access to information and big data.  More than ever before, large enterprises are now focusing on collecting, storing and transferring information.  This information needs to be transported and housed in data centers, on equipment that is scalable, optimized and efficient.  What started solely as ‘server farms’ or simple storage facilities has grown into a fixture of enterprise organizations across the globe – spurring companies to invest heavily in their physical infrastructure as well as the professionals that design, implement and manage these solutions now and in the years to come.

Take Amazon Web Services (AWS) for example, a global company serving hundreds of thousands of customers in over 190 countries.  AWS is currently “expanding its global infrastructure to help customers achieve lower latency and higher throughput.”  Additionally, Google and Oracle, two other global companies, are also experiencing rapid growth.  During the second quarter of 2013, for instance, Google invested a record $1.6 billion on its own data centers.  And Oracle has hired more than 200 employees over the past year as cloud computing continues to spread into the Middle East.

Due to the unprecedented amount of growth in data centers and IaaS, J. Patrick and Associates, a leader in telecom and IT executive recruiting, has seen a drastic rise in organizations looking for highly-skilled professionals with specialties in the physical infrastructure space such as data centers and IaaS.  Here is a look at the specific jobs that are now in demand:

Data Center Operational Managers:  As more and more data centers open up, Operational Managers are needed to oversee and manage servers and storage platforms.  Project Managers are also highly in demand for specific operations.

Cloud Experts:  Cloud migration is one of the top demands for IT executives in 2014. As more and more companies migrate to the cloud, experts are needed that can minimize backend costs and implement strong, secure cloud systems.

Experienced Open Stack Users: All signs indicate that Oracle is committed to OpenStack, as it became a sponsor of the OpenStack Foundation in December.  As more IaaS services are released, companies like Oracle will be looking for experienced users capable of managing OpenStack software and providing essential services for clients.

Network Engineers: This specifically pertains to the Network Operations Center (NOC), in charge of ensuring networks remain up and running at all times.  Network Engineers perform real-time maintenance tasks to ensure that data flows uninterrupted throughout the enterprise.

Data Analysts: Raw data is all but worthless to a company.  Analysts are therefore needed to transform raw data into quality metrics that can be interpreted to support profit-generating endeavors.

J. Patrick and Associates is committed to helping IT professionals with specialized skills find the positions they need.  For almost two decades, J. Patrick and Associates has been leveraging our unique insight and market intelligence to place candidates the right places.  

For more information about how J. Patrick and Associates can help get you where you need to be, please click here. 

The proliferation of data center and cloud use across the business world is creating enormous opportunity for IT professionals.  In the banking industry, for example, 64 percent of activity currently takes place in the cloud, having doubled since last year. 

As a result of this dramatic growth, IT is evolving from a maintenance role into a strategic and revenue-generating aspect of daily business.  U.S. News, for instance, named the positions of Software Developer and Computer Systems Analyst first and second on its list of the Top 100 Jobs of 2014, respectively.   As more businesses move their operations into the cloud, which and in doing so rely heavily on data and colocation centers, businesses are recognizing the inherent importance of having access to IT leaders that can produce profits.

This means that the role of IT leaders in business is in a state of flux.  Positions once focused primarily on IT and digital savvy are transforming to include customer-facing responsibilities—like the Chief Information Officer (CIO).  While some industry experts are questioning the future of existence of the CIO, others suggest that the role is simply evolving.  In fact, recent research indicates that the workload and complexity for CIOs in fields such as healthcare is actually expanding—and will continue to do so in the future.

Moving forward, as the cloud takes center stage in the business world, it is imperative that businesses fill in-demand roles with experts that can oversee long-term technical projects while managing operations, people, budgets, consultants, outside vendors and unionized workforces at the same time. 

This creates added pressure on hiring professionals, who now have the additional challenge of identifying the innate business qualities and highly technical abilities that competent professionals possess to fit this new ‘back-office to boardroom’ niche.  This challenge is further compounded by the necessity to not only onboard, but also retain and nurture these individuals to make the most of a company’s initial investment.  The result of a bad hiring decision could cost a company an average of 30% of the professional’s first-year potential earning, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.  As the median salary for CIOs tops six figures, this can be quite a substantial loss for any employer.  That is why this level of strategic hiring requires a specialist. 

J. Patrick and Associates (JP+A) is unique from other executive recruiting firms in that it holds all of the tools necessary to link the best companies with the most qualified industry talent.  JP+A works directly with hiring managers and executives in industry-leading Colocation and Data Center infrastructure firms, Cloud or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based product and service providers, and various other technology sector companies to identify the most in-demand skills and current professional requirements for Data Center Management, Security, Storage, and other Cloud/SaaS/Virtualization-related placement. 

For more information about J. Patrick and Associates, click here.

Despite it being a new year, many job seekers have been looking for a job already…in some cases, conducting that job search for a while and are burnt out.

While some job seekers have new inspiration to start a search, I know some of you may be tired and burnt out on your search and need a renewed source of perspective. Well, you have come to the right place.

When you are burnt out on your job search, you may need a mental break. Rest to rejuvenate is crucial, but what I think can be equally as effective is to give a good, hard look at the job search activities that you have been doing.

Are you setting yourself up for disappointment and job search burnout? 

Here are 5 Questions to Ask yourself

1. Have you submitted to more than 10 – 20 online job postings per week?

If yes, then you may be spending too much time on job boards and not enough time engaging actual people. You should not be spending more than 10% of your job search time on job boards. Set up Google Alerts and job alerts within notable job boards to have applicable jobs emailed to you and stop wasting time mining for jobs on the boards. 

2. Are you Reaching Out Directly to Hiring managers?

Of the job applications you applied online, how many did you find someone at the company and reach out directly to connect about your application?

If the answer is less than 50%, you are depending on the computer/database gods to get you an interview, when you need to be talking to people. You need human discussion (phone and email) and contact (in person meetings) throughout this process to stay energized and get hired. “A computer hired me,” said no one ever.

3. How Many People are you Talking to?

I suggest keeping a log of how many conversations you are having with people. If it is less than 10-15 people per week, you need to step it up. Again, people hire people–so talk to people. Computers do not hire people, so do not spend time submitting to electronic job applications for most of your time. 

4. Do You Say "I'm Open to Anything"?

If this is exactly how you ask them, I ask you: Do they know what you do, really? Do they know specifically what you want? It is much better to say, “I am looking for an accounting manager position with a mid-sized company in manufacturing” or “I am seeking a customer service position with a technology firm” than say “Hey, let me know if you hear of any job openings” — Specific is so much better than general each and every time! Specific also breeds confidence. 

5. Are you speaking to the right people in your industry?

How many new contacts are you adding to your contacts list each week–or are you circling back to the same 50 – 200 people each month? Add new people by attending industry and profession-related networking events, alumni get-togethers, former co-worker get-togethers and events in your community. Be sure your business card markets you in a memorable way.

Generally speaking, if you are not speaking to people about your job search, not speaking in specifics to people about your job search and/or not speaking to the right people, you could be spinning your wheels a bit, which will contribute to your burn out. It is important to rest and have fun to recharge…but it is also important to do the right activities suggested above to help support your success and preserve your mindset. Good luck!!

Originally posted at: Chameleon Resumes on Job Search Burn Out - Lisa Rangle

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.