Custom Search Group Jobs Blog

Brightcove Goes Public

Brightcove, a Cambridge based software company, showed impressive performance when it went public on February 17^th. Its IPO price began at $11 and had climbed to $14.30 by the end of the day, an increase of over 30% in its first day of trading. Five million shares were sold at the midpoint of its expected $10 to $12 range.

Brightcove was founded in 2004 and has targeted its services to companies interested in adding video to their websites. The creation and hosting of online video requires the capacity to store and serve large video files, and many companies would rather pay another company than host their own servers. At the end of 2011, Brightcove had over 3,800 customers in over 50 countries. It’s
customers include technology, government, retail, financial services, media, and nonprofit companies.

We are excited to see what other successes the future will bring for Brightcove!

Interview Tip of the Week: Be Prepared!

There’s already a lot to think about when you’re preparing and going on interviews, it can be all too easy to forget the little things. Do you have change for the parking meter? Do you have a full tank of gas? Preparing these things ahead of time will make your interview day less stressful. We recommend keeping a “survival kit” in the car or in your briefcase with essential items including:

- GPS or directions

- Cash and/or change for parking

- Bottled water

- Breath mints, lip balm, hair brush

- Deodorant, stain removal stick, tissues, spare shirt and/or spare nylons

- Pen and paper with your notes on the company and position

- Extra copies of your resume and business cards

Keep in mind a great tip I learned from one of my college professors about “The five P’s”: Proper planning prevents poor performance!

Interview Tip of the Week: Watch Body Language

You want to make sure your body language doesn’t overpower that of your interviewer; the best way to do this is to mimic theirs. It’s ok to use gestures to strengthen your point, but make sure you’re not overly animated to the point of distraction. If you’re a “hand talker,” try something to keep you aware of your hands, like clasping them in your lap or pressing the nail of your middle finger into the pad of your thumb. Eye contact is also important. A good guideline is to look your interviewer in the eye as you begin to answer a question, and then look below their eyes or to the side of the nose, and finish by looking them in the eye again. It can be very helpful to video tape yourself during a mock interview to see what your natural habits are; you can then work to correct any behaviors that needs refining.

Interview Tip of the Week: How To Give Concise Answers

It can be hard to judge how much to say in an interview. You want to completely answer the interviewer’s questions, but it’s never good to ramble on. It’s a balance between not fully explaining yourself, and giving too much information. A good way to avoid this is to speak in bullet points. Think of the major points you would like to convey, and highlight each one. You can always ask your interviewer if they need more of an explanation. The way to best illustrate your strengths is to give examples that “paint a picture” so they can visualize you doing the job you are interviewing for.

This tip works best when you can script your answers ahead of time. There are certain questions that you can expect in most interviews, such as “tell me about yourself”. Think about your answers ahead of time and practice your responses until you feel comfortable.

Great opportunities for UI and UX professionals!

We are working on several UI/UX positions in the Boston area, know anyone?

UX Architect, Boston

Great position with a successful software company that services the investment industry.

 

UX Director, Kingston

Opening with a great, family friendly company on the South Shore.

 

UI Director, Boston

Exciting opportunity to work with a mobile commerce startup in Boston.

 

Senior Interaction Designer, Weston

Award-winning software company looking for a technical UI designer.

 

Senior UX Designer, Newton

Growing company with a consumer-facing software product.

 

Please clink on the links for more information and to apply!

 

Happy Veterans Day

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our country’s soldiers, both past and present.
We are so grateful to have the freedoms that we do, and are truly thankful for those who make it possible. Wishing a wonderful day to our servicemen and women and all those who will be honoring them.

Great News for Hiring in 2012!

From what we hear out there, starting salaries for professionals are expected to increase in 2012. As the hiring climate becomes more competitive, companies are expected to raise their offers to attract the best candidates. In fact, we are already feeling the shortage now as top candidates are receiving multiple offers, which is a sign that the market is improving.

IT is the place to be! The starting salary for these jobs is expected to increase about 4.5%. For many areas in the tech industry, there are actually more open jobs than candidates. These areas include network administration, security, and application development. Positions in data warehousing, business intelligence and QA are also in high demand. Experience in mobile is highly valued as the
use of tablets and other mobile devices continues to grow. Starting salaries for mobile application developers are expected to rise about 9%. Professionals with expertise in AJAX, Java, or SQL can expect another 12% over the base ranges.

Creative and marketing jobs can expect an average increase of 3.5% in starting salary. The hottest
areas are internet related positions in SEM, web analytics, project management, and UI design. The demand for video content is growing rapidly, increasing the need for video producers who can
develop content for web, mobile and training. Healthcare is a high demand industry for analytics and interactive professionals to monitor online campaigns.

If you are looking to expand or refine your skill set, this could be a great place to look for some direction!

Tech Highlights

Here’s a sample of the most interesting tech highlights we’ve seen so far this week. Click on the links to satisfy your curiosity for more info and enjoy!

IBM Acquisitions in MA

IBM has been gobbling up more companies in Massachusetts than in California. Their most recent acquisition, Waltham-based Q1 labs Inc, is the 19^th since 2003. This has just surpassed the 18 companies IBM has acquired in the same time frame from California.

Raytheon Donates $1M to MOS

Raytheon has given the Museum of Science a $1 million gift to support the teaching of its engineering and technology curriculum. The money will be used to train elementary school educators who will teach the program in the classroom. Here’s to a bright future for Boston’s tech and science students!

New Jobs Increasing in Boston

Boston has made the list of 77 metropolitan markets that have posted job increases in the past year. The capital of The Commonwealth ranked number three in the country with an increase of over 50,000 jobs since last August. We’ve certainly been busy here at Custom Search Group!

Uber to Expand to Boston

How would like an app on your phone that lets you to request a car service? Apparently this could be possible in Boston as Uber makes a move to expand. Uber allows you to use your mobile device to request and track a private car. Although the company faced oppressive opposition from cab drivers and the government in its home town of San Francisco, they plan to bring their service to Massachusetts.

 

Improving Your Linkedin Visibility – Be Found!

Linkedin can be a great tool for job searchers to increase their visibility and their job prospects. I myself spend hours each day searching through profiles for the person with just the right combination of experience for our openings. It can be a great resource, but you could also be selling yourself short if your profile isn’t complete and compelling.

Your “profile box” is the first thing visitors to your page will see and is a great opportunity to make a good impression. It includes an overview of your profile with information such as your headline, current and past titles and employers, education, and websites. You can also include a professional image, which can really bring your profile to life. Your headline should be a brief and effective summary of who you are and what you do. Some people prefer to use their current title and company, while others are more creative using headlines such as “Results oriented product marketing
professional.”

Your summary section is where you can include valuable keywords. Use them wisely however; don’t
try to stuff all your keywords into a few sentences. They should be used effectively and logically to highlight your experience. This is your chance to share your story, who you are, how you contribute, and what you want to do.

The experience section of your profile should include your current position and at least two past roles. Describing each of your positions in depth with keywords that resonate with your target market will increase your chances of being discovered. Think of this section as you would your resume, you can include responsibilities, special projects, and accomplishments.

Including your education information will help you reconnect with classmates. There is a search tool
that simplifies the process by finding users who went to the same schools.

The website section of your profile is the place to promote your personal or company website or blog.
You can also set up the links with customized titles, so “company blog” becomes “Custom Search Group Jobs Blog.” This is a great way to include some extra keywords. You can also add a link to your Twitter profile and sync your tweets with your Linkedin status updates.

Once your profile is updated and ready to go, you can utilize it to make connections. Find classmates
and add them to your network, or join groups with similar interests or professional affiliations. Add status updates to reach out to your network and increase your visibility. More connections mean more possibilities, and a complete profile will attract others to reach out to you.

Hiring Increases Expected

According to real estate industry research published by Marcus & Millchap, Boston firms are expected to increase hiring by opening up 22,000 new jobs in the second half of the year. This would bring employment levels in the area back to what they were in 2007.

The company predicts that established office districts will see the most benefit and prime office space will fill up quickly in areas such as the Back Bay and Fenway. Cambridge, Charlestown and Somerville will benefit the most from tech firm expansions.

At Custom Search Group, we’ve certainly seen a rise in marketing and tech positions. Stay tuned for more openings to come!