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.