Onward Search Career Cast #3

Onward Search Career Cast #3 With Ken Clark & Leanne Owens

The growth of iPhone, iPad and Android Jobs

Welcome back to Onward Search Career Cast.  We have some real world and very timely advice to share with you today.  I’m joined by Ken Clark, the Cofounder and EVP of Onward Search and Leanne Owens, Director of Staffing for Onward Search’s Boston office. DOWNLOAD MP3.

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Ken and Leanne, welcome back to the Onward Search Career Cast.

It seems like every one is talking about the iPad these days but what is not always talked about is the impact it has on the job market.  We’re going to take some time today to dig into not only the iPad but the entire mobile space to include iPhone, Android and Blackberry platforms.  In 2010, the internet industry buzz is certainly centered in mobile so Ken, let’s get started.

With the hot topic of the moment, the iPad, it certainly has had it’s share of both positive and negative buzz since it was introduced but what kind of impact do you think it’s going to have on the job market?

Ken:  I think that the iPad is going to be a pretty powerful driver for jobs.  When you look at the impact of the device, it’s actually made pretty cool.  I’m a big iPhone, iPad, Apple guy, big lover of all things Apple and I’ve been following a lot of the critical reaction, which is you know somewhat in the middle actually right now, but I think what we’re going to see is when the iPad comes out, it is really, the power of it is that it’s a platform and just like we saw with the iPhone, the iPad momentum is really going to be powered by the apps.  It’s all about the apps, so to speak.  You look at what’s happening already in the marketplace, then you have companies, there are some great companies like one develops great software for the whole Apple platform called Omni Group.  They actually over the last several weeks have been showing kind of their conceptions of what they’re going to different on the iPad that’s different than the iPhone, different than what they do on the Mac.  A lot of other businesses actually just recently, WiredMagazine had a whole demo of what they’re iPad app is going to look like.

And what this is going to do is it’s going to drive jobs and that’s really where we kind of enter into the equation and what specifically is going to happen is you are going to see a lot of the iPhone developers that are already out there now have additional opportunities to develop custom apps for the iPad.  We’re also going to see a lot of jobs created in this space and to quote – I think it was Scott Forrestal, who is one of the folks at Apple that’s in charge of the iPad, he said it’s going to be a “gold rush for developers,” and he was talking about it from the perspective of financial gain.  What I would say is there’s going to be a gold rush around jobs.  You’re going to see a lot of job creation that’s tied to the iPad and that’s just great for the economy.

Peter: One of the biggest criticisms of the iPad is that it doesn’t support Flash.  From your perspective, do you think that’s going to be a real barrier?  Of course, there are a lot of people other than Steve Jobs who don’t like Flash and as we all know, a lot of the large enterprise organizations block Flash applications from even going across the firewall.

Ken:  Yeah, that’s interesting.  There is a whole Flash ripple effect, in my opinion, from the iPad.  You look back at some of the decisions that Apple has made in their history, on the hardware side, you can remember back when they just said we’re not supporting floppy drives anymore, and at the time, that was like oh my God, what is Apple doing?  A couple of years later after that, they were actually one of the companies – most people don’t remember this – to support USB 2.0.  That becomes a standard.  Apple is taking a stand once again.

What I think is going to happen is I don’t think Flash is going to go away but I do think if I’m a Flash developer, I am now looking at the world and saying Flash is one of the tools in my utility belt but it’s not the only tool.” Apple, I personally don’t believe is ever going to support Flash on either device.  What they are really aiming for is to support HTML5 as a standard and if I’m a developer and I’m looking to say what are the other tools I want in my utility belt, I certainly would be focusing on HTML5 and using that as a way to kind of guide my career path.

Peter: Leanne, we hear a lot about iPhone app developers who are building the latest games and hottest apps of the day, not a lot of attention is given to the ecosystem around enterprise development corporate iPhone app development.  What does the environment look like around MIT and the Route 128 corridor up there in Boston?

Leanne:  We really see a lot of momentum building in the business corridor here in Massachusetts and our business is engaged with several Fortune Organizations who are leveraging our staffing consultancy programs within the mobile application strategy design and development space to build.  Certainly the iPad has elicited a huge surge in not only application development in the apps store but the buzz overall in the platforms that have, up to this point, sort of been ignored.

So I think that there’s enough advance notice for companies and for talent to really, like Ken said, galvanize their skills and be available because it’s going to be less about wouldn’t this be cool and let’s do this in the third or the fourth quarter, to who’s going to be first to market with not only a mobile application that is going to continue to provide brand awareness, but really engage these companies’ customers with their product 24/7 and it’s not just going to be in the iPhone and iPad space, but I really think the other platforms are going to see a huge surge in development.

Peter: Let’s talk about that a little bit, Ken.  What do you see coming up as far as the Android platform, which is certainly getting a lot of traction, and Blackberry as well.

Ken:  If you had to rank them, I think that the ranking is along the lines of what you said:

iPhone, iPad – 1

Android – 2

Blackberry – 3

There’s a lot of activity around all three spaces.  I mean certainly the most popular one is the Apple platform.  What we’re hearing in the marketplace with increasing frequency as you’d expect is I don’t just want an iPhone platform, but I want a mobile Platform that hits all spaces.  Android, it’s interesting just to kind of think about even over the last three months; three months ago, I recall I having a conversation with one of our partners and they were saying – and I’m paraphrasing them – they were saying, “Yeah, Android’s pretty interesting.  We’re starting to get into it.”  I spoke with them a couple of weeks ago and the attitude was, “Okay, everything we’re doing is Android as well.”

So I think Android is going to be hot.  I think Blackberry; again it’s not going away, it’s not as exciting, so to speak, as iPhone and Android but from a corporate perspective; businesses are looking a mobile platform.  It starts with iPhone and then it immediately says okay, once we have the iPhone, we need to get these other platforms as well.

Leanne, you may want to add onto that as well.

Leanne:  One good thing about that is that our talents are agnostic when it comes to mobile application design and development.  They tend to be able to move in between the platforms and the programs effortlessly.  So, the folks that we work with don’t just come with just one level of expertise with one product or one platform; they have a lot of experience and can point to successful applications that have been delivered for clients through us that are on the Blackberry platform, the iPhone and soon to be iPad as well.  So, it’s nice to be able to work with folks that have a very macro overview of what they’re doing and how to best provide those deliverables to our clients.

Peter: Ken I know you’re at CES this year and mobile was the big buzz at CES and that’s really where a lot of this development effort is going, especially from a corporate standpoint.  What advice would you give companies looking to source iPhone and iPad and other mobile app developers?

Ken:  The key thing is you really need to as with any job search, you need to target where the talent is.  There are a lot of enterprising folks out there that have downloaded the SDKs and they’ve developed their Hello World app, so to speak, but on a corporate level, you really need to find the talent that has experience.  The tough part is this is what –a year, maybe two years old –  so finding that experience is tough and there’s a lot of good partners that we see out in the marketplace that have established experience but when you’re looking for a partner, or a developer, what you have to realize this isn’t just a coder.  You think of any good iPhone application and soon to be iPad application, in a way you can really conceptualize it just like a website.  There is a wire framing process that you have to go through around what’s the navigation flow.  You have to think about what’s the creative, what’s the look and feel of the application, and then there’s the backend of the application.  So if you’re working with a developer or partner that only has one piece, that’s really not the right way to go.  The kind of analogy, again, that I think is most appropriate is you think about if you were doing a website redesign, what are the skill sets that are involved, usability, creative, wire framing and backend; the same thing applies on an iPhone app.

Leanne:  You definitely need scalable solutions.  We’ve had companies that we’ve worked with that have felt that they would reach out to us for a compartmentalized group of individuals to do one component and these folks have been able to come in and educate and influence those clients and help them kind of back into a better solution.

I agree exactly with what Ken just said, that Onward offers the scalable solution and I think that companies even starting off who feel that they only need the coders end up going for the whole solution and at the end of the day, they deliver the best product.

Peter: Are companies really getting into this wave?  I mean do they understand how important that is for the continuing conversation they’re trying to create with their customers, Leanne?

Leanne:  They absolutely do.  Again, it’s less of a novelty and if you just look at what’s in the apps store right now, the 600 apps in December of 2009 versus the 1600 apps in January of 2010; that’s making folks not just pay attention to Apple’s products but their mobile application marketing strategy completely.  We’re working with companies that aren’t putting out things that are just entertaining but we’re doing very complex delivery of products that have authentication that help people in their every day lives, not only reach back to these client companies but also improve their finances, they’re health, you name it, and they’re getting into all different lifestyle reaches.  They’re getting into the environmental components, they’re getting into health, they’re getting into financial.

Peter: Leanne, our listeners always like to hear about what the latest hot jobs are here on Onward Search Career Cast and since we have the benefit of you up there in Boston, what’s really hot in Boston?

Leanne:  Everything’s hot in Boston.  We are really seeing a big surge in opportunities and the job market is exploding, especially in internet marketing.  We’re working with the best and the brightest in the interactive space.  A lot of information architecture, a lot of online content strategy, and copywriters, online copywriters, a lot of search marketing professionals, social media consultants and folks that can, of course, do all of the mobile application design and development.

Peter: One last question for you guys.  Leanne, are you going to be standing in line at the Apple store there in Boston to buy an iPad when they come out?

Leanne:  Absolutely.  I have held off to this point but I can’t wait to be a part of it.  It’s a really exciting product, it’s a leisure product and something that’s going to be able to help me gain access to all of the cool tools that are out there.

Peter: And Ken, how about you?

Ken:  It’s kind of a foregone conclusion I’m going to buy one.  I have my daily questions to myself about when but I know that just like Leanne, come the end of March, I’m buying one and it’s going to be pretty cool.  I’m excited to see it.

Peter: As we all know the Apple has just had its 10 billionth download of music and let’s hope that the iPad is able to save the publishing industry as well.  So again, thanks so much for taking time to speak with us today on Onward Search Career Cast.

Leanne, up there in Boston, we really appreciate your time.

Leanne:  A pleasure, thank you.

Peter: And Ken, it’s always great to speak with you and we’ll be doing so again soon.

Ken:  Alright, thanks Peter.  I enjoyed it.
Thank you for tuning in to Onward Search Career Cast.  For more information on the career opportunities available through Onward Search, you should visit us online at OnwardSearch.com or call 1-800-829-0072, and speak with an experienced recruiter.  And you should also follow Onward Search on Twitter at Twitter.com/onwardsearch.

Onward Search Career Cast #2

Episode 2 – The Staffing Process

Josh and Ken talk to Peter about how the staffing process works for Internet marketing and creative professionals. Onward Search places people in temporary and permanent, executive and specialist jobs and positions.

Hello and welcome to the second episode of Onward Search Career Cast. We’re in Wilton, Connecticut with Ken Clark, the Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Onward Search and Josh Gampel, Vice President of Onward Search.

In our inaugural episode, Ken told us how Onward Search came to be and we learned a little bit about the professionals that Josh’s team staffs. Today, we’re going to talk about how a typical assignment works for the candidate and give you some more background on how this whole process comes about. (download mp3)

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Ken, for someone who didn’t have a chance to listen to the first episode of the Onward Search Career Cast, can you just give us a brief overview of the staffing model for Onward Search, the types of assignments, and assignment lengths.

KEN: Sure. Thanks Peter. What Onward Search does is we are the nation’s leading provider of internet marketing and creative talent, and what that means is we provide everyone from internet marketing, search marketing, social media experts to flash developers, usability experts, iPhone developers on both temporary and permanent assignments across the country.

The way our model works is we have regional hubs in all the major metro regions across the country such as Chicago, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas to name a few of them, and we also have an executive search team which specializes in placing C-level, SVP, and director level candidates on a permanent basis.

PETER: Ken, can you walk me through how a candidate would go about getting started with a career with your organization Onward Search?

KEN: Sure. As you could imagine, our recruiters are talking to our clients and our candidates in our marketplaces throughout the day, networking and developing a database of great talent. We kind of eat our own dog food, so to speak. We’re very active using social media, channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, other sites that are specific to our niche, and what we’re doing is we’re working in finding candidates all over the internet and, frankly, just through kind of traditional hard work on the phone and things like that.
What we ask our candidates to do is typically either give us a call or fill out an online application on our website and once you do that, you’re going to sit with a recruiter, so to speak, speak with a recruiter who is going to walkthrough what you’re looking for in your career and help you really get started so we can find the right career for you.

PETER: Josh, can you kind of expand on that process for us?

JOSH: Yeah, thanks. Just to elaborate, once you’ve identified Onward Search and you give us a call or you fill out an online application, you speak to one of our recruiters and they’re really going to be looking at your background, your skill sets. If you’re a web designer, we’re going to want to look at your portfolio and we’re going to look at the look and feel and all the different aspects of the portfolio and really get to know why you did what you did and how you did it and make sure that you are the one responsible for all the work.

A lot of times, our recruiters are going to be interviewing you really to get a feel for your background and what your career goals, and what type of compensation you’re looking for and all those fun details and then when we present you to a client, a lot of it is subjective. Our client on the web design aspect may be looking for somebody that has a little bit more creativity in their background from their perspective, or a little bit more cut and dry in their portfolio. Web design, just to name that example, is very subjective based on what the client is looking for.

On the search engine marketing side, it’s black and white – how many keywords have you managed, what’s your budget, what type of responsibility have you had, and what have your results been. So a little bit more black and white on the search engine marketing side. But our recruiters are very skilled in asking you direct questions, knowing what your background is all about; most importantly, trying to understand what you’re looking for so we can match you up with the right career opportunity.

If you go on our website, you can see dozens upon dozens of job postings. They’re updated every day. There are feature jobs. They change all the time, and what a client’s looking for today may not be a fit for you, but it may be a fit for you two weeks down the road. So it’s good to get in touch with our recruiters, keep posted on what’s going on, on our job boards, and really keep tabs with us so we can present you the right opportunity.

On the executive search side, when you call in, we’re going to present a few jobs to you based on your geographic preference and your skill set. The interview process on the executive search side is a little more detailed, it goes more in depth. We present full write ups on our candidates to our clients that are behavioral based, and what I mean by that is we want to know what decisions you made, why you made them, and what the impact was and how it helped drive revenue for the top line and help increase the bottom line for your organization. So it depends on what your skill set is, whether you’re a Flash developer, a search engine marketer, or a VP of marketing, each kind of interview process is a little bit, but we try to cover all the bases.

PETER: So, when I call in, and I talk to a recruiter, let’s say I’m based in New York, and let’s say I’m an iPhone developer – using an example that Ken brought up – how do you decide which recruiter is best for me to work with? Is it geographically based? Is it based on skills?

KEN: We have recruitment teams that focus on both actually. We have recruitment teams as I mentioned all our metro areas, so if you’re a New York candidate, you are almost always can be speaking to a New York recruiter. The case where you may not be is on executive search.

Executive search, as Josh has mentioned, is a totally separate business from the temp business. It’s a different service to our customers and our clients. It’s a different service to our talent. So we have a dedicated team for executive search.

So if you were in New York, iPhone developer, and there was theoretically a perm position available for you, you may not be speaking to someone in New York.

PETER: Back to the temp side for a second Josh, if I am interested in working with you, do I have to come in for an interview or is this done over the phone?

JOSH: Great question. That’s all depends, depending on where you’re located. If you’re in New York, and the position happens to be located in New York, we’re going to speak to you on the phone first, qualify it, make sure that you’re a good fit and then depending on the situation, we’re going to ask you to come in and meet with one of the recruiters. Most of the time though, you don’t have to meet the recruiter. It depends on the assignment, it depends on what our client’s requirements are. It really varies from assignment to assignment. However, most of the time, we can at least evaluate you and have the initial conversation over the phone and discuss whether it makes sense to move forward.

KEN: Something that we also do with increasing frequency is we actually leverage Skype to have video interviews with our talent. Oftentimes, that’s easier for them but it still gives us the opportunity to meet face-to-face, so to speak.

PETER: I’d like to return to what you were talking about earlier as far as your employment of social media sites, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook; I know you have a Twitter feed, which is online search. Do you have a LinkedIn group, or do you have a Facebook fan pages?

KEN: We actually have the largest Twitter presence of any staffing company that kind of even remotely operates in our space. In addition to our main feed, Onward Search, which provides a lot of good news contents, promotes a lot of the jobs that we have, we have several segmented Twitter feeds. One example is SEO jobs, another is social media jobs, another is PPC jobs, that really focus on giving a stream of targeted jobs to the professionals that we work with. We also managed a number of LinkedIn groups that are designed really as discussion areas for our talent, whether we’re working with them or not and our clients, to discuss issues related to career topics and training and hiring within our segment.
Long answer but the short is we’re doing all of the above.

PETER: And I imagine those candidates who are very active on these sites, such as LinkedIn, really get your attention.

KEN: Yeah, and I’d actually like Josh to probably comment on this but if I could give one tip to anyone out there that’s looking for a job is make sure that you’re on LinkedIn , because it’s a great resource for the job seeker. There are a lot of great tips that actually we provide to our candidates and our talent about how you can optimize your LinkedIn profile.

Josh, maybe if you can talk about how our recruiters use LinkedIn to help source talent.

JOSH: Sure. LinkedIn is a great tool and as Ken mentioned, if you’re not on it, get on it right away, because when you look at ability to access information on the web all across the spectrum, our recruiters use LinkedIn first, and the reason being is we can really go into a company, understand who all the players are, what their roles are, you can look at recommendations of their work and really know what their career path has been before you even talk to them.

In regards to LinkedIn, I would recommend making sure you have a complete profile, adding multiple jobs that you have had on there, include your Twitter name, which Twitter and LinkedIn have recently merged so you can kind of sync the two together, and get references and recommendations for the work that you’ve done.
When I look at the candidate, and I’m looking through their background, I look at the companies that they worked for, I look at the descriptions of what they’ve done at those companies, and then I also get recommendations of their work right off the bat.

If this is what your intent is and you want to get a lot of calls from recruiters, and you’re good at what you do, update your LinkedIn profile and you’ll have your next job coming to you.

PETER: LinkedIn groups really, even over the past year, have become much, much more visible and important and powerful in help building your personal brand.

JOSH: Yeah. Each one of our recruiters has a few different groups that they manage. Just to name a few, search marketing careers; that’s one group that we manage. There are hundreds and hundreds of people in there that on a daily basis are commenting on different aspects in the search marketing world. E-commerce careers is another one, and then we have subgroups within these e-commerce careers that are on digital analytics. So anybody that is an e-commerce and really looks at the analytics, and they ROI on a daily basis, you’ll love that group because there’s a lot of topics going back and forth.

PETER: On your temp side, just out of curiosity, is there any fee for the candidate signing up on Onward Search?

JOSH: If you want to pay, sure. J No there’s no fee. The fees are on the client side. It’s absolutely free. All we ask is for your time and partnership with us and we’re going to give the same back to you.

PETER: And what happens when an assignment is over, Josh, do I remain under contract with Onward Search? Are you going to help me find a new position?

JOSH: Another great question. You are never obligated to work with us for any period of time. The employment is at-will employment. What happens is typically we’re going to put you on a project based assignment. Let’s say it’s three months, we’re going to expect you’re going to work on that project for the three months. At the completion of the project, we’re hopefully going to have another job for you based on a client’s needs and your skill sets. If we don’t have that, we’re going to actively work with you to help you find a new position especially if the employer beforehand has given you two thumbs up. However, you’re never contractually obligated to work just with Onward Search.

PETER: Ken.

KEN: You know, one other thing I’d like to add is in that process typically, what we do is when we have an expected end date of your assignment, usually about halfway through the assignment, your recruiter is going to start talking to you about what you want to do next and the reason that’s so important is because if you are on that six-month assignment, that conversation about where you see your career is headed, it’s happening somewhere in that three to four month time period. That way, you get to work with your recruiter and if you want to make a very large shift, or you want to stay doing the same type of work, we have enough time to help you find that right job.

PETER: One last question, Josh, let’s talk about some hot jobs or opportunities that you currently have at Onward Search.

JOSH: As I look at our job board and if you are by a computer onwardsearch.com, you can see all of our hottest jobs for internet marketing and creative. Right now, we’re looking for interactive copywriters, SEO analysts, SEO superstar is one of our job descriptions, so you better be good. We’re looking for a VP of Analytics for a digital marketing agency, A J2EE developer, social media specialists – you name it. I mean, all across the board – and iPhone application developers, as we’ve talked about before, are some of the hottest jobs that we have.

PETER: One last comment, you know, what I find really remarkable is three years ago, half of these jobs didn’t even exist.

JOSH: Me too. It’s a great point. I mean, if you look at the way the industry has changed, as Ken mentioned, it’s all about being able to really track your marketing span and if anybody hasn’t heard of Google, I don’t know, they’ve been hibernating under a rock. Google has really changed the way the world markets and the ability to track your marketing span down to the penny has really created a lot of the search marketing and acquisition jobs. And on the web design side, people being creative, have really been able to change jobs from back five years ago when it was just getting a website up and running, to now making sure the user experience is there, the website loads quickly, the images are fresh and keeping up with the competition because there’s always somebody trying to make their site look better than yours.

PETER: Ken and Josh, thank you so much for your taking time to speak with us again today on Onward Search Career Cast. This has been really informative.
Be sure to tune in next time for the next episode of Onward Search Career Cast.

Thank you for tuning in to Onward Search Career Cast. For more information on the career opportunities available through Onward Search, you should visit us online at OnwardSearch.com or call 1-800-829-0072, and speak with an experienced recruiter. And you should also follow Onward Search on Twitter at Twitter.com/onwardsearch.