Fidelis IT

Tips for Finding the RIGHT Staffing Partner

5 keys to identifying the right staffing partners 

Specialization

Nobody is an expert in everything. General IT staffing firms and MSP’s are great for your run of the mill IT roles, but when you are running complex systems specialization matters. Hire staffing partners who are experts.  The firm’s you partner with should have deep relationships within their technology space and be active in those communities. This will deliver the expertise needed for a successful outcome.

Stability

Vetting out the stability of the partner you choose should be top of mind.  Look for financial stability. It is not always the size of the staffing partner that matters, it is their ability to pay their consultants in a timely matter, carry the insurances required to minimize risk and the ability to scale their workforce  to support your demands.

Longevity of Internal Staff

 A large part of a successful relationship with a staffing vendor is your sales rep and recruiting team’s ability to understanding your organization and its unique IT needs and corporate culture. If the firm you are looking at seems to have a different rep. calling on you every couple of months, you will run a high risk of mistakes being made and information getting lost in transition. Look for firms who work hard to retain and develop their internal staff. If there is no longevity or succession planning within their organization, they may be more risk than reward long term. 


Back-Office Support

There is more to a staffing partner than their ability to find talent. Engaging a firm with a strong back-office is critical in meeting the needs of today’s customer.  Look for firms who have the technology and financial capabilities to do what is needed to meet the demands that come with the size and scale of your organization and the services you will require.

Integrity 

A partner will always operate with honesty and integrity. Look for firms who  operate under these principals. Talk to  past customers about how they delivered on what they promised. How they  handled challenging situations that arose and dealt with budget constraints to meet their commitments.

A  partner is going to be honest about what they can and can’t do. They will advise you on the resources they represent and the price points they can work within. Partners work through any challenges with integrity. A quality staffing firm should not be in the relationship for maximizing short term profits and slinging resumes to fill positions. They should be in it for long-term partnerships and delivering a positive outcome for their customers.

Cloud Security 2018

In a Forbes article earlier this year, Oracle’s Jeff Erickson listed 5 strategic priorities for chief security officer in 2018. Since the CSO can no longer keep employees and IT resources safe behind firewalls, they have to create new initiatives to keep their data and IT systems secure. Prioritizing the following 5 tasks can help organizations grow and keep an open understanding of risks.

  • Integrating security into development – embed security practices into the development lifecycle so developers do not treat security as optional
  • Automate IT processes to protect data – security alert overload for csos
  • Regulation & reporting – “almost as important as protecting the data is showing that you’re protecting the data”
  • Give your CEO and board clear security metrics – create easily understandable metrics
  • Protect the brand – when/if hackers strike, the hit to your brand rep could be more costly than the system outage, as we’ve seen with too many companies lately

The reality for current Chief Security Officers is the risk of a breach, from an article on Oracle.com based on “Strategic Priorities for CSO’s”. If CSO’s want to keep their company safe, they must be proactive and define appropriate technologies and processes to ensure security is embedded, says Akshay Bhargava, VP of Oracle. He explains how vital clear communication is within the business, across all levels of the organization. Not only should you (and your company) be proactive to protect your data, but you should also prepare for the worst, creating a plan of action in case a breach occurs.

In yet another intriguing blog article based off Oracle, principal analyst Alan, writes about if companies can trust cloud security in 2018. Since SO much of your cloud-based data is sensitive, you must protect it that much more. Who isn’t worried about getting hacked? Nowadays no one is safe. Which is why we can no longer rely on someone else doing it, we must protect our clouds and be proactive.

In a recent survey where 450 businesses were surveyed, 87% said they have a cloud orientation, which shows trust in the organization. 20% said the cloud is more secure than their on-premises environment, and 21% believe the cloud is less secure. 46% of respondents say between ¼ and ½ of their data is in the cloud. The more software is automated, the fewer human errors can ruin the system configurations. In the study, 84% say they are committed to increasing levels of security automation in their companies.

To conclude, the cloud shows a bright future for security in companies. As Akshay Bhargava, vice president of the cloud business group at Oracle says, “Hope for the best, plan for the worst.”

Cover Letters and Resumes

Every door can be unlocked,” the wise words of Ellen Fondiler. But in the business world, the first step of unlocking those doors to employment is by a strong cover letter and concise, but intriguing, resume. This is your first impression on a potential employer, and your main point of differentiation from other applicants.superior-essay-writing-11
 
After my last internship, my boss gave me the responsibility of reading through the huge stack of resumes and cover letters applicants sent in, and I had to narrow it down for her to then interview them. The cover letters that were very generic and seemed like the applicant took less than 5 minutes to put together, she said to toss out. Do not bore the person who gets to read these; make yourself stand out and immediately highlight your strengths, or why you would be a good fit for the position. The goal isn’t just to tell them that you’re qualified, it is to seem more qualified than other applicants. BE MEMORABLE!
 
Cover letters are meant to explain your resume, so don’t be afraid of adding personality to it. When listing your skills (applicable to the position), also list examples of how you’ve used these skills in the past. Here are some good examples of how to start off your cover letters:
·          “In my three years at ____, I increased our average monthly sales by ___%.”
·         “I would be a great fit for your company because after reading through your mission statement, ____.”
·         “I’ve wanted to work in education ever since my third grade teacher helped me discover a love of math.”
 
While I was job hunting, I made sure each resume I submitted was personalized for each company. Do your research! Do NOT make your resume longer than a page; adjust margins if you have to, but most employers will only look at the first page. The goal is not to include as much information as possible; you must choose your most relevant experiences and skills for the job you’re applying for.
 
You can make your resume stand out by doing these few things:
1.       Incorporate industry keywords and buzzwords into your resume,  
2.       Tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for.
3.       Use a modern, professional format (Don’t overdo it with the creativity).
4.       Make sure it is error-free and easy to read.
5.       Describe accomplishments, not responsibilities.
 
Monster.com also has some helpful tips on how to make your resume stand out, click here.

Flash Memory Summit

3D_XPoint_DieThe Flash Memory Summit is the only place where you will hear the people making these products happen! Network with companies and people that will create the next generation of hardware and software.  The main companies who participated in the Flash Memory Summit include: SK Hynix, Seagate, Sandisk, HP, PMC-Sierra, NetApp, Toshiba, Violin Memory, and Cadence. 

Last week, Fidelis Companies’ Engineering Practice Lead, James Roberts and Engineering Recruiter, Mary Helen Corrigan, attended this conference in California, where over 6,500 attendees and 100 exhibitors were in attendance, proving that memory and storage markets are booming. The most notable “buzz” the Fidelis team heard at the educational conference was regarding Micron’s new X-Point Memory. Link to the exciting new technology and check it out: https://www.micron.com/about/innovations/3d-xpoint-technology

The conference covered a variety of topics and sessions:

  • Half-day seminars on: error-correcting codes, PCI Express, NVMe, and SSDs introductions
  • Full day forums on: flash memory-based architectures, NVMe and PCIe SSDs, and controllers
  • Half-day forums on enterprise SSDs, enterprise caching, enterprise applications, PCIe power budgets, virtualization, client caching, data centers, and PCIe storage

There were at least six major companies with exhibits that are target companies where we find/recruit ASIC, FW, Applications & Technical Marketing talent for our engineering team’s best customer. We attended the conference to find new engineering talent and to explore new business. There were many companies that were new to us, which isn’t surprising since we worked our first search assignments for storage-related development a little over a year ago. Our goal is take advantage of the new technologies and add memory related searches to our offerings.

Most of their time at the conference was spent checking out different companies and technologies, gathering personal info on people to call back upon their return to the office, and networking around the exhibit hall.

Reflecting back on the conference, they have numerous takeaways:

  • Retrieved around 150 names of engineers and technical marketing professionals from target companies for future networking
  • Learned more about the storage and memory technologies and markets (i.e. XPoint)
  • Met people in person that they’ve known over the phone for years, and started building new relationships

New York, New York!

Our top producers for 2013 spent a weekend in New York City the first week of June as part of our 2014 President’s Club. While following many of them on social media during the trip, I thought their wonderful experiences should be shared with the rest of our fans as they were with us personally upon their return. They were each asked to share a highlight of their version of the trip, so below you will find personal stories and pictures from those who were able to make the trip. Enjoy!

 

Michelle:

I had a great time in NYC. We were able to see the WTC Memorial, Freedom Tower, SOHO, Little Italy, China Town, Canal Street, Hell’s Kitchen, The statue of Liberty, Wall Street and Central Park. In addition to all of the sight seeing, we were able to watch one of our own Fidelis employees get married in Central Park!  

 Michelle - Toy Story

The best part of the trip for me, outside of seeing the wedding, was going to see “The Book of Mormon” and getting a private boat tour around the Hudson and Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty timing was perfect since it was the D-Day anniversary. We were in the water while they were dropping the 1 million rose petals, which was such an experience to see.  After the tour we ate lunch at The Liberty House and met both Ron and Kim, from Liberty Landings.  They are both amazing people and were so much fun to spend time with. The view of NYC from the Liberty house was incredible. Overall, this was probably my FAVORITE president’s trip to date.  Looking forward to next year!

Michelle - & Ryan 

Mike:

My personal favorite experience was probably everyone else’s – the VIP treatment that became almost our entire day out to see the Statue of Liberty.

We happened to be in NYC on the 70th memorial of D-Day, along with the Puerto Rican Pride parade planned for Sunday, so the city seemed to be extra busy with tourists from all over.  Battery Park itself was jam-packed with people trying to board the ferries, so I think most of us were expecting to join the other tourists and stand in line like anyone else, buy our tickets, shuffle our way through the crowds and hopefully grab a seat or even standing room on the top deck so we could have a view.

Mike - DDayAlan, our co-owner, had made arrangements with a personal friend that owns some of the marina property in the New York and New Jersey area, which we all understood to mean someone from their office would join us and escort us on the ferry, out to the island and give us a personal tour and then we would have lunch and be on our way.  That turned out to be a bit of an understatement. We hopped on the subway down into the park and wandered around until we found Kim from Liberty Landings, which is when the surprises started happening. Within minutes we all had tickets in hand for the ferry, and next thing we know we’ve bypassed all of the lines – and we’re talking hundreds of people and who knows how long of a wait – and are now getting the backstage access treatment. We’re among the first in line now, and have easy access to the top deck.  We take off from Battery Park, and Kim starts in with the personal guided tour, filling us in on all of the history and interesting facts about our surroundings, which was really great.  We docked at Liberty Island and walked around the park; some of us went up to the pedestal of the statue while others just explored the park.  There was a commemoration ceremony on the lawn setting up about the time our ferry was scheduled to depart, so we all met back at the ferry and again made our way to the front of the lines and top deck. As we’re pulling away, a huge French military ship had stopped a few hundred yards off the shore, and another ship with several water cannons was blasting colored water in red, white, and blue.  We’re all trying to get pictures of the water cannon ship, and then three helicopters fly in and hover overhead and proceed to drop a million (literally a million) rose pedals which blew down over the statue and into the crowd observing the ceremony.  Pretty cool sights to see on their own.

Mike - Day Group

Then, we arrive and dock on the Jersey side where we’re still following Kim to wherever she had planned for lunch. We wound up at a restaurant with probably the best shot you can get of the entire New York City skyline. We had a full panoramic view overlooking the Hudson River from Jersey City on our left, spanning from the upper west side and down to Battery Park. We could tell this was somewhat of a hot-spot because as we’re sitting there, a state senator and a notable surgeon are greeted by Ron, who is the VP of the Marinas, and has now sat down with us for lunch.  Ron is the kind of guy who makes things happen. In fact, he told us that’s their motto. He had asked us about our plans for dinner, and when I mentioned that we had missed out on reservations for the most famous steak house in town, he says “you wanna eat there? One of my closest personal friends owns the place,” which turned out to be the story with several other restaurants or bars when we asked for recommendations about the best places to eat or hang out. 

I suppose when all of your customers are the type of people with 100ft yachts in New York City, you’re likely to have some pretty good connections, which leads us to maybe the coolest part of the day. Ron discreetly took a call or two during lunch, grabbed a few of our phones and took several pictures of us and then had one of the waitresses take a few more. We follow him down the marina to an empty dock where we’re expecting to find some way back to the city, but instead Ron says “there’s your ride.”  Up pulls a federal park police boat that proceeds to load all of us up and provide a personal (and extremely fast) escort up the Hudson into the Ground Zero area. The boat itself, we were told, is the fastest on the water and can stop from full speed in less than 10 feet! We rode through the area that “Sully” landed the commercial airliner in the river, stopped up-close by the Intrepid, which is a warship converted into a Sea, Air & Space museum on the water, and then cruised a bit further up to ground zero. The 911 memorial was our final stop with Kim, where she shared some personal perspective of how that day unfolded, which when you’re there on the site, was also a pretty incredible thing to imagine.

All told, we were just blown away with how the day went; the VIP treatment was completely unexpected and absolutely amazing.

 

Nancy:

We had a fantastic time in New York City for our annual President’s Club trip.  It was fun to see all of the places we have become familiar with such as Radio City Music Hall, Grand Central Station, Macy’s and the Statue of Liberty. Central Park is amazing and I can only imagine the beautiful scenery as the seasons change throughout the year.

Nancy - & Tammy

I love the energy NYC has; it is almost sensory overload. Times Square is filled with people 24 hours a day and the billboards flash at you from all directions. The sounds of traffic, the architecture of the office buildings in Manhattan, the smell of delicious food and the mix of different languages spoken all combine to embrace you in the feeling that is the New York Sate of Mind.

Nancy - Broadway

I cannot imagine a more appropriate place for our top producers to celebrate their success! At the end of each day we would gather together and discuss our day trips and rave about the sites we had seen and the camaraderie was amazing.  It was truly a pleasure to be included in this once in a lifetime experience.

Karen - & ALan 

John:

The Fidelis President’s Trip always drives home what a remarkable group of people that I work with. Regardless of where we go, whether we are eating together, people watching or on a more traditional adventure, every trip has several “perfect moments” that remind me that I am surrounded by a smart, interesting, and unique collection of characters.

Nancy - Tamay & Elizabeth 

Tommy:

Karen - Tom & Becky

The 2014 President’s Trip was awesome. NYC was a very busy place with tons of things to do. Some of the highlights of our trip included: The Book of Mormon, Statue of Liberty, 70th Memorial of D-Day, a guided tour Central Park, drinks in the Upper West side, Top of the Rock and the very profound 9/11 Memorial. I look forward to these President’s trips every year. Regardless of the destination, the people we work for and with are incredible, they make going on the trip something to look forward to each and every year. 

 

Welcome to the team, Carolyn!

We would like to welcome our newest team member to Fidelis! Carolyn Hentchel has joined our Infor/Oracle team as their newest Sales Coordinator. She will be researching companies who run Infor/Lawson and PeopleSoft and supporting our business development team members with new project opportunities. Once she learns the industry, she’ll make the transition and join our sales team full time as a fellow business development team member!

Carolyn is very excited to dive into the ERP world and begin helping both our clients and consultants!

 

A little about Carolyn…

Carolyn is originally from Battle Creek, MI but packed up her mom’s old minivan one day and never looked back! She landed in Dallas seven years ago and joined the Dallas Police Department, which she found beyond rewarding during her time on the force. As an officer, she was part of a unit that ran high-level warrants alongside federal agencies, among other responsibilities.

As you can imagine, Carolyn saw some very interesting things during her career as a police officer and built some amazing friendships, but after several years on the police department she was ready to move onto the next chapter in life.

While living in Michigan, Carolyn played ice hockey while growing up, even playing the Junior Olympics! Now that she has hung up her skates, she can now be found with her nose in a book or at the gym doing weight training.

 

Please welcome, Carolyn Hentchel!

chentchel@fideliscompanies.com

972.770.7920

Connect with her on LinkedIn

Carolyn