It’s no secret that the tech industry is highly competitive. New products and ideas are being generated at lightning speed, but to do that, organizations need a stellar team. Software developers, engineers, data scientists and other techies are highly sought-after individuals. Because of the demand for these roles — and the fact that the job market is almost entirely candidate driven — tech professionals usually have their pick of great job opportunities.
As a recruiter, it’s vital that your organization stands out among the pack. Make the exciting aspects of your organization — like your stellar company culture — known by promoting them as part of your employer branding strategy. For inspiration and a leg up on the competition, take a look at how these 7 New York tech companies stand out to earn the interest and respect of esteemed tech professionals.
Promote Your Professional Development Program
Employees are constantly thinking about their career path, and tech professionals are no exception. Unless individuals are regularly updating their skill sets, they risk falling behind the curve.
Showcasing the learning and development aspects of your company is an easy way to get the attention of in-demand professionals. Career growth opportunities signal to prospective candidates that the role won’t be stagnant and the company cares enough about its employees to invest in their futures. Plus, 42% of millennials report learning and development opportunities are the most important benefits they consider when offered a job.
NYC-based Gemini made professional development part of its mission. See how we helped the team use this employee perk to their advantage as part of their recruitment marketing strategy.
Gemini’s Crash-Course Culture
Gemini, a blockchain platform, encourages its employees to pursue interests outside their job descriptions to promote personal and professional development. “Gemini is a truly unique place where pursuing skills and interests outside of your day-to-day expectations are celebrated and encouraged,” says Marcus Skala, Head of Design Technology.
“For example, when engineers want to learn more about design, the creative team sets up time and resources (sometimes a crash course) to promote these interests.” Prioritizing learning and development this way fosters information sharing and meaningful employee relationships, two positive attributes that entice prospective candidates. “We support the advancement and growth of engaged and high-performing employees within the company and across departments,” adds Skala.
Read more about how Gemini’s perks appeal to employees.
Showcase Your Perks and Benefits
When it comes time to send an offer letter, how does yours stack up against the rest? The starting salary must be competitive — but there’s room to negotiate — and unique employee perks can help you close the deal with a top performer who’s fielding multiple offers.
In general, job seekers care a lot about the benefits employers provide, with 63% saying it’s the most important factor to consider when evaluating an offer. See how we helped two NYC tech companies showcase their most impressive and beloved perks to job seekers:
Cockroach Labs’ Flex-Fridays
Cockroach Labs — the team behind SQL database CockroachDB — encourages its employees to pursue their passion projects with Flex-Fridays. “There are projects that I want to work on that fall slightly outside the boundaries of my daily responsibilities and Flex-Friday is the day in which I get to prioritize those projects,” says Dan Kelly, Senior Technical Marketing Manager at Cockroach Labs.
“I know that a lot of interesting and useful work has come out of Flex-Fridays that otherwise would not have seen the light of day,” adds Kelly. This unique perk is indicative of how the company values its employees, and the team doesn’t take that for granted. “The perks make me feel valued, which makes me grateful. I want to produce quality work so that I honor the generosity of the company,” says Kelly.
Read more about Cockroach Labs’ perks.
Roomi’s Remote Getaway
Roomi, an inventive roommate-finding platform, rewards its New York team members and employees from across the globe with a biennial vacation. The inaugural 2015 trip took the team upstate for the weekend, but 2017 reached another level: Ajay Yadav, Founder and CEO of Roomi, sent the team on a 10-day vacation to Thailand.
“It was really amazing learning about my coworkers in different environments,” says Sherry Wang, Product Designer at Roomi. “I felt like I learned more about them during the few days abroad than sitting next to them for months.”
Read more about Roomi’s employee perks.
Highlight Your Cool Office
Physical office space has a huge impact on employee engagement levels; simply increasing exposure to daylight can boost productivity levels by 2%. A floor plan that fosters creativity and camaraderie also encourages work-life balance, something that 57% of workers factor into employer loyalty.
If you’ve revamped your workspace, or recently raised a round of funding that will set you up for a redesign, promote this news as part of your employer branding strategy. Doing so will help you grab the attention of highly sought-after candidates, even those who are already employed; 69% of workers are willing to give up other employee benefits for a well-designed office space.
We help tech companies showcase their cool offices every day. Here are a few of our NYC favorites:
Transfix’s Value-Driven Office Space
The Transfix office is still evolving, and the leadership team leans on employee input to guide renovations. “At Transfix, we actually survey everyone and ask them what they’d like to see when constructing a new space or redesigning a part of the floor,” says AJ Hodge, Workplace Manager at Transfix.
“The heart of our culture is teamwork and providing this space was incredibly important to the lifeline of our team,” says Hodge. “The most unique part of our office is our newly renovated 18th floor. This floor provides multiple locations for impromptu team collaborations, large culture-driven events and training. It also boasts a game room with classic board games, a pool table and cable TV to enjoy — the room is appropriately dubbed ‘Fun City.’”
Transfix is also outfitting the office with an outdoor terrace, complete with greenery and plenty of space for productive work or relaxing lunch breaks.
Read more about Transfix’s unique NYC office.
Riskified’s Open Desk Layout
For the team at Riskified, an AI eCommerce platform, assigned desks are a thing of the past. “My team’s favorite parts of the office are the open tables where we work during the day,” says Arun Paul Gopal, Director of Integrations at Riskified.
“Teams don’t have assigned seats, so I might sit with sales on Monday, our CEO on Tuesday and the rest of the integrations team on Wednesday,” says Gopal. “That intermingling keeps everyone aware of what’s going on and helps us share ideas and brainstorm as a team.”
Collaboration isn’t limited to the work areas: “One of the coolest features of our office is our big, open kitchen that makes you feel like you’re in someone’s really beautiful home — with amazing views of Madison Square Park,” Gopal adds. “This area is a great reflection of Riskified’s focus on cross-departmental collaboration, both professionally and socially.”
Read more about Riskified’s floor plan and view photos of the office.
Leverage Your Leaders
It seems obvious, but employees want a good boss. Middle and senior management have a direct impact on employee engagement levels: leaders who are engaged with their work are 60% more likely to have an engaged team.
Moreover, 58% of employees would turn down a higher paying offer and stay at their current job if it meant working for a great boss. Give job seekers insight into who they’ll be reporting to — or in the case of most tech startups, working directly with — by making your C-suite more visible. You can do this by attending industry events, local meet-ups or simply promoting members of your leadership team in spotlights. See how we showcased these major NYC tech leaders:
Fundera’s Jared Hecht, CEO and Co-Founder
Fundera, a financial services marketplace for small businesses, isn’t Jared Hecht’s first successful company. He brings his zeal for actionable growth into everything he does, and his employees benefit tremendously from it.
“I want our employees to look back in 20 years and point to Fundera as the inflection point in their careers,” says Hecht. For Hecht, achieving this goal means making learning and development opportunities accessible to all employees. “Sometimes an employee wants to learn something that we can’t teach them in-house, so we give them the opportunity to learn it somewhere else.”
The cost of educating an employee in a new skill is a fraction of the cost of a trained contractor or agency, and the return is significant: companies that invest at least $1,500 per employee for training are 24% more profitable on average. “That doesn’t even begin to take into account the value of a happy employee who has developed a new skill set,” adds Hecht. Showcasing the CEO’s positive approach to his employee’s growth and happiness will attract a plethora of interested candidates who are eager to join his team.
Read more about Jared Hecht and his goals for the Fundera team.
Temboo’s Trisala Chandaria, CEO and Co-Founder
For Trisala Chandaria, CEO and Co-Founder of the low-code platform provider Temboo, the key to progress is balancing empathy and execution. “The first and most important lesson I’ve learned is to ensure that the entire team works well together and that they are given the space to work in whichever way is most effective for them,” says Chandaria.
“This is hard to do, and it requires thinking about the people who you work with in a compassionate way, while also empowering them to achieve the larger goals of the organization,” Chandaria adds. Knowing that their individual preferences and opinions will be taken into consideration by their employer is hugely appealing to prospective employees.
“Compassion in the workplace is not something that many people focus on, but we’ve found it to be a large driver of success in Temboo’s work internally and with our outside partners.” Giving prospects visibility into leadership styles at your organization will help them understand the type of organizational culture and make it easier for them to accept your offer.
Read more about Trisala Chandaria and her leadership philosophy.
Your people and culture are your greatest recruitment assets, so use them to your advantage. Integrate employee spotlights into your strategy and play up what life at your organization looks like outside of the job description. Doing so will pique the interest of the top candidates you’re looking for and make their decision to join your team a no-brainer.