Offices:
With the information age and the boom of new technologies, a breeding ground for new age digital thinkers has evolved in New York City. Silicon Alley is the nickname given 
to the concentrated area in Manhattan where internet and digital media companies are rapidly growing. Cleverly named after Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area of California where creative thinkers converge, this East Coast version of digital entrepreneurship has a lot to offer to recent college graduates entering the workforce.
Why Silicon Alley?
Statistically, Silicon Alley is on the rise in multiple sectors. According to the Center for an Urban Future, technology jobs have experienced a growth rate of 28.7% – a spike from 41,000 to over 52,000 – over the past five years. Not only are digital careers on the rise, but there is ample investment capital in Silicon Alley. Although the motherland in California remains in the lead, NYC Silicon Alley is experiencing promising growth figures from investors in terms of both dollars and deals. From 2010 to 2011, [64.3 percent in terms of dollars and 10.2 percent in terms of deals, while investment in California is only rising 24.4 percent in terms of dollars and 5.0 percent in terms of deals]
As Silicon Alley continues to grow and attract investors and workers alike, it is obvious that New York City is the perfect location for the nation’s new technological capital. The city itself is more reputable across the globe than San Francisco, and the surrounding landscape of profitable networks and industries is ideal for the thousands of digital start-up companies that are sprouting in the area. Not to mention, NYC has been the nation’s financial capital for past two centuries.
Finding Silicon Alley Jobs
According to Indeed.com, the average annual salary of a Silicon Alley employee is $78,000. This figure is 17% higher than the average salary for all other job postings across the nation.
Not only are Silicon Alley jobs profitable, but there are plenty of job opportunities in the area, especially for forward-thinkers and digital literate workers. The technological business is an ideal place for college graduates to search for a job, because the millennial generation has been indulged in the digital world since early childhood.
You do not have to be an entrepreneur with an amazing new digital application idea to find Silicon Alley Jobs. In fact, there are ample job opportunities in Silicon Alley for a wide range of workers. These include information technology jobs, start-up company jobs, internet jobs, computer jobs, and mobile advertising jobs. Programmers, designers, and marketers are only some of the many professions that Silicon Alley has to offer. So what are you waiting for? Join the technological revolution in the tech capital of the East Coast, and take your ideas and talents to Silicon Alley. Visit Infinity Consulting Solutions to start your search today.
Klout Score
We all live in the Digital Age. An age of omnipotent information. An age of “likes,” “shares,” “favorites,” and “re-tweets.” Today, is uncommon to come across a person or business that does NOT have a presence on social media. Through the internet, WiFi, Smartphones, and social networks, the world has become incredibly connected. Because of social media, we now influence each other like never before.
This new and growing form of digital communication has become so important that the standard of influence can now be measured using web-based analytical tools. Klout, a start-up company based out of San Francisco, began in 2008 and since then has become a standard tool for measuring how strong a person or business influences others in the digital world.
Klout’s general mission is “to empower every person by unlocking their influence.” To do this, the web developers have created algorithms to calculate and rank how influential an individual is on social media. This algorithm combines a person’s influence through major social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Once influence is measured, the individual is ranked on a score of 1 through 100. The higher the Klout Score, the better.
So, just how important is your Klout Score when it comes to interviewing for that digital marketing or social media job you desire? Can a high Klout Score really help your career?
The answer is yes. Klout Scores have become so prevalent in the marketing industry that it is not uncommon to be asked for your Klout Score on a job interview. As the digital world continues to grow, a strong social media presence and a wide standard of influence is becoming more and more important – especially in the realm of marketing. In this day and age, social media skills are essential to succeeding in your career. Employers are looking for applicants with strong social skills not only in person, but on the internet as well. In fact, some marketing companies will not accept job applicants with a Klout Score of below 50.
In the social media world, a high Klout Score is extremely beneficial to job applicants. If you have a high Klout Score, it will definitely be to your advantage to mention it as an asset in an interview. It would also be beneficial to include your high Klout Score on your resume.
If you do not have a high Klout Score yet, make it your goal to raise your score and become more influential on the web before you apply for a marketing job. Become more active on Facebook and Twitter. Follow and ‘like’ important accounts in the industry that you strive to work in. Re-tweet and tweet at persons with similar interests. Engage in digital interaction with close friends and acquaintances. Don’t be afraid to let your individuality shine in the social media world.
In the long run, as long as the information you share with the digital world is effective, credible, and eloquent, having a high Klout Score and a strong internet personality will be nothing but beneficial in interviews and, ultimately, your marketing or communications career.
When you’re going in for an interview, you’ve probably got some preconceived notions about how the interview will go. Unfortunately, your perspective may be skewed by some of the most popular myths about interviewing that still persist today. Here are the top 10 interview myths about interviewing that people still believe, even though they shouldn’t. Debunk these before your interview in order to make the best impression possible.
Myth 1: Your resume is what will get you most of the way to landing a job.
Reality: Your resume simply opens the door. The way you answer interview questions, connect with potential colleagues, present yourself and follow up after the interview all have much more bearing on whether you might get the job or not.
Myth 2: The interviewer is prepared for your interview, and knows what he’s doing.
Reality: Unfortunately, you can be sure that you have prepared for this interview much more than your interviewer has. The person interviewing you is likely going to rely much more on first impressions and your bearing, and won’t pay deep attention to answers you’ve carefully crafted. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare — just don’t be surprised if the interviewer doesn’t have your resume handy.
Myth 3: There are right answers to the questions you’re asked.
Reality: Interviewers ask questions to find out how you think and work, not to quiz you. Instead, they’re interested in how you approach problems, how you interact with others and whether you can tell an informative story about your career briefly.
Myth 4: The person who is most qualified will get the job.
Reality: This is one of the biggest myths out there. There are many reasons why the most qualified person doesn’t get the job: he doesn’t fit with company culture, his salary expectations are out of line, he simply isn’t what the company is looking for. Don’t worry if you’re going up against someone who is more qualified than you — look for ways to show that you work well with others and are interested in training.
Myth 5: There’s no way to really prepare for an interview; just wing it and you’ll be fine.
Reality: This myth gets exposed pretty easily. It’s painfully obvious when someone hasn’t prepared for an interview — she is dressed incorrectly, doesn’t ask questions, seems surprised when asked about her resume, and so on. Before your job interview, talk to your recruiter about what you need to know about the company and find out specifics about the culture.
Myth 6: Ask about the salary early on so you can see if the interview is worth it.
Reality: It’s true, you may be wasting your time in an interview because the company can’t possibly match your salary expectations. However, there is no reason at all to ask about salary at the beginning of the interview — and many job consultants recommend not talking about it all during the first interview. If you fear that that the salary may be too low for you, concentrate on knocking your interview out of the park — once they see what a valuable employee you could be, you might change some minds about the salary budget.
Myth 7: Leave your questions to the end.
Reality: There’s always a spot at the end of the interview for you to ask questions, and no one wants to be caught tongue-tied at this point. But it makes a good impression if you are able to ask questions during the interview, and makes the interview feel more like a conversation between peers. You can save a question for the end if you want, but definitely ask questions as they come up during the interview.
Myth 8: Give the interviewer as much information as you can.
Reality: As much as the interviewer wants to hear about what a strong worker you are, she is also looking for reasons to eliminate you from the pool. She is looking for red flags in your answers while you are talking, so answer the question quickly, without over explaining your answer.
Myth 9: List your strengths whenever you can.
Reality: By all means, talk about what you do well. But talk about them carefully! Instead of listing your strengths, list what you’ve done with them. Give specific examples about how you use your abilities to make things happen. Interviewers are interested in what you can do — not how you can describe yourself.
Myth 10: Thank-you notes are old-fashioned.
Reality: It’s never a bad idea to follow up with the person you interviewed with and thank them for their time. It’s also a good time to add information about your background, or extend an answer to a question that might have caught you off guard the first time around. Knowing how to manage these interview myths will make you a better job candidate.
Talk to a recruiter at Infinity Consulting Solutions if you have any questions on how to debunk any job interview myths you might come across.
Most people know the cardinal rules of creating a LinkedIn Profile: Fill it out completely, be honest, keep the content professional, proofread everything, make connections, and be interactive. Building a better LinkedIn profile that will actually make an impact, however, requires you to go beyond the basics. Here are ten things you can to do jumpstart your job search using LinkedIn.
…
While the digital age has transformed job searching and opened up a vast world of opportunities, it has also fostered a false sense of connection to our virtual acquaintances. Unfortunately, it is easy to take in-person interactions for granted, but their value, especially while hunting for a new job, is immeasurable. For recruiters, meeting face to face allows them to assess a candidate’s demeanor, personality, and professionalism. What some may not realize, however, is that meeting your recruiters greatly benefits the applicant as well, in more ways than one.
You can gleam a lot about a company just by walking into their offices and the same can be said for staffing agencies. First and foremost, it confirms you are working with a legitimate recruiter. Sadly, it is all too easy to be scammed these days via career sites like LinkedIn and emails cannot confirm much. Visiting a physical office, however, will validate whether an opportunity is authentic. It will also provide clues about the firm’s culture and current level of success, both of which will shape your job search experience.
A loud, chaotic environment that feels not just fast-paced but frenetic often suggests a swift and high-pressured process. Conversely, a calm, orderly atmosphere with a focused professional energy likely indicates a more deliberate and thoughtful search. While most people prefer the latter, if there is a specific position that is too good to pass up, you can prepare yourself to counterbalance the frenzied intensity of the former. Likewise, a recruitment agency’s aesthetic reflects not only how successful they are but also the caliber of their clients. For example, a dingy place with dilapidated furniture and outdated contraptions does not bode well, but a bright and tidy space with contemporary furniture and modern equipment denotes a talented team of recruiters working with equally accomplished companies.
While gathering information about the firm representing you is a compelling enough reason to meet with your recruiters, putting a face to your name probably influences your job search the most. There are just some things you cannot communicate through a resume, even if you compose the most charming email to accompany it. Your resume and correspondence details your experience and, to some extent, illustrates your professionalism. Your personality and the unique traits that will determine whether you are truly right for a position, however, are best expressed in person. For example, tone in emails is frequently misconstrued, but your meaning suddenly becomes clear when accompanied by the inflection of your voice, facial expressions, and body language. Similarly, how well an individual will mesh with a company’s culture is the deciding factor when it comes to hiring someone. Experience and skills matter, but those are also things that can evolve over time and with training. Personality, on the other hand, is comprised of intangible elements that cannot be taught.
Meeting your recruiters in-person also transforms the tenuous and superficial connection established through online interactions into something concrete and meaningful. It is a quirk of the human brain that simply by being in the same room as someone else, we become more invested in each other and make more of an impression. When you are working with recruiters, you want them not only to care about you but also remember you when opportunities materialize. That becomes infinitely harder when someone is just words on paper.
Approached properly, your staff agency intake can also strengthen your interview skills. If you are at the beginning of your job search, you may be a bit rusty. Going through the process, however, will get you back in the swing of things. Also, treat this as seriously as you would an interview with a potential employer because it is just as significant. In fact, you are interviewing for not just one job but all the jobs that might be a good fit. The only difference is that afterwards you will receive feedback that will help you interview even better next time. Recruiters are excellent sources of information and masters of self-marketing. They know all the resume tweaks, business etiquette, and interview tips. While you can read all the articles you like, nothing beats personalized attention and specific advice. Of course, the only way a recruiter can accurately assess your interviewing skills is through an actual interview. Beyond valuable practice and constructive criticism, it also enables your recruiters to put post-interview feedback into better context.
While occasionally a job opening will be filled at an accelerated pace and geography might make meeting impossible, be wary of a recruiter that does not ask to meet you in-person. That initial face to face provides critical information for both of you and you should be eager to do it. After all, a fruitful job search and professional success depends on it, for job recruiters and candidates alike.
As you begin your job search, you may be wondering if you should use a recruiter in your job hunt. You will receive different advice depending on whom you talk to, but naysayers usually fall into one of two categories: people who have never actually worked with a recruiter or people who were burned by a disreputable staffing agency. As with any industry, there are those who are consummate professionals and those who are subpar. If you find a well-established and respected agency with a stellar team, however, you will soon discover how enlisting a recruiter in your job hunt will bring you that much closer to the career of your dreams. …
The interview process is brimming with tricky moments and the most precarious ones revolve around salary. Handling it well could secure a job offer that meets or even surpasses your expectations. Blundering the matter, however, will eliminate your chances of being hired entirely. Knowing how and when to discuss compensation requires forethought and familiarity with business etiquette.
…
Temp to perm jobs are increasingly popular with employers and, while workers are quicker to accept these positions, there is considerable skepticism surrounding the practice. In truth, for every person with a horror story, there is another with a tale of success. Your prospects correlate directly to that specific job at that particular company. Knowing how to tell if a job is a true temp to perm will help you decide whether to accept the position and, if you do, determine if the time to look elsewhere has come. …
How you dress for an interview can be just as important as what you say during it. While your resume and responses to your prospective employer’s questions are major factors, interviewers also make assumptions about your professionalism and demeanor based upon your appearance. Choosing an interview outfit, however, does not need to be stressful. By following some basic guidelines and emphasizing the finer details, you will dress to impress every time. …
Infinity Consulting Solutions is hiring a Field Tech / Windows Systems Engineer (New York City, NY) http://t.co/T0ZfPGtESc #JobInfinity Consulting Solutions is looking for a Loan Processing Analyst in New York, NY http://t.co/z1DgpCiema #Job
