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Candidate Services - Come to UnGagged as an attendee and visit our Booth
SEO.io are proud to say we sponsor and exhibit at every UnGagged event, whether it be in Los Angeles or London; to ensure we maintain our key contacts within the SEO/Digital Marketing industry, broaden our network, and learn the latest knowledge in the industry to keep in sync with what our candidates are looking for. What we can do for you: We offer you a selection of fantastic job positions in and around London, for top tiered companies who are interested in hiring positions within the SEO and Digital Marketing industry, specialising in; SEO, SEM, Analytics, CRM, social media and more. We go the extra mile. We get to know the companies and employers to ensure we can effectively communicate what they’re looking for, and are able to match the right candidate for the right position. We will meet with you first, to get to know who you are and understand what job position you want, to then make the perfect match with the perfect company. Upload your CV here and we can start working with you to find you the perfect job position. See our latest job listings on our LinkedIn ‘Jobs’ page! Why Attending UnGagged could be beneficial for your career: Our contacts, are your contacts. At UnGagged, we have met and formed close relationships with heads of industry leading companies; most of which are impressed with the caliber of attendees attracted to the event. Whether you’re actively looking for a job, or just keeping an ear out; you should come to learn the latest tools, strategies and actionable methods from experts in the industry to add to your CV; providing you with an invaluable competitive edge that will make your CV stand out from the rest .. Come and meet the team and the leaders behind UnGagged to see what we can do for you in the future. Visit us at Booth 7 in London this June! |
Client Services - Visit our Booth at UnGagged to discuss what we can do for you
SEO.io are proud to say we sponsor and exhibit at every UnGagged event, whether it be in Las Vegas or London; to ensure we maintain our key contacts within the SEO/Digital Marketing industry, broaden our network, and learn the latest knowledge in the industry to keep in sync with what our clients are looking for. What we can do for you: We specialise in recruiting key candidates for top tiered companies in positions within the SEO and Digital Marketing industry, specialising in; SEO, SEM, Analytics, CRM, social media and more. We go the extra mile. We will do the vetting for you - meeting with candidates, ensuring we get a good feel for who you are and what job position you want, to then make the perfect match. What we promise, we stick to. There’s no misconceptions, blurred lines or abandonment involved once we’ve placed a candidate with your company. We are there to support you through the entire recruitment process and won’t stop searching until we’ve found your perfect candidate. See our latest job listings on our LinkedIn ‘Jobs’ page! Why Attending UnGagged could be beneficial for your company: Our contacts, are your contacts. At UnGagged, we have met and formed close relationships with attendees that have fantastic expertise and are looking to move forward with their career paths. Make the most out of the networking events where you have the perfect opportunity to talk with the attendees, learn the latest trends and benefits people are looking for in a job; and ultimately get up to date with the latest developments in the digital landscape. Come and meet the team and the leaders behind UnGagged to see what we can do for you in the future. Visit us at Booth 7 in London this June! |
392 Reasons Why You Should Attend UnGagged
SEO.io rarely sponsors events, but when we do, it’s because we know they can offer our candidates and clients advice and training on the latest developments within the SEO/Digital Marketing industry. For those of you who want to stay up to date, expand your knowledge and skill set, or perhaps are curious to confirm what you already know - attending a digital marketing event can do all this and more. We have found one event in particular that serves this purpose, and that is UnGagged. Why UnGagged? Because it is unique (like us!) - it has a different approach to delivering content and ideas to it’s attendees. With their strict ‘no-recording’ policy, all speaker’s content is uncensored and unrestricted, and therefore the attendees have the chance to learn one-on-one with industry experts, network and engage with like-minded professionals in the industry, and leave the conference with a competitive edge and a different way of thinking ideal for their resume.
UnGagged holds events in both London and Las Vegas, with their next upcoming event on the 14-16, June 2017. SEO.io is proud to say we have a booth at the event, and look forward to meeting all the attendees and expert speakers at what will be another fantastic conference.
Is attending UnGagged London is worth your time? How about 392 reasons why it is!
Want to learn more? Whether you can make it to London or not, visit UnGagged to see what events they have planned for 2017. |
Become a Master of your industry, at a Masterclass
At SEO.io, we understand that while you may be in a job position within the tech industry, you need to stay on top of the latest developments and trends in the industry to keep on top of your jobs responsibilities. If you are eager to learn more, broaden your knowledge and upgrade your skill set, then you should attend a conference or a masterclass to learn from the experts in the field. UnGagged is holding some no-holds barred Masterclasses, where attendees are involved to participate in a classroom styled session for one full day; a fantastic opportunity candidates should consider to get the inside scoop on the latest tools and methods implemented by industry leaders. What is a Masterclass? A masterclass involves a small, focussed group of attendees who go to learn the latest step by step methods and tools on a specific area of the digital marketing industry. With the one-to-one approach between speaker and attendee, the content and discussions produced in this environment is something a normal speaking session can’t provide. Due to this teacher/student structure, masterclasses require a higher level of involvement and participation of attendees, enabling those “too afraid to ask” questions to be answered. Where can you go to attend a Masterclass? UnGagged has offered masterclasses on Integrated Marketing, SEO, buying and selling websites, mobile marketing and more. You will hear personal journeys and case studies from industry leaders who have faced similar challenges you are facing today, and learn the methods and tools they implemented to overcome them. Unlike a regular speaking session, masterclasses focus on one are of the industry, with the aim to expose attendees to the mission, experience and achievements of real life industry professionals and companies. |
5 Reasons Why You Should Attend a Digital Marketing Conference
Whether you are actively searching for a job, you are in a job but are getting bored, or just want to keep an eye out - there is always more you can do to improve your employability for the future. Attending a digital marketing conference is always a step in the right direction to broaden your skills, knowledge, contacts and capabilities in the industry. So, here are 5 undeniable reasons why you need to attend an SEO / Digital Marketing event in London, this year. 1. Broaden Your Pool of Knowledge At a conference, you will be exposed to a variety of like-minded individuals who (because of their different experiences and challenges) will have acquired different skills to you, offering you a wealth of information and opportunity to share and learn from. They might be in the same industry as you, share the same job role role or perhaps completely unrelated to your field of work – you still have an opportunity to hear what they have learnt and what you can learn from them. Not only will you have the chance to learn from fellow attendees, but you will also have the opportunity to learn from industry expert speakers. Speakers specialize in their area of expertise and come ready to share their top tactics and functional methods with you. A conference which SEO.io sponsors every year, is UnGagged - a unique unconvention that offers attendees untouched content from the speakers, due to the strict no-recording rule. No stone will go unturned, these speakers will debunk the internet marketing industry myths. These speakers are experts in the field, meaning whatever these speakers decide to reveal, is bound to aid you in your everyday work. 2. Break Out Of Your Comfort Zone Feeling a bit stuck in a rut? Is your office becoming a little stifling? That’s when you know you need to get out. A change in scenery and environment can trigger new perspectives and insights on problems you faced in the office but couldn’t overcome. Whilst participating in speaker sessions, learning the insider routes and steps experts have taken, and daring to ask those questions that have bothered you for some time is greatly rewarding - it can be just as beneficial to engage in casual discussions with fellow attendees outside of the sessions. Meeting like-minded individuals who perhaps share your work-related problems or maybe they don’t, whatever it is everyone a problem with a different solution - thus inspiring you to approach the same issues you have been struggling with, with an alternative viewpoint - benefiting your boss and every other colleague you’ve complained to! 3. Keep Up With The Developments in the Digital World A good way to check out what topics are the hottest talking points in the industry, is to take a look at the agenda for an upcoming conference. Check out the differing agendas for UnGaged in both London and Las Vegas, to see which event is focusing more on the topics you want to hear. Whether you’ve attended a conference in the past 6 months or not, there is already something new to learn. You will have the choice of multiple speaker tracks covering many topics of the industry, enabling you to choose whatever sessions are relevant to you. Whether you’re new to this or are in charge of the digital marketing operations of a company, a masterclass is another fantastic opportunity for anyone to engage in. A Masterclass is an intense learning experience, styled for attendees to engage in a focused group held by some of the best professionals in the industry, offering their personal advice and step by step methods to attendees; one on one. 4. Expand Your Network As we all know, it’s always better to talk to someone face to face. That’s why the best way to build your network and expand your contacts is by meeting people at conferences. Let’s be honest, where else are you going to get a captured audience of like-minded people for you to target? This is your chance to meet decision-makers that are just as eager to conduct business with you, as you are with them. 5. Have Fun! At the end of the day, why do anything that doesn’t make you happy? Attend a conference for the fun of it - the possibilities of meeting that sought after contact in that fantastic company, or learning how to use the latest tool in SEO to add to your resume - whatever your reason, you can’t progress if you don’t try. |
How to Stand Out from the Crowd with your Marketing Resume
Marketers are experts in selling goods and services to customers, however when the focus is turned in on themselves, they seem to lose their flare! This is where an outstanding resume can make all the difference in a hiring manager’s eyes, differentiating you from being yet another candidate - to a clear winner. This can be achieved by taking on board the below tips and advice from hiring managers themselves and implementing them when creating your resume. Download these free resume templates to get you started. How to Write an Impressive Marketing Resume 1) Know your target Rule 101 in marketing; never start a marketing campaign before you know who you’re marketing to. The same rules apply when writing your resume. You are now the product/service and you’re selling yourself to a targeted group of recruiters. Once you know what your target audience is looking for, you can shape your message accordingly. You need to keep the type of company and role you’re looking for at the forefront of your mind when writing your content. Ask yourself questions like; will the job require both traditional and digital work? Will you be specialising in an area, or a generalist? What kind of culture is already created within the marketing team? Is it a large department or a small one looking to grow? Once you’ve established the company’s primary goals and requirements the company is looking for from their employees, you can shape your resume to adhere to the same goals. This can be done by including a specific skill, keyword or an aspect of your past experience to your resume. 2) What Makes You Unique Everyone is different, each person has a unique skill set and characteristics to their personality; thus you need to play on your unique features to set you apart from other marketers. Your value proposition will depend heavily on the type of positions and companies you’re applying to. For example, small business’ usually look for a very different employee than large business’ do. Once you’ve thought of the various aspects that make you valuable, you then align these attributes with the company's values. 3) Determine Your Messaging Strategy Before you put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard; you need to determine your messaging strategy. Create a story, a theme and make yourself the main character. Consider the below points:
All these decisions need to be made with your target audience in mind, and before you begin your resume. You can therefore be assured that your resume will resonate with potential employers. Take a look at an example of digital marketing executive resumes’ here, and take note of the progression of roles and accomplishments that tell a story and show improvement as the employer reads further into the resume; constructing the individual as extremely qualified and experienced. 3) Showcase Your Resume If you seem to lack connections in big corporations, you’ll most likely need to apply through a computer system. This is where things like the readability and format of your resume is crucial, i.e saving it as a PDF. This ensures no formatting mistakes are made, avoiding you looking lazy in the recruiter’s eyes, if the layout is out of whack. Once your resume has been sent in, the computer will scan it for keywords that have previously been entered in by the recruiter and as a result, it will determine whether your resume passes or fails. If your resume does fail, don’t sweat as it doesn’t mean it’s completely disregarded; however it still isn’t a good look (first impressions do still carry weight!) Keywords to include might be the names of the social media platforms you use, computing systems, analytics or CRM systems and software programs. These keywords need to be integrated throughout your resume, ensuring they don’t stand out by not flowing with the rest of your content. Hiring Managers Are Looking For These 9 Components In Your Resume While the internet and various computer systems might be taking over our many aspects of our lives, at the end of the day it is a human being who will be deciding on your resume. Therefore, they can be won over by identifying aspects they can relate to, such as the university you went to, or perhaps become completely annoyed by your paragraph-long descriptions (or drool, one might say). Therefore, how your resume is presented carries significant weight. While it may seem we use computer systems for everything these days, the story is a little different when it comes to resumes. The final decision will be made by a human being, meaning you have the advantage of being able to identify with them. You can do this by mentioning the university you went to or shared hobbies. However, you also run the risk of playing on their bad side by overlooking simple grammatical errors, or long paragraphs of info that could be mistaken for your dissertation. To make ensure you’re aware of the specific areas employers tend to focus on, take a look at some tips hiring experts themselves have shared. 1) Length 6 seconds is all it takes for a potential employer to decide whether they like your resume or not. Therefore, it’s beneficial to you if you can keep your resume down to one page. In some cases, continuing onto a second page is acceptable if you’re showing relevant experience. If a recruiter wants to find out more information about you, they can always check out your LinkedIn profile (so be sure to keep your profile updated and comprehensive! Remember, your profile is your brand.) 2) Formatting I like to think of formatting as a representation of how you make sense of your thoughts and ideas. As HubSpot's VP of Training and Development Andrew Quinn explains it, “A candidate’s resume is their ad to me. How are they structuring this ad so I get a clear picture of what they’re capable of?” There is a fine line through, if you get too creative, it can become messy and too complicated for a hiring manager to even have enough strength to try and make sense of it. Your level of creativity can work both in your favour, or against you. Every hiring manager that has suggested the advice included in this article, has stated not to create infographic resumes. They’re hard to follow and understand, and therefore making unnecessary work for the reader. Top tip; everyone appreciates a simple and clear resume that provides them with the necessary information for the position. Be sure to look at the different layouts in the downloadable resume templates to get an idea of how people design their resumes to fit to their desired job role. 3) Quality of Writing A capital letter and full stop goes a long way. Your resume will be thrown out if there are spelling mistakes, but writing in a skillful and meaningful way can be a significant differentiator between the person who is hired and the one who isn’t. Being able to write well, in a concise and understandable manner is a crucial skill to have for any position. Are your accomplishments clearly conveyed, have you overstuffed your content with keywords, or are you making the mistake of mixing up your past/present tenses? Everyone knows that formatting, spelling, syntax and structure are all components that represent your level of attention to detail. Therefore, asking someone to proofread your resume could highlight mistakes you might’ve over-seen. 4) Location Don’t be secretive about your address. Hiring managers want to know where you live for commuting purposes, as the accessibility of an employee to their office space is an influential factor when choosing who to hire. If you do need to re-locate for the position, you should still include your current address and just be prepared to answer questions on the possibility of re-location. (Keeping in mind packages of whether the company will financially support this move, or whether you will have to do it yourself.) 5) The Question of Education We’re all very conscious and aware of the weight university and school names carry, however there has always been the question of which carries greater influence; the degree or the institution? More often than not, your degree is the more relevant out of the two when you are being considered for a role. Keep in mind, this isn’t to say that someone who has studied marketing is only eligible for marketing roles. Hiring managers are more interested in what you’ve studied within you degrees, or what you’re capable as a person and can utilize this skill set for the specific position. The level of success you had with your degree also influences a hiring manager's choice. For example, someone who receives high distinctions for all their work at a community college could be more appealing than someone who fails majority of their subjects at a top university. Whether to include your A-levels mark on your resume is also up for debate. If you’ve done well in school and graduated with a high A-level mark then it is recommended to include it on your resume. However, if you didn’t graduate with a good mark, but have had good experience at well-respected jobs, then it would be in your best interest to omit it. After 3-5 years you can move your education history to the bottom of your resume, as hiring managers become more focused on your past job history than your school marks. 6) Companies and Position Titles Companies will look at your past career history, looking to identify with companies in their own industry, or possibly in direct competition with them. They will also look at your previous job titles, to draw any similarities with the position you’re currently applying for. Many people will tweak their previous titles to fit more with what they’re searching for, for example; Clerk for a High School to Customer Service Clerk. Forewarning, don’t ‘tweak’ your previous job titles too dramatically, as potential employers could call for a reference and discover the vast difference in the role you claimed to have had. LinkedIn is also another great point of contact, so ensure you’re consistent across all platforms. 7) The Importance of the Bullet Point Each position you have had should be accompanied by no more than 5-6 bullet points. Hiring managers have many resumes to go through and therefore are probably only scanning each one. Keep yours concise and clear, avoiding chunky paragraphs at all costs. Luckily, in the marketing industry, everything can be analysed and measured and therefore your successes can be easily showcased in info-packed bullet points. Focus on your accomplishments first, before you list your responsibilities and duties. Be sure to include goals and metrics that hiring managers can use to compare you to other candidates. These need to make sense, even to your parents. Examples could include; increasing social media engagement, improving ROI, reducing bounce rates, boosting landing page conversions, etc. Once you’ve decided on your top achievements, turn them into bullet points such as:
8) Dates of Employment Red flags on your resume consist of large gaps in employment, or job hopping. These gaps could be interpreted to represent commitment issues to a position, unable to work well with others or a person who creates a hostile working environment. Staying at a job for at least a year, or for 2 years, is recommended. If you were unemployed for longer than 6 months, it’s recommended you include a short sentence explaining why this was; as hiring managers will look to see if you did something productive with your time. (i.e. “Travelling abroad”, or “Took time off for family reasons”). 9) Interests and Hobbies Including this personal aspect of a resume can be beneficial according to the type of job you’re applying for. For creative roles, listing your interest in painting, or photography could be interesting to an employer and provide a more rounded and comprehensive image of yourself. Whereas, if you’re applying for an accounting role for example, this information is rather irrelevant. Keep in mind the conclusions that could be drawn from your listed interests and hobbies. Quinn advises, "Do they enhance or detract from the image you’re trying to convey?” If you know the company you’re interested in is attracted to people with an interesting background and culture to add, then this section of your resume could enhance your application, However, if you’re applying to a more conservative company, it could jeopardise your chances, as they could interpret your hobbies/interests as distractions or view them as ill-suited to the company’s culture. Check out HubSpot's culture code to gain an insight into the culture of the company you’re interested in. Aspects of lesser importance… But still need to be considered! 1) Personal Statements/Objectives These you could skip all together. They’re quite irrelevant and provide a great space for serious mistakes to be made. You could instead replace this section with ‘Skills’ or ‘Key Skills’ at the top of your resume. These need to be relevant to the company / job position you’re applying to and should be changed accordingly. Don’t plagiarize the job description in your skills. For example, if the company is looking for someone who has a ‘deep understanding of the consumer lifestyle’, you can’t simply re-write this on your resume. Instead write, ‘Comprehensive knowledge of the consumer lifestyle’. Although you should leave the ‘Summary’ section off your resume, you should include it in your LinkedIn profile. This section needs to be focused on your specific skills and achievements, and also provides a good opportunity to link to your portfolio, blog, or any work you’ve created. Talk about specific achievements from previous roles, awards you’ve won, or projects you’ve worked on. Everything in this section needs to be targeted at your future career, not your irrelevant past skills. 2) Cover Letters Cover letters are extremely subject to the industry, or the company you’re applying to. Some companies find them completely irrelevant and instead focus on similar questions in the interview; however others will require one, but will still focus mainly on the resume itself. Be sure to include important aspects (i.e. explanation for gaps in employment) in your resume, rather than relying on the cover letter that may or may not be read. Transfer the hours spent on perfecting your cover letter, to perfecting the resume as this is the fundamental piece of it all. Think Like A Marketer Utilize your talent of communication and understanding of people’s behaviours to best critique and form your resume. By applying this knowledge and angle to your resume, it will surely make you stand out from the crowd. Happy job searching! |
Job interviews are dead... Introducing Job Auditions
What is one of the greatest lies ever told? That people don’t lie on their résumé. We have all seen it, heard about it, or even participated in it. Why? Because we are terrified of being left behind in the whirlpool of unemployability. That survival of the fittest mentality we all possess, explains why 81% of people lie during a job interview, according to award-winning social psychologist and author of The Best Place to Work, Ron Friedman.
Due to this alarming percentage of storytellers among us, the integrity of first impressions is called into question and an employers ability to then make an educated decision to hire their future employee, is based off of these presumptions. The outcome? Employers can’t discern between the truthful and the dishonest, resulting in blissful hiring ignorance.
Our Brains Are Biased
Employers might receive 100% honest answers from a candidate, however they will still evaluate a person at face value. Friedman explains that our brains are pre-wired with a subconscious bias. When we meet someone we determine their skills and capabilities from this first impression; drawing the below conclusions…
Caught yourself identifying with these aspects? Research suggests that we cannot help but be swayed by these factors. Friedman explains that if an interviewer interprets someone as being extroverted, they are likely to ask a question like, “Tell me your experience with group leadership”. Whereas, if interpreted as introverted, the line of questioning would change to, “Are you comfortable leading groups?”
Whilst the topic remains constant, Friedman comments that the way the question is framed reflects our assumptions of that person, leading the candidate to provide the answer the interviewer wants to hear, regardless of whether it’s true.
The answer to this mess? Job Auditions! Friedman suggests job auditions are the way of the future. Which when you think about it, makes sense! It’s time for candidates to step up to the plate and walk the walk, instead of talk the talk. For example, a sales representative may be asked to sell the company’s product/service to the employer, or a web designer would be tasked with an on-the-spot challenge of designing a landing page.
Regardless of the job position, an interviewer's first impression would be based on the candidate's actual capabilities rather than hearing scripted answers over and over again; similar to the nature of behavioural interviews. CASE STUDY 1: Automatic
These are the legends behind WordPress.com, who “believe in making the Web a better place” by one ‘tryout’ at a time. (‘Tryout’: a reinvention of the traditional interview).
CEO Matt Mullenweg saw a misconnection in the industry, he writes in the Harvard Business Review, “Just like work, interviews can be "performed" without real productivity.”
Sticking to this philosophy, final candidates adopt the position they are applying to for three to eight weights under contract, working alongside their colleagues and completing real tasks. The final step of this process may be called an interview, but is no more traditional than the rest of the tryout, as it involves instant messaging between candidate and employer; aiming to get as close to a double-blind process as possible.
CASE STUDY 2: The ‘extreme interviewing’ strategy
Another alternative interview strategy that is being introduced to the workforce, is known as the ‘‘extreme interviewing’ strategy. This is a process which involves 50 candidates undergoing a series of exercises reflecting the standard type of work carried out at a company. Candidates complete a 20-minute series for a total of 3 rounds, typically alternating partners. This is an effective strategy to evaluate whether a candidate brings out the best skills in their designated partner and can work well with others, also known as testing an individual's ‘kindergarten skills’. The top 3 candidates are then invited back for a paid audition day where the candidates work on real client projects within the company. The shining stars will then return for one more round of three-week paid trials.
Now, It’s Your Move
While the traditional structure of an interview may take it’s time to fade out, employers are becoming more aware of what’s going on and are reacting to it by tightening up their ‘tryouts’. Looks like the ‘Fake it 'til you make it" mantra seems to be hot air after all. |
Open data, startup-friendly initiatives make London an innovation hub
London recently came in at No. 2 on a list that ranked cities across the globe on how conducive their policies are to the growth of tech startups and other entrepreneurial ventures.
The City Initiatives for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship report, which was put together by British innovation capacity-building charity Nesta in collaboration with Future Cities Catapult and management consultancy Accenture, declared New York City to be the top locale for pro-startup policy-making. London was the first runner-up, only narrowing missing out on the top spot. It was followed by Helsinki, which came as a surprise to some industry observers, while Barcelona and Amsterdam rounded out the top five.
Open data proved a positive differentiator
So, what elements resulted in London’s high score? As Wired noted, the facts that the city was ahead of the curve in terms of embracing the open data trend by making municipal information available to the masses was a big contributor. Cited by the news source, John Gibson, director of government innovation at Nesta and co-author of the study, observed that the availability of this type of data made it possible for lucrative ventures like Citymapper to spring up. Citymapper is an app that taps into static and live data made available through the government body Transport for London, helping users navigate the city with ease and avoid trouble spots such as parts of the London Underground that are experiencing delays. It has since expanded to other cities.
Tech City accelerator program facilitates strong digital jobs growth
Digital recruitment in and around London’s Silicon Roundabout has been getting a significant boost from Tech City UK’s Future Fifty initiative. Accelerator programme Future Fifty supports rapidly growing tech firms as they expand their operations, ensuring they have the resources they need to scale up effectively. According to the Tech City Blog, the number of jobs created by companies that belong to the programme rose by 30 per cent since June of last year, a figure that’s considerably higher than the 5.4 per cent national average. Clearly, Future Fifty is doing something right. Future Fifty businesses enjoy a leg up The Future Fifty website explained that the programme gives growing digital enterprises a helping hand by connecting firms with investors and government initiatives, essentially plugging them into the marketplace. Notable success stories include Web-based household appliance retailer Ao.com and residential property website Zoopla. Along with genomics company Horizon Discovery and online takeaway service Just Eat, Ao.com and Zoopla generated a whopping total of £1.18 billion on London’s capital markets after going public, according to the Tech City blog. The four organizations are now considered to be among the 12 Future Fifty Alumni, each of which present an example of the success that businesses in the tech sector can enjoy when given adequate financial support. “Growth-stage companies are vital to the U.K.’s tech ecosystem,” said Philipp Stoeckl, director of the Future Fifty program, as quoted by the news source. “As a leading source of innovation and jobs, it is important that we continue to attract and support the world’s most promising companies to grow and scale their businesses in the U.K.” “With increased IT-sector growth come digital jobs.” Digital jobs abound in London With increased IT-sector growth come digital jobs in London, particularly in the software development realm. Research by Tech Nation found that more than half (57 per cent) of digital jobs advertised by Future Fifty businesses over the past year were software development positions, Tech City UK reported. Customer service came in at a very distant second place with 11 per cent. Two software-related positions made it onto Glassdoor’s most recent list of the 25 best jobs in the country, meaning they scored highly in terms of job availability, professional opportunities and yearly salary. The software engineer role, which involves designing and coding software applications, was ranked 10th on the list. Meanwhile, the job of solutions architect, which entails drawing up plans that form the basis of developers’ software-building operations, was listed at No. 14. Encouragingly for people who don’t have formal qualifications, IT-related degrees are not always necessary when it comes to digital recruitment in London. In a piece for The Guardian, contributor James Burt – himself a tenured software developer – asserted that hiring managers often prioritize candidates with passion and enthusiasm for programming over those with formal accreditation. As the country’s tech sector continues to grow and create jobs, there will be more opportunities for such individuals to enter the industry. |
Women in tech – or the lack thereof
The London IT sector may be booming, but there’s one aspect that could do with considerable improvement: gender diversity in the workforce.
Private-sector group Tech London Advocates recently conducted a survey of its members in conjunction with London Tech Week, and its findings included some alarming statistics:
- Nearly one-quarter (23 per cent) of poll participants from tech enterprises based in the capital said their companies don’t have any female board members at all.
- Three in 20 respondents (the equivalent of 15 per cent of the survey pool) reported their firms had no women at the senior management level.
- Almost four in 10 survey-takers (39 per cent) noted that although their senior management teams did include some female members, these individuals composed less than one-fifth of the total senior manager population.
“For a sector identified with disruption and change, these figures are very disappointing,” said Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates. “We live in a city with a global reputation for diversity, yet our most exciting industry fails to reflect this in its most senior positions.”