Atlanta Industries Archives -

Networking for Tech Professionals

Regardless of someone’s speciality or the number of year’s they’ve observed an industry, they’re bound to have a few misconceptions about the nuances of internal structure for specific businesses. Many of these suppositions are based on how particular industries hire, promote, and educate its talent. And a substantial portion of conventional job search wisdom, particularly regarding executive networking, is based on false assumptions.

Networking in Tech Fields

People-oriented careers — retail, public relations, and marketing, to name a few — have a logical reputation for requiring more people-oriented job search methods. Meanwhile, industry outsiders and STEM professionals alike typically assume that engineering and computing jobs require more skills-based job search methods, such as creating a powerful executive resume, designing an impressive project sample, and garnering high quality recommendations. In fact, a recent study by LinkedIn proves the opposite true: technologically based fields need highly specialized employees, so they frequently hire based on shared education, work experience, or personal recommendations from shared contacts. The industries that most frequently hire fresh talent from networking pools include:

Computer gaming
Computer and network security
Venture capital and private equity
Political organizations
Wireless
Management consulting
Defense and space
Computer software
Movies/film
Computer hardware

Women in STEM Jobs

As any woman specializing in a STEM career knows, these industries are largely male-oriented. Women often face discrimination in both the hiring process and the promotion process. Creating a strong business network is critical to female executives seeking a career in science, technology, engineering, or math.

To learn more about personal marketing and networking for STEM executives, call Colleen at Executive Resumes Atlanta.

photo from flickr

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Executive Success for Women in Atlanta

Innumerable studies have listed the challenges female executives face daily. Many of those studies highlight the gender imbalance and gender pay gap still rampant in America. America ranks 31^st in terms of female leadership: women hold only 14.6% of executive-level positions. Compared with the international average, 24%, Russia leads the nations in executive female representation with women holding 43% of senior management positions. Georgia, historically a difficult state for powerful women to find fulfilling careers, is taking strides to bridge the gender gap.

Difficulties Faced by Female Executives

According to numerous studies, women have a more developed sense of home responsibility than their husbands. Motherhood can interrupt or stagnate a flourishing career, forcing powerful women to make tough choices about their priorities. But the work/life balance isn’t the only setback female executives must overcome.

Women are more inclined to underrate their executive skills than men.
Female executives tend to be strategic in networking and utilizing favors, which, counter-intuitively, often stagnates forward motion.
Tradition female success means diligent work without upward expansion. Many working women and promoting managers fall into the business trap of the “glass ceiling”.
Women still receive less compensation than men for the same tasks.
Many senior executives are not inclined to root out inherent gender biases that may lead to an imbalanced leadership team.

Georgia and the Executive Gender Gap

Historically, Georgia has treated career-driven women poorly. According to a 2013 study, Georgia ranked 43^rd in America for female executive leadership; those women also face lower economic security than men. However, Georgia—particularly the metro Atlanta area—is climbing the ranks quickly. According to an American Express OPEN report published earlier this year, Georgia leads the country in female-owned business growth over the last 17 years. Two-thirds of Georgia’s 317,200 women-owned firms began in metro Atlanta.

“Women stick together,” financial advisor Ellecia Douglas told the AJC. “We typically support one another.” Nancy Chorpenning, another C-suite level Atlanta businesswoman, attributes Atlanta’s growth in female entrepreneurs to networking skills and a predisposition to mentorship. Others credit the economic recession, the female-friendly market, and women’s desire to find creative solutions for ordinary problems.

If you’re struggling to find a senior position in a difficult job market, call Executive Resumes Atlanta. We offer valuable years of experience mining career histories to create powerful resumes for Atlanta’s top-earning executives.

photo from FreeDigitalPhotos

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Best Places to Work in Atlanta

Each year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution spends months researching statistics, surveying employees, and studying office cultures to determine Atlanta’s leading drivers in the workforce. After extensive fact checking, the publication releases their selections for the top 100 Atlanta-based companies: firms that lead their industries in revenue, industry innovation, and employee satisfaction. The 2014 candidates were so notable that the AJC released a secondary, honorary list of 43 metro-Atlanta companies who surpassed industry standards in job satisfaction and employee benefits. If you’re an executive changing careers, a job seeker hunting for new opportunities, or a professional researching the top tenets of corporate culture, peruse the AJC’s top selection for small, mid-size, and large Atlanta companies.

Best Small Business in Atlanta

Supreme Lending, an Alpharetta-based mortgage bank focused on helping families overcome extenuating financial circumstances, heads the AJC’s list for the best small business in metro Atlanta. CEO Pat Flood believes that dedication to customers breeds contentment in the workplace. “They are totally invested in the customer experience,” senior loan officer Wes Murphy says of his fellow employees. For a company proving that office culture and customer appreciation drive company expansion, that means solicitation of feedback, frank conversations about successes and failures, and a humanized business structure. “These are all somebody’s kids,” Flood told the AJC. “What kind of an environment would I want my kids to work in?” In a flat housing market, Supreme Lending is up 75% with employee turnover under 5%. They project a 15%-20% expansion in payroll.

Top Mid-Size Atlanta Company

Tim Hohmann, founder of AutomationDirect.com, has created a unique business model that melds a self-described “country club” culture with an implacable drive for success. Hohmann believes that by serving customers and lending success to fellow employees, every member of his team can celebrate personal and corporate success. The CEO, his executive leadership team, and his low-level employees share an investment in core values and company expansion. AutomationDirection.com lauds its relaxed company culture, interactive focus on employee health, and creative solutions for driving performance as the reason for its success.

Top Large Company in Atlanta

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution awarded Virtual Properties Realty the top spot for large Atlanta companies for the second year running. Unlike many realty firms, VPR celebrates personal achievement without creating a culture of competition. “It’s like family here,” says one of the company’s top real estate agents. In addition to a digital drive and spirit of camaraderie, Virtual Properties Realty cultivates networking opportunities, encourages personal touches to close deals, and allows agents to keep 90% of property commissions. VPR has three offices, each tailored to subsets of its real estate agents, so it’s employees can utilize their time effectively and focus on upward mobility.

Call Executive Resumes Atlanta for professional assistance navigating the Atlanta job market.

photo from FreeDigitalPhotos

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Atlanta’s Best Places to Work in 2013

Each year, a number of Atlanta businesses get ranked as one of the best places to work by various local news sources. These businesses get chosen based on a number of factors, and in one of the most popular contests run by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, businesses lucky enough to place on their list are divided into three categories: the top 10 in the large employer category (501 employees or more in the metro area), the top 30 in the medium employer category (101 to 500 employees) and the top 60 in the small employer category (10 to 100 employees).

Here are a few businesses that made it in each category (to view the entire list, click on the link to the Atlanta Business Chronicle article here.)

Small category

3P Technology Staffing
VeenendaalCave, Inc.
Hire Dynamics, LLC
Clear Choice Telephones
GuildQuality

Medium category

Ashton Woods Homes (Video here)
Brasfield & Gorrie
Scheduling Institute, Inc.
DeKalb Office Environments Inc.
Georgia Transmission Corporation

Large category

The Rawls Group – Keller Williams Realty (Video here)
Virtual Properties Realty
Jackson Healthcare
Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners
PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers)

What qualifications do you think make a company a great place to work? Strong leadership? Opportunities for growth? An environment that supports and rewards excellence? Share your thoughts and ideas by leaving a comment below.

Colleen Reyerson Leave a Comment

Coca-Cola Relocating IT Center to Downtown Atlanta

According to the Atlanta Business Journal, Coca-Cola will be moving its new IT Center to the 60-story SunTrust Plaza. Considered a historic shift as the largest ever corporate relocation into the downtown area, the new facility encompasses a leased area of almost 276,000 square feet in the building’s garden offices. The move will bring 1,000 high-paying jobs into city central and will expand the total downtown headcount to over 6,500 employees, which includes staff at the company’s North Avenue corporate headquarters.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the company will relocate 2,000 workers in the Coca-Cola Refreshments division to the Peachtree Center area of downtown. The new Information Technology Center of Excellence is expected to open in mid-2014, under a 10 year lease.

Three Coca-Cola IT leaders said in a memo the move is part of the ongoing enhancement and consolidation of facilities made possible by the Coca-Cola Co.’s acquisition of Coca-Cola Enterprises’ former North America operations in 2010, as reported by the Marietta Daily Journal.

Colleen Reyerson

Top Workplaces in Metro Atlanta

Earlier this year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution partnered with consulting group Workplace Dynamics to survey 40,000 employees of small, midsize and large Atlanta companies nominated as a Top Workplace. Employees graded the companies on six areas, including the direction of the company, execution, work conditions, career paths, management, and pay/benefits. The initial 495 nominated companies were narrowed down to a field of 166 eligible finalists, and finally resulting in the top 15 winners, five in each category:

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