FF Focus

At their first summit meeting since Joe Biden took office in January, the US President met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva to discuss a cybersecurity arrangement. This follows a series of high-profile cybersecurity attacks in the US, many of which are suspected to have originated in Russia.

Perhaps the most high-profile example – the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack – was carried out by hacker group Darkside who are thought to be Russian. Putin told reporters that the attack had “nothing to do with Russian authorities”.

Is there much evidence to suggest that many ransomware gangs are Russian? Surprisingly so… Over the past few years, patterns have been observed by experts that point in one clear direction. Ransomware groups predominately operate during Moscow working hours, use Russian-speaking forums, and avoid attacking Russia or former Soviet states.

"The intelligence and research community believes that the attacks are coming from former Soviet bloc countries, namely Russia, Ukraine, and others", says former Russian hacker and now cybersecurity expert Dmitry Smilyanets to the BBC.

That’s not to say that all ransomware groups are from Russia. The most serious ransomware attack in history was by hackers from North Korea in 2017, which impacted hundreds of hospitals in the UK.

Just this week, six suspected hackers were arrested in Ukraine for links to a ransomware group known as Clop.

Yet these instances are few and far between. Most experts agree that the destructive ransomware attacks of recent are originating in Russia and its former Soviet neighbors.

How do Biden and Putin plan to resolve this? Neither side gave any details on how their cybersecurity arrangement will look moving forward, but we can expect some tensions given the history of the US-Russian relationship.

written by Evangeline Hunt

Ransomware attacks on the rise

For the first time in 40 years, Americans found themselves queueing for gas last month. The long line of cars across the East Coast was a result of the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline – one of many recent, high-profile ransomware attacks.

Just last week hackers attacked JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, shutting down facilities in the US, Canada and Australia.

In both of these cases, ransoms were made and paid. A total of $15 million in ransom was paid, which Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount said was the “hardest decision I’ve made in my 39 years in the energy industry”.

There appears to be a recent focus on supply chains, perhaps due to the huge knock-on effect that not paying the ransom can have – meaning it always gets paid.

What does the future of ransomware attacks look like? And how can organizations protect themselves from such attacks?

Predicting ransomware attacks over the next ten years

Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that ransomware will cost its victims over $265 billion annually by 2031.

“Ransomware is expected to attack a business, consumer, or device every 2 seconds by 2031”, says Cybersecurity Ventures founder Steve Morgan. This figure is based on 30% year-on-year damage costs over the next ten years.

We are seeing ransomware becoming more and more advanced – as expected. Attacks are moving away from locking users out until they pay, to multi-pronged attacks where ransomware is only the beginning.

Always one step ahead

Despite organizations putting plans into place to protect themselves from a cyberattack, they aren’t doing it fast enough. Hackers appear to be one step ahead of everyone else, meaning organizations find themselves responding to attacks once they’ve already happened, rather than planning to prevent them.

Malware attackers are only getting craftier and more advanced, meaning organizations need to move quickly to try to get ahead of the hackers.

Internet of Things devices are rapidly growing in numbers, which opens up concerning new avenues for ransomware attacks. Each of these connected devices provides a potential hacking opportunity, which could have a devastating impact.

IoT devices such as healthcare monitors or self-driving cars are examples of where the consequences of such an attack could be life-threatening. Smart-city initiatives that will be prevalent in 2031 means that we will be surrounded by devices susceptible to compromise – such as road safety signs and public lighting.

Not enough talent

Part of the reason that organizations are often chasing their tail with cybersecurity efforts is because of the global shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals.

Cybercriminals know that organizations are slow to patch their vulnerabilities – and use this to their advantage.

This isn’t going to change any time soon, although by 2031 it’s expected that the majority of systems will be running via the cloud – where full-stack architectures can more easily patch vulnerabilities.

The unlimited storage capabilities of the cloud means that constant backups can be made for easy restoration of data if an attack were to occur.

Yet the human error still remains – opening malicious email attachments or similar.

What can be done about this?

Organizations need to have a cybersecurity strategy in place to prevent against future attacks. Part of the strategy could include ongoing company-wide education, tech that scans emails for malicious attacks, a solid plan of action if a malicious link is clicked, public awareness of the impact of ransomware attacks, etc.

The potential cost of a ransomware attack isn’t just the ransom itself – but could include the damage/loss of data, downtime, lost productivity, the investigation into the attack, restoration of data, and any reputational harm and remaining clean-up.

The only way to ensure that your organization is implementing everything it needs to do to be cyber-safe is to have a dedicated cybersecurity professional ensuring this is done. This is easier said than done when the unemployment rate in cybersecurity has been at 0% since 2011.

If you are looking to hire a cybersecurity professional but are not having much luck, we might be able to help. We have a pool of talent that could be the perfect fit for your role, so don’t be afraid to get in touch!

written by Evangeline Hunt

For a long time, organizations have focused their efforts and investments on financial capital rather than their human capital. However, with a lot more studies being conducted and evidence showing the significant impact top talent has on business performance, the focus of organizations has seemed to slowly start shifting. 

Knowing the value of talent for companies, there also comes a problem with it; talent is very scarce. A company needs to be outstanding in order to make scarce top talent apprised of their existence. The market is highly competitive; the more an employer understands talent’s needs and core motivations, the easier it will become to attract the exact people wanted and needed. Talent is as varied as the many job opportunities out there, so it is of utmost importance to match the right talent with the right job for long-term success. To do so, talent has to be looked at from all different perspectives such as age, gender or geographical location.

Building a strong EVP is one of the key attributes it takes to attract top talent, establishing an outstanding talent magnet position in the market, and communicating it successfully to the target audience. However most companies face limitations, especially when it comes to finding the best and brightest candidates. Therefore recruitment agencies out there can help them tap into different and broader talent pools. Recruitment needs to be a pro-active process, “employers cannot wait for the new talent to find them; they have to go out and look for it”. (Hillenbrand, 2020, p. 4)

Passive jobseekers make up a great share of talent and therefore have to be actively sourced and reached out to. There are many different possibilities on how to reach out to all the bright and different talent out there. Instead of focusing on only a few talent pools, companies should embrace diversity to fill open positions and take advantage of the effect it has on overall business success.

Recruitment agencies act as a middleman, a third party between the candidate and hiring company. Recruiters usually have a deeper talent pool than the in-house talent acquisition teams, as it is their job to have a large database with potential candidates to reach out to. They also do not wait for active applicants but put themselves out there, actively searching for talent. Hiring a recruitment agency is also time-saving, they take on the pre-screening and selection of potential candidates. It also makes the hiring process more efficient, as good recruiters act in the interest of the client and the candidate and think long-term. They know their market, what the client expects from a candidate and what the candidate will be able to deliver.

In order to attract the right talent, it is not only crucial to understand what talent wants, but also where required talent can be found and ways to make contact. Therefore, understanding the channels that are being used by jobseekers to search and apply for jobs will help to implement the right technology when reaching out to potential candidates, which will also differ from geographic location and age. Some information is more valuable than others for candidates when reading a job description. Recruiters ensure the right information is available upfront to an interview in order to increase the efficiency of the hiring process. The more transparency a candidate can get, the better he or she is able to understand what to expect from their potential future job and employer.

In conclusion, recruiters provide you with an exclusive and specific selection of top talent for your business. If you want to find out how Franklin Fitch can support your recruitment process please reach out to Carmen Hiemisch (c.hiemisch@franklinfitch.com or +49 69 971 94 2913).

Source: Hillenbrand, P. “The people-first approach to business building”, McKinsey Digital, 2020, p. 4

written by Carmen Hiemisch

What do Bitcoin, Charlie Bit My Finger, and Beeple’s digital art all have in common? They’re all powered by blockchain – a digital list of records that are linked together using cryptography.

Blockchain-powered tech has risen in popularity, most notably in the form of cryptocurrency. But more recently, the sale of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) online for often millions of dollars has created a new buzz around blockchain.

Blockchain was originally created in 1991 with the purpose of timestamping digital documents so that they couldn’t be tampered with. This new tech went mostly unused, until it was adapted by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 to create the digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

A blockchain is a decentralized ledger that is open to anyone. The complex properties of a blockchain make it near-impossible to tamper with. Each block contains a unique “hash” – like a fingerprint, plus the hash of the previous block. If a single block is tampered with, the hash will change and won’t correctly match the hash of the next block – invalidating the chain. This makes blockchains a very secure way of storing data.

These days, blockchain is essentially a peer-to-peer network that enables trusted trade between individuals without the need for a mediator. Mediators can be anything from banks, online servers such as eBay or Amazon, or physical shops.

This is all well and good, but it sounds a bit hypothetical. Where is blockchain being used in our lives as of now, and where can we expect to see it in the future?

Like any new technology, its potential is still being unlocked. The most commonly known use for blockchain tech as of present is Bitcoin.  Cryptocurrency uses blockchain encryption techniques to control the creation of monetary units and to verify their transfer between users of the peer-to-peer network. This removes the need for banks and even physical money.

In theory, blockchain can be applied to any sort of trade – be it goods or services, energy, or something like voting.

Most recently there has been a surge in the sale of non-fungible tokens, which are powered on the Ethereum blockchain. Non-fungible means something unique and can’t be replaced with something else – like a piece of art, or a song. Bitcoin, or a dollar, is fungible – one bitcoin can be traded for another bitcoin and it’s exactly the same.

The Ethereum blockchain is the cryptocurrency used to support NFTs – it stores extra information that makes them work differently. NFTs can really be anything digital, such as art, music, tweets, memes, videos, etc. A lot of the excitement surrounding NFTs is around digital art. Yes, artist Beeple did sell a piece of digital art at Christie’s Auction House for $70 million… The exact piece of art can be viewed online by anyone – yes anyone. But only one person “owns” it. The authenticity of this ownership is powered by blockchain.

Is paying $70 million for a piece of digital art crazier than buying a tweet from the founder of Twitter for $3 million? I can’t decide…

What makes blockchain so interesting is that its potential is only just being unlocked. Until recently, we wouldn’t have thought that it was possible to “buy” a tweet – but apparently it is. Who knows where this exciting new tech will go next… any ideas?

written by Evangeline Hunt

As we approach the halfway point of 2021, it’s a good time to reflect on the trends that were predicted for the year. Most of us were relieved to say goodbye to 2020. A year full of uncertainty and change. Not all of them were bad – the past year pushed engineers into a new way of collaboration to build, deliver and manage IT Infrastructure.

This digital transformation has become crucial for business success. As a result of the challenges of the past year the following DevOps trends have gained more attention:

1. In 2021 Service Mesh has increased and become one of the key components of the dedicated infrastructure layer built into an app as that’s how parts of an application can share data with another. Service mesh is used to facilitate service-to-service communications between services. Due to factors from choosing particular tools, people will be forced to use them. This means, as tools become a more and more inseparable part of other solutions, more service mesh will be used. On top of that, it will provide the features and standards within each application and therefore represent the platform for ALL kinds of applications.

2. DevSecOps is gaining more importance, ensuring security for businesses of any size as working with cloud-based technology is becoming part of our daily workspace. Vulnerabilities and security gaps need to quickly be noticed, detected and diminished by the DevSecOps team.

3. Kubernetes is an open-source container-orchestration system for automating computer application deployment, scaling, and management. It was originally designed by Google and is now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. The use of Kubernetes continues to grow in 2021 as they are needed to build complex cloud-native infrastructures for automating computer applications. As these are difficult to understand, in 2021, cloud operators and practitioners create new supporting tools and will benefit the tech community. These tools focus especially on data science, visibility and secret management.

4. AI & ML driven DevOps approach: nowadays, traditional organizations need to handle a massive amount of data that is being generated with immense speed, variety and volume. To be able to analyze and compute this data of any scale and size, organizations work with AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (machine learning) as they are the boosters to transform the workflow of teams. ML helps to understand where blockages or capacity issues that occur in the delivery lifecycle and therefore improves developing, deploying, delivering and managing applications properly.

5. Observability or monitoring is the question. As systems are transforming into more complex, cloud-native and open source microservices running on Kubernetes, more engineers will be mindful of observing and monitoring the application to identify and respond to outages and events. This deeper insight into downtime is an approach to monitor, analyse, trace events to investigate the specific causes and pinpoint the impact on the company. 

Excited for the second half of 2021? Well, if you weren’t yet, then you should be now. The fact that DevOps is the best solution to increase quality, save time and money for companies hasn’t changed. But still, a new era is well underway in this cloud-centric and all-digital world. Therefore, upgrading and integrating techniques and tools are required for the rapidly changing market needs.

written by Sophie Finsterer

As recruiters, we get the opportunity to speak to a whole host of hiring managers, each facing their own challenges when looking to bring the best talent on board and grow out their teams. Although even the largest, most resourceful companies are still likely to face their fair share of tests, this article will focus on identifying the key challenges faced by SMEs when hiring for their IT/Infrastructure teams, as well as looking into best practices and new ideas on how to solve them.

I am in contact with a range of SMEs, speaking with hiring manages to get to the bottom of what works, what doesn’t and how they have managed to improve and streamline their recruitment processes. Outlined below are some of the key talking points that arose, which will hopefully provide insight and assist in building a hiring process that works for you.

What to focus on when hiring IT/Infrastructure employees?

Believe it or not, a surprisingly large number of hiring managers found putting too much emphasis on a candidate’s technical capabilities was ineffective in the initial recruitment stage. It was an almost unanimous agreement that on reflection, more focus should have been placed on values fit and working attitude. Bringing in someone that shares the values of the company, as well as having a positive can-do attitude can have a huge impact on SMEs.

Having a team of motivators is a sure way to maintain positivity, overcome challenges and create opportunity for innovation. Someone could be exceptionally talented in terms of technical ability, yet if they aren’t invested and motivated to make things work, they’re probably going to be more of a detriment to the business in the long run. As the saying goes, “one bad apple can spoil the bunch”.

Unlike technical skills, mentality can’t be taught. So, when it comes to technical skills vs mentality, let’s call it even. Hitting that perfect balance of technical prowess and personality fit in a new hire is any SME’s dream!

Make your interview process more effective

Giving candidates reasons to buy into the company from the start is crucial for attracting talent (and it only takes 10 minutes). The current market is extremely candidate driven; strong candidates are likely to have multiple other processes going on alongside the opportunity you’re offering. Ten minutes on the phone is all it takes to create a good first impression and make candidates feel like you are valuing their application and are aware that interviews are a two-way street. You are aiming to put your company at the forefront of the candidate’s mind.

Testing technical ability

The interview processes at SMEs are often far more thorough than some of the larger companies I’ve worked with, and why shouldn’t they be? The associated risk of every hire is far greater than in larger and more established companies. Holding some form of technical test, whether it’s an online screen share, or a verbal test in the interview from one of the senior team members is a great way to separate the technically strong from the lesser capable.

There are two big “don’ts” when it comes to testing technical ability. Firstly, jumping straight into a technical interview as a first stage, without previously giving buy-in to the company (yes, this again). This can be hugely off-putting and can give a sense of elitism to your hiring process.

Secondly, putting candidates through a ridiculously long process, just to prove what they’re capable of. The candidate shouldn’t need to be asked the same questions by 4 different people within the organisation. This can give the impression of poor communication and time management within the business, whether this is the case or not. Candidates are often reluctant to commit to such a long process for a job that they ultimately might not land.

One of my clients mentioned the idea of collaboration-based interviews. The way this works is that they get the candidate to participate in a real-life situation. Sit in on a brainstorming session with the team, focusing on how best to overcome a specific, real problem. This way you can test the candidate on how well they collaborate, how confident they are giving their own ideas and how they communicate these ideas to a wider audience. This also gives a positive experience to the candidate as they get a real insight into what it would be like working in the company – and ultimately the team.

Finally, something hugely important for all companies, big or small, is responsiveness and feedback. This is so vital, yet still not on the priority list for many companies. Due to the competitiveness of the industry, candidates can be off the market within a matter of days. If you aren’t providing constructive feedback on profile submissions or interviews within two days maximum and keeping candidates in the loop, assume that your competition is, and expect to be left behind!

How does your tech stack correlate with talent attraction?

I asked each hiring manager: “when choosing your tech stack, do you think about how that correlates with talent attraction and current technical trends for when you’re likely to be growing the team further down the line?” This often prompted the response: “I’d never really thought about it until now”.

Around 90% of the people I spoke to stated that the tech stack was chosen with the sole focus on implementing the best tools for the product, without giving a thought to how their choices would affect the future hiring process. Makes sense! However, keeping talent attraction in mind when discussing technical decisions is no bad thing. This doesn’t mean that you should pick a tool unsuitable for the job just because it’s the “next big thing” but keeping up to date with the latest versions of the tools and technologies that you’re using is likely to appeal to potential candidates when the time comes to grow out the team. Emerging technologies will also keep your product/service scalable as you continue to expand.

Being open to implementing new technologies and offering an element of technical freedom to your IT employees can also be a great way to attract talent, encourage innovation and ensure that your hires have the mindset of continuous development (which is the attitude needed in most successful tech SMEs).

How do you compete with the tech industries “Top Dogs”? And do you need to?

Interestingly, the majority of people I spoke to didn’t feel as though they are competing with large organisations on anywhere near the same level that they are competing with other SME’s. This is due to the belief that the majority of candidates either have the appetite for an SME, or they don’t.

If you have a candidate with their mind set on working in a small, more open environment, how do you attract them to yours? Many thought that it is more effective to focus on offering the candidate intangible benefits such as technical freedom, ownership over projects, the chance to make a real difference on projects and the company as a whole. This would often be more appealing than trying to match the ‘competitive’ financial packages that are being offered elsewhere.

Whilst these benefits will appeal to a “smaller company” minded candidate, it’s important not to use these benefits as leverage to negotiate a lower salary. Underwhelming a candidate with a job offer is a sure-fire way to put them off!

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If you have any questions, comments, or tried and tested methods for attracting talent to SMEs that haven’t been covered here, please feel free to share.

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, which focuses on the theme of nature. During the long months of the pandemic, millions of people globally turned to nature as a coping mechanism - with 45% of people reporting that being in green spaces had been vital for their mental health.

There is lots of research to support the role that nature can play in protecting our mental health. This week, the Mental Health Foundation is encouraging those who can to spend some time connecting with nature. 

We care deeply about mental health at Franklin Fitch. Our charity of the year for 2021 is Heads Together, who are fighting the stigma around mental health. We've shared some of the ways in which we are connecting with nature this week, and encourage you to do the same.

Algida Gaidyte: 'I'm going to give my houseplants some extra love this week."

Richard Shayler: 'I'm growing some basil plants"

Charlotte Drury: 'My friend and I are growing spring onions from the end bit of old spring onions that we had in the fridge. They've already shot up after only a couple of weeks.'

Dane Keenan: 'I'm going to make the effort to eat my lunch outside rather than at my desk.'

Konstantin Ehrenberger: 'I'm going to take a picnic to Brickwell Park, where the oldest Oak tree there is over 600 years old.'

Carmen Hiemisch: 'I'm cycling to work this week rather than getting public transport.'

Parnian Faqiryar: 'I'll ditch the bus this week in favor of walking to work.'

Luned Jones: 'I'm spending a day at Kew Gardens with family and friends.'

Patrick Griffiths: 'I've been growing apples from the seeds, I even had to re-pot them this week'.

Dominique Lianos: 'Myself and my housemates are growing various herbs that we've already used in our cooking'.

Mona Aboud: 'I plan to take a walk in the forest this week.'

Maike Nenninger: 'I'm going to my parents' place with a protected landscape area for a family walk in the woods.'

Gareth Streefland: 'I'm going surfing in Swansea at the weekend.'

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How do you plan to connect to nature this week? For resources, tips and more information on Mental Health Awareness Week, please visit the Mental Health Foundation website.

A new Oxford University study reveals “little evidence” of a link between technology use and mental health problems in teenagers. This comes in the run-up Mental Health Awareness Week, which has the theme of ‘nature’ for 2021.

Over 430,000 10 to 15 year-olds from the UK and USA took part in the study, which found a small drop in the association between depression and social media use from 1991 to 2019.

"We couldn't tell the difference between social-media impact and mental health in 2010 and 2019”, said co-author Prof Andrew Przybylski. “We're not saying that fewer happy people use more social media, we’re saying that the connection is not getting stronger.”

Despite this, Przybylski said it was still too early to make any firm conclusions, and “certainly way too soon to be making policy or regulation.” 

While this study is good news for the tech industry, it goes against several reports that suggest a more harmful relationship. Mental health problems amongst young people are rising, and technology and social media are often blamed.

Regulators often point to risks of addiction, depression and anxiety among young users. In teenagers, multiple reports link social media use with feelings of suicide and depression, particularly among teenage girls.

The World Health Organisation recommends that children under five should spend no more than one hour a day in front of screens.

Moving forward, more research needs to be done to confirm or deny this link. Taking time away from social media and screens certainty won’t do any harm in the run-up to Mental Health Awareness Week.

written by Evangeline Hunt

The shortage of cybersecurity professionals is nothing new. The unemployment rate in cybersecurity has been at 0% since 2011 – a fact unmatched by any other industry.  According to Cybersecurity Ventures, there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide by the end of the year, up from 1 million positions in 2014.

This issue has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Businesses globally were forced to adopt a remote working model where employees were often working from personal PCs, laptops and phones with limited antivirus software. 

According to IBM, remote working increased the average cost of a data breach by $137,000. Despite these heightened security threats, many businesses are still cutting their cybersecurity budgets as we move through 2021. 

Even with the ever-growing threat of smarter and more advanced security breaches, the security industry is under-resourced to fight hackers. 
What can be done to address this issue? 

Upskill more people

Sounds simple, but giving people the skills needed to fill these roles is the single more effective way to close this talent gap. It’s clear that there isn’t enough talent to fill the roles needed, so businesses, organizations and educational programs need to take responsibility in training people in the skills needed. 

Organizations already have the wheels in motion for this. Massachusetts-based MassCyberCenter is partnering with businesses, academia and the public sector to train new cybersecurity workers to fill the more than 9,000 vacant cybersecurity jobs.

The NYC Economic Development Corporation has launched Cyber NYC, which aims to grow the city’s cybersecurity talent pool through training and education programs. 

The Cyber Innovation Center in BossierCity, Louisiana, plans to broaden its cyber skills preparation to 10 million students and 50,000 teachers in K-12 across the US – building a pipeline of young cybersecurity talent. 

Build a youth movement

Encouraging and nurturing young people to become future cybersecurity experts will ultimately solve the cyber skills shortage of the future. Instilling enthusiasm and excitement around cybersecurity and STEM from an early age will organically grow a new generation of talent. 

Various organizations are doing this already. Girls Scouts of the USA have joined forces with Palo Alto Networks to deliver the first-ever Girl Scout Cybersecurity badges for girls in K-12. 

The National Security Agency has been educating young people in cybersecurity through their GenCyber program since 2014. The NSA’s summer camp, Camp Cryptobot, runs annual cybersecurity camps to build the next generation of cybersecurity workers. 

Focusing on the impact that a cybersecurity professional can have on people, businesses and even nations can encourage young people to become invested in the industry. Framing cybersecurity as a career that helps people, does good and is morally right is something that young people in today’s world are keen to make time for.  

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are particularly important in the fight against skills shortages. Untapped talent pools exist that often go unnoticed in the recruitment process.

How can the cybersecurity industry tap into neurodiverse talent pools, for example? Autism affects more than one in 100 people which means a huge amount of talent. However, only 16% of autistic adults are in full-time employment, and out of the ones that aren’t, 77% would like to be according to the national autistic society’s research.

The lack of awareness around neurodiversity often acts as a barrier of entry for neurodiverse professionals looking to enter the cybersecurity space. Educating decision-makers in unconscious bias is one way to create a more inclusive hiring process that can open doors for unnoticed talent. 

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As recruiters in the cybersecurity space, we know too well the need for talented candidates in this space. Do you have a cybersecurity role that you’re struggling to fill? We have a pool of talent that could be the perfect fit for your role, so don’t be afraid to get in touch.  

Franklin Fitch is proud to have been awarded a 2-star accreditation from Best Companies, representing "outstanding" levels of employee engagement. 

In addition to the 2-star rating (out of a possible three), Best Companies recognized Franklin Fitch as one of the following:
London's 30 Best Small Companies to Work For 2021
Recruitment's 40 Best Companies to Work For 2021
The UK's 100 Best Small Companies to Work For 2021

We couldn't be prouder of this achievement. We consider our people to be our biggest asset, and knowing that they feel engaged at work is very important to us. Having an engaged workforce encourages people to feel connected to each other and our aims at Franklin Fitch, meaning we all want to work towards a shared goal.

Looking forward, we're already getting started on analyzing and implementing the feedback from the Best Companies survey. This data will provide invaluable insights into what we can do to make Franklin Fitch the very best place to work - because that's the standard we're aiming for. 

This feedback comes at a great time for us, as we've got ambitious growth plans moving forward. We want to reach 100 heads by November 2023, and are looking for talented people to join us on this journey. Do you think this might be you? Are you keen to hear more about what it's like to work at Franklin Fitch? Get in touch with us today!

Diversity and Inclusion have been around for a while, but 2020 was the year that many businesses started to take the matter seriously. The global pandemic raised questions around remote working, coupled with the tragic murder of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests that swept the globe brought matters around diversity and inclusion to the forefront of conversations.

As a business, where is your place in this conversation?  Hiring, retaining and nurturing a diverse workforce that is representative of the wider population is something that all organizations need to invest in.

Widening the diversity of your candidate pool will give you more chance of finding the best person for the job. Combined with studies from McKinsey and the Harvard Business Review which demonstrate that diverse teams have real benefits to business outputs, as well as it being “the right thing to do” – investing in a diverse and inclusive recruitment practice should be at the forefront of every business in 2021.

A diverse recruitment strategy alone isn’t enough – it has to be part of a bigger commitment to move away from the dreaded “cultural fit” to a more inclusive culture that fits around each individual, no matter what their background. Only by nurturing this diverse talent in a culture of inclusion, are you able to tap into the diverse perspectives and thoughts being offered by your workforce.

Hiring and retaining a diverse workforce can’t be done overnight – it’s a long-term commitment. Below, we outline some of the practices we use to hire diverse teams for our clients, as well as internally at Franklin Fitch.

Is your branding inclusive?

A recent study by PWC showed that 86% of female millennials and 74% of male millennials seek out employers with a strong record of diversity. One way to show these millennials of your commitment to diversity and inclusion is by visually showing a diverse workforce in your marketing materials. Are you able to use diverse imagery?

The Flexible Job Index says an estimated 87% of employees want to work flexibly – meaning if you want to have access to the best possible talent, you need to show that your organization is happy to support those who choose to work flexibly. Are you able to show your commitment to flexible working with real case studies? Include these case studies in your marketing materials.

Avoid sweeping statements such as ‘we value diversity and inclusion’  unless you follow them up with specific examples of what you’re actually doing to place value on D&I. What exactly is your organization doing to champion diversity and inclusion? Use real and specific examples in your branding and communications.

Are your job adverts attractive to all?

You can be sure that if an applicant is looking at nothing else – they’re looking at your job advert. Therefore it’s worth spending time ensuring your adverts will attract a variety of diverse individuals to your organization. There are a few easy ways to do this:

• Use a debiasing tool to ensure that gender-neutral language is used. Language such as ‘competitiveness’ or ‘assertiveness’ can discourage women from applying.

• Advertise the role with some degree of flexibility to ensure that parents can apply.

• Focus on competencies, attitude and aptitude rather than formal education/qualifications.

• Instead of including a general equal opportunities statement, be clear in saying that the organizations actively encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and perspectives and explain why.

• Describe the culture as inclusive and one that aims to fit around individuals – rather than wanting to hire people who fit into a specific culture that could be exclusive. Focus around looking for a ‘values fit’ rather than a ‘cultural fit’.

Make use of the variety of platforms and job boards that actively recruit people from underrepresented groups to advertise your vacancy. As well as listing your vacancy on your company website, utilize identity-based networks to advertise job listings.

Spend time cultivating networks of underrepresented groups by attending events and networking. Are you able to partner with one of these organizations?

How are you ensuring that bias doesn’t creep in when interviewing?

It’s an almost impossible task to prevent unconscious bias creeping in when interviewing someone. It’s not something to feel guilty about – it’s unconscious! But is it important to take steps to prevent it from occurring, and knowing when to recognize it.

Hiring managers are often reliant on ‘intuition or a ‘gut feeling’ when making hiring decisions. These feelings often occur when we like someone because we believe them to be similar to ourselves. Acting on these gut feelings results in a homogenous work culture where everyone comes from similar backgrounds/experiences – the very opposite of what we want to achieve.

The easiest way to avoid unconscious bias when interviewing is to ask competency-based questions. This prevents talented candidates from being filtered out of the interview process because of their diverse or individual differences.

When the final decision is being made, ensure it is made by a panel/group of people, rather than an individual. It’s much more difficult to act on feelings of unconscious bias when in a group.

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Diversity and inclusion is a long game, and isn’t something that can be “solved” overnight. It requires continuous work from organizations large and small. Don’t be afraid of getting things wrong – it’s a learning curve.

If you’re keen to hear more about how we hire diverse teams both in our external recruitment practice and internally at Franklin Fitch, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

written by Evangeline Hunt

Since the pandemic began, tech has become an essential tool for us to stay in touch with our loved ones, exercise, work, and study. Yet not everyone has access to the same tech – known as the digital divide, which appears to be widening.

Some young people might be able to complete all of their school work, while others only some if they have to share a device amongst the whole family or don’t have a strong enough bandwidth. Some homes don’t have any internet at all, making it impossible for children to engage in remote learning.

Research from Ofcom UK revealed that 1.8 million children in the UK have no access to a laptop, computer or tablet. Speaking on this issue, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said ‘if a child doesn’t have access to broadband, data, or the devices, then they’re not going to be able to lean, and that’s just unacceptable.'

This week, the creator of the world wide web has spoken out about concerns over the widening digital divide. In his annual letter to mark the anniversary of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee said A shocking number of kids in the UK don't have meaningful connectivity’.

Sir Tim is calling on businesses and governments globally to make fiber broadband available for all a priority, with a push to connect young people to the internet. He quotes $428 billion (£306bn) which needs to be invested by governments and the private sector to achieve this aim by 2030. Although this sounds like a huge investment, the economic benefit would be equally huge.

One way in which private businesses are tackling this problem is through satellites. Elon Musk’s SpaceX program is already working on this. Their Starlink satellite internet constellation consists of thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), which work with ground transceivers to deliver high-speed internet access to consumers globally.

SpaceX has currently launched 1,035 Starlink satellites into space. The current consumer setup cost for Starlink’s internet is $499 plus a $99 monthly service fee. So while such programs are doing great work to implement the internet in more remote regions, it does nothing to tackle the socio-economic problem of those who cannot afford the internet. Potential solutions to this problem including driving down the cost of accessing the internet, which requires the development of low-cost technologies – not a simple fix.

Furthermore, individuals might be able to assess the internet, but there are additional barriers such as the ability to process the information that the internet is giving. This is more of a barrier in developing countries, where access to education in general is a challenge.

As IT Infrastructure specialists, we know how important this infrastructure is to keep the world connected. IT Infrastructure exists to provide secure connectivity, efficiency, and growth, so we developed our recruitment service to do the same.

IT infrastructure has been our sole focus since we were founded in 2011. We're proud to have placed thousands of IT professionals into meaningful roles that work to implement connectivity across the globe.

We pride ourselves on trusted partnerships, whether you're looking for a new role in IT Infrastructure, talent for your team or considering joining Franklin Fitch. Why not start that partnership today?

Dice recently released their 2021 Tech Salary Report – an annual report featuring detailed information on tech salaries and compensation across the US. Despite the devastating impact of Covid-19 on both personal and professional lives, the report shows promising results for technologists. The average tech salary in the US increased 3.6% between 2019 and 2020 – to $97,859.

Texas gives California a run for its money

Texas is solidifying its space as one of the top tech states, as salaries rose 5.6% in comparison to California’s 1.8% increase. Although Silicon Valley still boasts the highest tech salary, it also has an extremely high cost of living.

This might explain why some of the most prestigious tech companies, such as Oracle and Tesla, are moving their headquarters out of Silicon Valley and into Texas. The Texas government’s aggressive pro-business stance, as well as a lack of state income tax, make it an attractive home for businesses.

Austin continues to have one of the fastest-growing tech salaries across the country with a 9.7% rise in 2020. This is an exciting time for Austin as 39 tech companies established a presence in Austin during 2020.

A year into the Covid-19 pandemic marks a year of fully remote working for many businesses and technologists. As it became apparent that tech workers could work effectively (and often, better) from home, questions arose around the future of physical office space. If technologists can work remotely, will we see them move away from high-cost areas such as Silicon Valley? Given the increase in remote working, we might have the answer quicker than expected.

Remote working makes digitization a priority

The occupations that saw the largest salary increase over the past year were the ones that helped businesses analyze data, digitize and evolve, and generally keep them safe and efficient during the pandemic.

Remote working forced many employees to work from their personal laptops and phones, which provided hackers with ample opportunity to attack businesses. Businesses needed skilled technologists to plug these insecurities – hence Cybersecurity Analysts had the largest growth in salary out of all technologists at 16.3%.

Cybersecurity Analysts had a much higher salary growth than the more senior Cybersecurity Engineers, which suggests that shortages in the cybersecurity space led to employers increasing their offers to more junior technologists.

"As employers adapted to the pandemic by quickly shifting to remote work, we saw immediate needs for technologists skilled in preparing entire offices and teams to go virtual, and for cybersecurity experts to secure new cloud networks," said Michelle Marian, CMO of DHI Group, parent company of Dice. "As a result of dispersed teams and networks due to the massive adoption of remote work, the need for cybersecurity and cloud-based roles grew significantly in 2020, with cybersecurity analysts seeing the largest salary growth during the year."

It's not all driven by COVID

Some occupations saw salary growth that is likely unrelated to the pandemic. The longer-term growing importance of data to businesses in every industry caused an influx of demand for Data Scientists, which in turn pushed up their salaries by 12.8%.

Businesses are continuing to realize the importance of collecting and analyzing large amounts of data, which can go on to inform long-term strategies. Similarly, the salaries of Data Engineers, who build-out and maintain data infrastructure, increased by 4.7%.

Looking forward

How are we expecting technologists' salaries to look in 2021? It will be interesting to see how the success of remote working changes the landscape of salary adjustment based on location. We’re happy that our home is in Austin, which continues to solidify its place as one of the top tech hubs in the country.

To celebrate Black History Month, we have been sharing the stories of black tech heroes of the past, present, and future. While it’s important to recognize and celebrate this month, we must remember that American history is black history – which is important to celebrate all year round.

So what is the IT and tech industry doing to support their black employees and promote diversity and inclusion? And what can we do at Franklin Fitch to play our part?

The tech industry is, unfortunately, notorious for lacking diversity. This isn’t new information – 2014 saw several tech giants including Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft release their first diversity reports. The results were as expected – there wasn’t much diversity.

These companies have continued to share their diversity stats year-on-year. While we might have hoped, prayed, and dreamed of progress, the reality is far from that. Facebook has gone from a workforce that was 3% black in 2014 to 3.8% black in 2020 – this simply isn’t good enough.

After publishing these initial figures in 2014, tech companies acknowledged the stark gap and publicly stated their mission to improve it. This mission was reiterated, six years later, after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests that swept the globe.

Following the protests, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook “needs to do more to support equality and safety for the Black community through our platforms” and pledged to donate $10 million. While this sounds good on the surface, we’ve heard it all before. We need to see these promises showing up in the data before we can say congrats.

Diversity and inclusion targets are built into businesses with progress in mind, but this progress is not held to the same standards as other business targets – such as profit. The lack of consequences for failing to hit these targets makes the promises feel empty and unimportant.

It’s not just about hiring. The tech industry also faces challenges with retention of people of color. Stanford professor Margaret Neale says there is substantially higher turnover of people of color compared to white people in tech companies.

In a study that looked into who is leaving the tech industry and why, the results found that the main reason that minorities were leaving their current role was unfairness, mistreatment, or stereotyping.

So how can the tech industry combat this unfairness? It has to come from a genuine diversity and inclusion strategy that creates real opportunities for progression and mentorship, a respectful work environment, and a truly inclusive culture.

There is countless evidence to prove that diversity has real benefits to business outputs. A much-quoted McKinsey study reveals the following:

‘Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.’

Similar evidence was found in research from Harvard Business Review, which explained that diverse teams are better at problem-solving due to diversity of thought – they can create more innovative solutions.

So it’s a no-brainer. Improving diversity and inclusion within the tech industry will benefit everyone.  So what are we doing are Franklin Fitch to advance the cause?

We’re proud to run our Inclusive Infrastructure campaign, where we actively promote diversity and inclusion in our interaction with candidates and clients, as well as the way we run our business. We have four goals: to raise awareness; give people a voice; tackle bias; and build diverse and inclusive work cultures. We are providing a platform for those working within or interested in IT Infrastructure to share their experiences with us and to come up with possible solutions together.

Do you want to get involved with Inclusive Infrastructure by sharing your opinion or experiences? Get in touch for more information.

February marks Black History Month in the US, so we are celebrating black tech heroes of the past, present and future. Now more than ever we can see the power that IT and Technology have to bring communities together, inspire us, and change the world for the better.

We want to shine a light on a few of the black pioneering leaders in our industry, to give a platform to diverse technologists across the world. This week we tell the story of a present-day black tech hero – Kimberly Bryant.

Kimberly Bryant is an African American engineer and founder of the organization Black Girls CODE. BGC gives young black girls access to STEM topics such as coding and other in-demand skills in tech. Her long-term goal is to provide black girls with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing jobs currently available in the US.

Born in Memphis Tennessee, Kimberly Bryant gained a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Vanderbilt University. Her early career focussed on high-volage electronics, and later moved on to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

Bryant founded Black Girls CODE back in 2011 after noticing a lack of programs in tech and coding that focussed on girls. This came about after her daughter Kai found an interest in video game development.

Kai attended a tech camp over the summer that spurred her interest in computer science, but she struggled to relate to anyone in the class. Out of 40 students, there were only a couple of girls and no students of color, plus the instructors were all white men.

Bryant recognized similar biases in Kai’s summer camp that had been present throughout her studies and career. She wanted to create an opportunity for her daughter where she could really relate to her peers and mentors.

"I knew at that very moment I had to do something," Bryant said. "I wanted to create an easier path for my daughter. I wanted her to have all the opportunities that were available to her.”

This desire for that opportunity fuelled the creation of Black Girls CODE. Bryant launched a pilot class in 2011 – a six week program in San Francisco that taught the basics of coding and computer science to a class of ten girls.

The following year Bryant was contacted by software consultancy company ThoughtWorks who had heard about Black Girls CODE and wanted to know how they could help. ThoughtWorks provided resources in the form of office space, equipment, and instructors to help BGC operate.

Bryant wanted to take BGC out of San Francisco, so used ThoughtWorks offices in six cities across the US. Named the BGC Summer of Code, Bryant and her colleagues taught over 1,000 girls in 2012. The response to BGC Summer of Code was the catalyst for the chapter-based model still present in BGC today.

Fast forward to today and Black Girls CODE has taught over 14,000 girls, with the aim of reaching 1 million by 2040.

"We're really starting to see the results of the program in terms of the success of the kids and how confident they are, what leadership skills that they develop,” says Bryant. “They're now starting their own careers in the field of STEM or Computer Science based on the seed that we've been able to plant."

Bryant’s work goes beyond giving black girls practical skills to work in STEM fields (although this is a big part of it). Supporting these girls to become creators of technology rather than just consumers is a powerful tool to address systemic biases in race and gender that are present across the world. It changes the lives of not only these girls, but their families and their communities.

The competitiveness of the tech field coupled with a lack of representation of black women is enough to discourage young black girls from pursuing such careers. Implicit and explicit biases create an environment where these girls are often marginalized and victimized. Black Girls CODE offers a safe space by giving them practical skills as well as confidence in their abilities to be successful in this industry.

"We want to be the Girl Scouts of Technology - creating a pipeline for women of color tech leaders, innovators and creators”, says Bryant. “We are disrupting the tech sector and changing the ratio #1GirlAtATime."​

Over the following months, Black Girls CODE has a variety of virtual events, workshops, and presentations on offer. In April, BGC is partnering with Nike to host a virtual three-day hackathon called Just Hack It: Powering Human Connection. For a full list of events, please see the BGC website.

February marks Black History Month in the US, so we are celebrating Black tech heroes of the past, present and future. Now more than ever we can see the power that IT and Technology have to bring communities together, inspire us, and change the world for the better.

At Franklin Fitch, we want to shine a light on a few of the Black pioneering leaders in our industry, to give a platform to diverse technologists across the world. Starting by looking back, we tell the story of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson.

Katherine Johnson was an African American mathematician whose work for NASA was critical to the first crewed launch into space. During her 35-year career, she used her brilliance with numbers to master complex manual calculations that pioneered the first use of computers within NASA.

Some of Johnson’s most notable works include calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn – the first Americans in space.

Born in 1918, Katherine Johnson’s curiosity and intelligence propelled her ahead in school. By the age of 13 she was attending the high school on the campus of West Virginia State College.

Johnson enrolled in the college at age 18 – mastered the math curriculum and found a mentor in Professor W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, the third African American to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics.

In 1952, Johnson was told about open positions at the all-black West Area Computing section of NASA (known then as NACA). She began working in the summer of 1953 as a "human computer", analyzing data from test flights.

In keeping with federal workplace segregation, Johnson and other African American “computers” had to use separate bathrooms from their white colleagues – as well as working and eating separately. Their office was named “Colored Computers”.

Johnson reflected on being an African American woman during that time:

“We needed to be assertive as women in those days – assertive and aggressive – and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be. In the early days of NASA women were not allowed to put their names on the reports – no woman in my division had had her name on a report. I was working with Ted Skopinski and he wanted to leave and go to Houston ... but Henry Pearson, our supervisor – he was not a fan of women – kept pushing him to finish the report we were working on. Finally, Ted told him, "Katherine should finish the report, she's done most of the work anyway." So Ted left Pearson with no choice; I finished the report and my name went on it, and that was the first time a woman in our division had her name on something.” (1)

1957 saw the Soviets launch their satellite Sputnik, which put huge pressure on NASA to do something similar. NASA operations were ramped up, and in 1961, Johnson completed the trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s mission – America’s first human spaceflight.

In 1960, Johnson co-authored a report laying out equations describing an orbital spaceflight. This was the first time a woman in the Flight Research Division had been credited as an author of a research paper.

NASA and Johnson began preparations for the 1962 orbital mission of John Glenn. This was a complex flight that required the construction of a worldwide communications network.

NASA was using electronic computers for the first time, but Glenn asked for Johnson personally to run the same equations that the computer system was running, by hand.

‘If she says they’re good, then I’m ready to go’, said Glenn. Glenn’s flight was successful and marked a turning point in the space race between the US and the Soviets.

Johnson went on to work on the Space Shuttle, the Earth Technology Satellite, as well as authoring 26 research papers.

When asked what she considered to be her greatest contribution to space exploration, Johnson recalled the calculations that synced Project Apollo’s Lunar Module with the lunar-orbiting Command and Service Module. ‘I love going to work every single day’, said Johnson.

In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded 97-year-old Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom – America’s highest civilian honor.

Johnson died on February 24, 2020. NASA described her as an “American hero”, noting her “historic role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist”.

(1) Warren, Wini (1999). Black Women Scientists in the United States. Indiana University Press. pp. 143

Yesterday saw Joe Biden sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. As we wave goodbye to outgoing president Trump, we look back on the impact that his time in office had on the tech industry – and look forward to where Biden might take it.

Donald Trump’s impact on the tech industry was at times controversial. One of the better outcomes of his impact was his executive order on artificial intelligence.

The Trump administration issued the first-ever national AI strategy, which committed to “doubling AI research investment, established the first-ever national AI research institute, released the world’s first AI regulatory guidance, forged new international AI alliances, and established guidance for Federal use of AI.”

Given that the US is home to not only the major tech giants but also small start-ups that use AI, this was a positive move for the tech industry as a whole.

One of the most impactful decisions that the Trump administration made was the trade ban with China over the potential cybersecurity threat that Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE posed to the US.

Trump signed a bill in 2018 that banned the use of Huawei and ZTE across the government. In 2019, he took this a step further by signing an executive order that banned US companies from trading with ZHE, Huawei, and other Chinese organizations.

But what did this decision mean for the tech industry? The most significant impact was that Google was forced to block access to its services for Huawei phones – which damaged the spread of Google’s services amongst android users.

Finally, Trump’s relationship with social media was often fraught and came to a dramatic close as the likes of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others suspended Trump from their platforms. While it was too late in his presidency for Trump to be able to respond with any legislative changes, it did sour the already tense relationship between the outgoing president and these social media giants.

As Joe Biden settles into the white house, it’s expected that the ongoing pandemic will dominate his first few months in office. But what can the tech industry expect from his tenure?

The pandemic has highlighted a digital divide across the country, as millions of Americans don’t have access to the internet which is needed for things like education and medicine amidst COVID-19. In his Plan for Rural America, Biden recognized that high-speed broadband is essential for life in the 21st Century. He claims his office will ‘Invest $20 billion in rural broadband infrastructure and ensure that the work of installing broadband provides high-paying jobs with benefits’.

Biden’s election manifesto also included a commitment to clean energy technologies designed to innovate the US – such as battery storage and negative emissions technologies.

When considering Biden’s approach to tech giants, people are unsure what direction he might go in. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, five out of the ten largest contributors to the Biden campaign were tech giants. Could this suggest that he might follow in the footsteps of the Silicon Valley friendly-Obama Administration?

“For Big Tech companies, Biden still intends to impose stringent antitrust measures, as well as tough taxation and privacy regulations,” says founder of Tech London Advocates Russ Shaw. “However, with his history as the vice president of a Silicon Valley-friendly Obama Administration – and California-elected Kamala Harris as his vice president – a victory would likely be the outcome of choice compared to Trump’s ongoing allegations of anti-conservative bias from social media giants.”

In terms of social media, experts are predicting that Biden is likely to support a tough approach to tackling misinformation - especially considering the extent that fake news and misinformation impacted the election.

It’s known that Biden is in favor of a European GDPR approach to data privacy, but experts predict that this won’t happen until 2022.

Hopes are that Biden will bring a more collaborative approach to international digital diplomacy – including relations with China. “US restrictions on the likes of Huawei have already had serious implications for network infrastructure around the world,” says Shaw. “It is likely that Biden will take a more lenient stance on trade tariffs but will remain cautious when it comes to cybersecurity and IP theft, given the focus of his broader policies on data privacy.”

The proposed changes to the H1-B visas, which, under Trump, restricted foreign tech workers from working in the US, could encourage a more international approach to tech talent.

Time will only tell what the Biden administration has in store for the tech industry. We might be waiting a while as the Coronavirus pandemic takes precedence, but the next four years could likely see a significant change for the tech industry.

Following the attack on the US capitol early on in January, many tech giants took action to take Donald Trump and the extreme-right offline, under the pretense that they incite violence.

This raises bigger questions about the role that Big Tech has in deciding who does and doesn’t have a voice online, coupled with accusations of censorship.

The decision to remove users and tweets has been criticized by some as a violation of the First Amendment of the US constitution – freedom of speech.

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey recognizes the problematic nature of his decision to remove Trump from the platform. ‘Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation,’ he said. ‘They divide us….and set a precedent I feel is dangerous.’

Shortly after the deadly riots, Twitter temporarily suspended Donald Trump’s personal feed and removed three of his recent tweets citing violations of their Civic Integrity policy. Facebook and Instagram quickly decided to ban Trump ‘indefinitely’. The likes of YouTube, Twitch, Shopify, Pinterest, TikTok and Reddit also all followed suit and restricted Trump’s content.

Those who supported the decision to remove the 44^th US President from these platforms are asking why it didn’t happen sooner. ‘We recognize that sometimes it may be in the public interest to allow people to view tweets that would otherwise be taken down,’ Twitter's rules say. ‘At present, we limit exceptions to one critical type of public-interest content - tweets from elected and government officials.’

It isn’t just social media giants that are in the process of silencing Donald Trump online. Amazon booted controversial right-winged app Parler off of their cloud hosting provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) after calls for violence on the app violated its terms of service.

‘Recently, we’ve seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms,’ an email from Amazon reads. ‘It’s clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with the AWS terms of service.’

Apple and Google have also chosen to take action against Parler, by removing the app from their app stores.

‘This was a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill competition in the market place,’ wrote Parler CEO John Matzer. ‘We were too successful too fast.’

This moderation didn’t stop there. Twitter announced that it suspended more than 70,000 accounts linked to the far-right movement QAnon. The BBC describes QAnon as ‘ a conspiracy claiming that President Donald Trump is waging a war against Satan-worshipping pedophiles in politics, business and the media.’

Twitter explains their reasons for doing so. ‘We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. Given the violent events in Washington, DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon.’

Does Big Tech have the right to censor content? Technically speaking, yes – these are private companies that can moderate their own platforms as they wish. But where does the line fall? Content moderation is a slippery slope with no clear right or wrong.

Twitter believes the line falls when content has the potential to lead to offline harm. This is a grey area – if Donald Trump’s tweets hadn’t led to mobs storming the capitol, would he have been banned from the platform? Probably not.

Wired CEO Nicholas Thompson comments on Twitter’s decision to ban Donald Trump in a recent LinkedIn post. ‘Given the week, and how the Tweets were interpreted, one can see why Twitter did it. But it’s not a sustainable model for content moderation.’

Those whose content is being moderated, including Donald Trump himself, are calling it a ban on free speech.

A spokesperson for German chancellor Angela Merkel said she considered the social media ban ‘problematic’. Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador said ‘I don’t like anybody being censored’. Neither has a close relationship with the US President.

Do you think tech giants have a responsibility to moderate their content? Or have they gone too far this time?

Popular messaging service WhatsApp is forcing users to share data with parent company Facebook, or else delete their account. The previous privacy policy allowed users to opt-out of sharing data with Facebook – this option no longer remains.

Users ‘need to accept these updates to continue using WhatsApp’, according to the updated policy. If you don’t agree, the alert suggests you go to the help centre to delete your account. The deadline to accept these new terms is 8 February.

WhatsApp specifies what kind of information it can collect and share with Facebook, which includes our name, profile picture, phone number, contacts, transactions and IP address (which shows your location).

‘We share your information to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our services’, explains WhatsApp in the updated privacy policy. This could include sending you personalized adverts, content and friend recommendations.

This is disappointing news to users who want to minimize data collection from parent company Facebook, who have faced numerous privacy controversies in the past.

While there was initial confusion over whether this new policy would affect UK and EU users, Facebook quickly released a statement saying there would be no changes in the European Region. This is due to previous negotiations with European data protection bodies that prevent such data sharing. This European exception has been celebrated by some as a victory for EU privacy laws.

Despite these changes, messages will still remain end-to-end encrypted, which means neither Facebook nor WhatsApp will be able to read users’ messages.

Some people have already decided to stop using the platform. Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted ‘Use Signal’, a similar messaging platform. Will this new privacy update encourage you to stop using WhatsApp?

written by Evangeline Hunt

2020 and the subsequent pandemic forced the world to start working remotely. Many tech workers are still working remotely to this day, but questions are being asked about the future of remote working in the post-pandemic landscape, and whether companies plan to reduce their expensive office space after the success of working from home.

Given that many tech workers are choosing to move out of expensive tech hubs such as San Francisco in favor of lower living costs, will we see tech giants follow this trend and move their headquarters too?

A recent analysis by Burning Glass shows the top metro areas for remote workers over the past 60 days. As expected, established tech hubs such as New York and San Francisco remain in the top five areas that are hiring remote workers. Up and coming tech hubs such as Austin and Boston show promise by being in the top ten.

Unsurprisingly, it appears that the more prominent tech hubs are still doing a lot of the hiring of remote tech workers. While the majority of technologists continue to work remotely, a lot of tech companies remain situated in the traditional tech hubs across the country.

Despite this, there has been a slight shift in this pattern. Tech giant Oracle recently announced they would be moving their headquarters out of Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas – making them the biggest tech company to relocate out of California. Oracle joins 39 other tech firms who decided to move to Austin in 2020, which includes Tesla’s Gigafactory.

Perhaps over the course of 2021 we will see more tech companies join Oracle in moving away from Silicon Valley in favor of more affordable cities.

2020 proved that tech workers could indeed work remotely – what trends in remote working do you expect to see from tech workers and tech companies in 2021?

written by Evangeline Hunt

Yesterday saw Google applications such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Docs experience a service outage which meant users were unable to access Google’s services. The outage occurred before 4am PT time and lasted less than an hour.

Initially there was uncertainty as to whether the system had been hacked or not and if user’s data was at risk. It soon became apparent that the fault was with the authentication system, rather than a security breach.

A Google spokesperson issued the following statement:

"Today, at 3.47 a.m. PT Google experienced an authentication system outage for approximately 45 minutes due to an internal storage quota issue. Services requiring users to log in experienced high error rates during this period. The authentication system issue was resolved at 4:32 a.m. PT. All services are now restored. We apologize to everyone affected, and we will conduct a thorough follow up review to ensure this problem cannot recur in the future."

The outage had a significant impact on the millions of users who rely on apps such as Gmail and Google Calendar to work.

Although the outage was only brief, it served as a stark reminder of how dependent many people and businesses are on cloud-based services.

The pandemic has proved how valuable cloud services such as GCP can be to keep businesses running remotely, yet those who use Google Cloud will be frustrated after yesterday.

Can Google guarantee that it won’t happen again?

written by Evangeline Hunt

Sometimes content around Thanksgiving can seem a bit ‘off-the-shelf’ or vanilla in its approach. At Franklin Fitch, we wanted to mark this year with a message that we hope resonates with all of our colleagues, friends, businesses and the entire IT Infrastructure community across the US.

The ongoing pandemic, which has affected so many families, can sometimes make us feel that we should write off 2020. We understand that. People have lost jobs, plans have been put on hold and in some tragic circumstances, we have lost people that are close to our hearts.

But we can still be thankful. We can be thankful for the time we have got to spend with friends and family; we can be thankful for the memories and experiences that we have created and we can be thankful for all that we have learned in a year which has been one of the most unexpected and stressful.

Away from the Coronavirus, we have had the General Election which although may feel divisive gives us all a chance to draw a line and look forward. We’ve heard from all sides and we should be thankful that the US is a country that allows that. It’s now on all of us to work together to make lives better, create opportunity, look at each other and thank one another for the diversity of skills, opinion and experience that makes the US such a great country to live and work.

Here at Franklin Fitch we’re personally thankful for the relationships we have started, the relationships we have grown and the way our business has been welcomed in the US over the past couple of years.

Especially where we have a presence in Texas and on the East Coast.

We thank the people we have helped find roles and advise on their IT infrastructure careers with as well as the businesses whom we find talent. We couldn’t do it without you (obviously) but how you engage with us and trust us with your career and your recruitment needs makes us extremely humble. Thank you.

However you choose to celebrate this unique Thanksgiving, please stay safe please and take the chance to focus on the things that matter and what you can take into next year with a positive mindset.

From all of us at Franklin Fitch, Happy Thanksgiving.

The people of America have spoken – the Democrats have won the 2020 election under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. This marks a historic moment in US history as Harris becomes the first woman, and the first woman of color, to be elected vice president of the United States. 

Diversity and inclusion has always been a huge challenge for government, a challenge shared with the tech industry. A Wired survey from last year estimated that Black, Hispanic and Indigenous populations make up only 5% of tech workers in Silicon Valley. The wider IT industry fairs slightly better - the US Equal Opportunity Commission Bureau estimates that these groups make up 16% of the industry population. 

Gender diversity is equally lacking in the tech industry. The following tech giants reported these gender splits in their tech roles in 2019:

Apple: 77 % male

Facebook: 77% male

Google: 77% male

Microsoft: 80% male.

These statistics do not go unnoticed, yet why do they remain so stark? Freda Kapor Klein, founding partner at venture capital firm Kapor Capital explains that tech companies aren’t taking their diversity investments seriously enough. ‘If you wasted a billion dollars and nowhere near met your target, you wouldn’t get your bonus, you wouldn’t have a job. And yet there seem to be no consequences,” she says on Wired. “Despite all the words, despite all the money, despite all the platitudes and initiatives, it’s hard to say that the companies are really taking it seriously.’

What does the new office mean for diversity in the tech industry? Can we hope for any improvement? Even though tech policy wasn’t at the forefront of the election campaign, there is no doubt that Biden/Harris will have an impact on the tech industry.

The pandemic has highlighted a digital divide across the country, as millions of Americans don’t have access to the internet which is needed for things like education and medicine amidst COVID-19. In his Plan for Rural America, Biden recognizes that high-speed broadband is essential for life in the 21st Century. He claims his office will ‘Invest $20 billion in rural broadband infrastructure, and ensure that the work of installing broadband provides high-paying jobs with benefits’. 

‘It's hard for businesses to keep going and to grow the way they should without broadband access’, says Linda Moore, CEO of the TechNet lobbying group. ‘It's heartbreaking to see students having to go to their local businesses, or back to their schools after the schools have shut just so they can try to get WiFi access to do their homework. It shouldn't be that way in America.’

A lack of sufficient internet has directly impacted people’s basic necessities, so Biden will need to form an infrastructure policy on the deployment of the internet across the country, which should create hundreds of IT jobs. 

When considering Kamala Harris’ potential impact on the tech world, we can hope that she might want to address the issue of diversity in tech given that she is from San Francisco and therefore has ties to Silicon Valley.  Whether she chooses to address the challenge of diversity within the biggest industry in her state will be something to watch.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel publicly congratulated not only Biden but Harris too – something she hasn’t done for previous vice presidents. Merkel acknowledged that Harris is the first women to serve as vice president, also noting that as the daughter of two immigrants, Harris is an inspiration of what can be achieved in America. ‘I am looking forward to meeting her’, said Merkle.

Does the future look bright for the state of diversity in the tech world under the new office? Perhaps, but actions will need to follow the promises that have been made. 

written by Evangeline Hunt

2020 has seen job postings for DevOps Engineers increase rapidly. A recent Dice report showed that Q1 of 2020 saw a 39% increase in DevOps Engineer roles from the previous year.

Many companies are starting to invest in building strong DevOps teams. These teams can increase the rate that software is delivered, meaning a quicker time to market. This enables companies to remain competitive while also increasing the efficiency of their software.

Automation is a big part of DevOps, allowing efficient use of time and more focus on improving the business and the product.

‘DevOps ensures that companies are able to keep up-to-date with the competitive market’, says Dominique Lianos, our Consultant specializing in Server Infrastructure. ‘Companies need DevOps to run their IT systems in the fastest, most efficient and most cost-effective way possible’.

Looking towards 2021, careers in DevOps are a safe bet as the need to make software more efficient will only increase. According to Burning Glass Technologies, DevOps skills such as Chef and Puppet are predicted to grow by 50% over the next five years in order to meet the job demand.

Due to the collaborative nature of DevOps, soft skills such as team-work, communication and empathy are considered an important part of the personal skillset. The job involves translating tech-heavy plans and ideas to non-techy teams in a way that everyone can understand.

In terms of technical skills, DevOps Engineers need a range of Linux fundamentals, scripting, plus DevOps tools such as Kubernetes or Docker. Burning Glass Technologies analyzed millions of job postings to find the skills that appear most frequently in DevOps job postings:

• Python

• Linux

• Ansible

• Kubernetes

• Java

• Chef Infrastructure Automation

Given the number of companies who are migrating to the cloud, DevOps Engineers need to have a good understanding of Cloud vendors such as AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.

Some employers are keen for DevOps professionals to have the relevant certifications for the Cloud providers they are using, yet this isn’t essential.

We asked Dominique what skills she expects to see increase in 2021. ‘A lot more people seem to be learning about containerization, so while it used to be an extremely niche skillset, it’s slowly becoming more common.’

‘With the pace that the DevOps space develops, it’s important to always be on top of the trends and changes. Keep learning. Keep expanding the number of tools you can work with. Always look for the newest, sexiest tech and get your head around it quickly.’

What skills do you expect to see in high demand in the 2021 DevOps space? We’d love to hear your thoughts. ­

written by Evangeline Hunt

The H-1B visa gives highly skilled immigrant workers entry into the US, to fill jobs that cannot be filled by US nationals. The technology sector relies on this visa category to fill highly skilled jobs where skill-gaps fall amongst US workers. Data from the State Department shows that 188,000 H-1B visas were issued in 2019. 

The topic of immigration and visa approval has been debated throughout not only the 2020 election campaign, but also throughout Trump’s tenure. During the 2016 election campaign, Trump claimed he wanted to end the H-1B. ‘We shouldn’t have it, it’s very, very bad for workers’, said Trump. ‘It’s unfair to our workers and we should end it’.

Since then, Trump’s position on the matter has yoyoed. In 2019, Trumped tweeted the following: ‘H1-B holders in the United States can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship. We want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to pursue career options in the U.S.’

Yet earlier this year, we saw Trump issue a temporary ban of the H-1B plus other visa categories that ‘pose a risk of displacing and disadvantaging United States workers during the current [coronavirus] recovery’. The ban was rejected by US District Judge Jeffrey S White, yet new guidelines are being crafted to enforce a much stricter review of the visa application.

So what is Trump’s policy on the visa going into the 2020 election? It’s expected that the above reforms will go through, but will Trump ever act on his impulse of banning the visa entirely?

Biden’s policy on work-based immigration is more slightly clear-cut. According to his campaign website, Biden plans to ‘first reform the temporary visa system for high-skill, specialty jobs to protect wages and workers, then expand the number of visas offered…’

Though the word ‘reform’ does leave a lot to the imagination. What’s certain is that the upcoming election result will no-doubt impact the H-1B application process, for better or for worse. The current H-1B approval rate has been rapidly declining since the 2016 election. How will next week’s result impact this? We will wait and see…

written by Evangeline Hunt

The governments of the UK, US, and five other nations have issued a joint statement to Facebook and other tech firms to drop “end-to-end encryption policies which erode the public’s safety online”.

These nations want to weaken encryption by giving law enforcement access to messages in order to prevent serious criminal activity (such as terrorism), without reducing the safety of its users.

Yet those against the statement argue that the very idea of creating a back-door entry into end-to-end encryption effectively breaks the encryption.

Politicians from these nations state that when end-to-end encryption is applied to online messaging services with no access to content, it makes it impossible for organisations to respond to illegal activity occurring on their platforms – giving serious criminals a platform to operate.

A recent Forbes articles describes this very request as ‘mission impossible’ – technology is yet to exist that would allow law enforcement a back-door into end-to-end encryption without breaking the entire encryption. What they are asking for is currently technically impossible.

A spokesperson at Facebook responded to the request from the seven nations: “We've long argued that end-to-end encryption is necessary to protect people's most private information. In all of these countries, people prefer end-to-end encrypted messaging on various apps because it keeps their messages safe from hackers, criminals, and foreign interference. Facebook has led the industry in developing new ways to prevent, detect, and respond to abuse while maintaining high security and we will continue to do so."

Is that the end of that then? Will technology ever exist that allows entrance to the ‘good guys’ but not the ‘bad guys’? If cybersecurity continues to play catchup with hackers rather than trying to remain one step ahead, perhaps it will never happen.

The conflict between public safety vs personal security is ongoing. We wanted to know what our network thought of this debate, so asked the following question on LinkedIn: Should Facebook and other tech firms amend end-to-end encryption to give law enforcement access to content in the interest of public safety?

Yes: 34%
No: 66%
(100 votes)

Given that most of our network are tech workers, it is unsurprising to see that the majority believe that there should be no access to end-to-end encryption.

What do you think?

written by Evangeline Hunt

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at 87 last week, was a pioneer of women’s rights in a male-dominated world. As both a lawyer and a justice, she spent much of her legal career advocating for women’s rights and gender equality.

Her death comes at a pivotal time with just weeks to go until the US election. The Supreme Court hangs in a delicate political balance – liberals fear that a more conservative replacement could lead to changes on important issues such as abortion rights.

In her early career, Ginsburg gained her first position as a professor at Rutgers Law School, where she was paid less than her male colleagues because she had a husband with a well-paid job. At the time, she was one of less than twenty female law professors across the USA.

Ginsburg was subject to huge amounts of discrimination not only as a female law professor, but also as a woman in the US in general. She successfully used her influence in the courts to argue against discrimination based on sex, race and other social factors.

At Franklin Fitch, we want to champion individuals who go against hegemonic culture. Ginsburg did exactly that in her continued efforts for not only the women’s movement, but for general civil rights in the US.

Our Inclusive Infrastructure campaign actively promotes diversity and inclusion in the tech and IT world. We are providing a platform for those working within or interested in IT Infrastructure to share their experiences with us and to come up with possible solutions together.

In the words of Ginsburg, ‘Society would benefit enormously if women were regarded as people equal in stature to men’. We champion these values within Inclusive Infrastructure – an inclusive and diverse workplace is beneficial to the entire IT infrastructure space.

This isn’t simply down to fairness - multiple McKinsey studies examining diversity in the workplace confirm this fact:

‘Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians’.

We hope that the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg continues to live on through the legal system. We will continue to actively promote equality, diversity and inclusion through Inclusive Infrastructure. If you are interested in hearing more about what we’re doing at Franklin Fitch, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

written by Evangeline Hunt

Software maker VMware is the latest technology company to announce a pay cut for their fully remote workers who plan to flee the expensive Silicon Valley. This comes after many tech giants, such as Facebook and Twitter, are giving their tech workers the option to remain fully remote even after the pandemic.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 forced most tech workers to start working remotely – many of whom are still doing so. This is causing a shift in workplace patterns, as many tech companies make the move to a more permanent remote set-up.

According to Bloomberg, tech workers at VMware’s HQ in California would have to take an 18% pay cut if they moved to Denver, or an 8% cut if they moved to LA or San Diego. This is because workers in VMware’s physical offices are being compensated for the high cost of living in San Francisco – which becomes redundant if they were to move away.

Localized compensation happens across global companies in a bid to make wages fair across the same role in different locations. Yet it is unsurprising that many tech workers are unhappy at the prospect of their pay being cut for doing exactly the same job. Especially considering that the global workforce has been working remotely for months now without talk of a pay cut.

VMware’s vice president Rich Lang defends their decision to cut wages  for remote workers by stating that salary is based on the cost of labor in that region – so some tech workers could get a pay rise if they moved to a more expensive city. The reality of that ever happening is slim, considering San Francisco is one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

VMware isn’t the only tech company doing this – cloud-software maker ServiceNow is considering cutting the pay of tech workers who move out of San Francisco. CEO Bill McDermott explained that the final decision was yet to be made, but that ServiceNow is expecting to have a hybrid workforce of employees in offices, at home and somewhere between.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg expects as much as 50% of his staff to become fully remote in the next five to ten years. Facebook became one of the first big tech firms to announce that it’s tech workers didn’t have to come back to the office if they would prefer not to – but those moving away from Silicon Valley might have to take a pay cut too.

But how will these tech workers respond to the idea of taking a pay cut? According to Dice’s ongoing COVID sentiment survey, 76% of tech workers interviewed said they wouldn’t take a pay cut in exchange for full remote working. Many argue that the value of the labor should be the same regardless of location.

'Traditionally we have seen that remote-only jobs have come with a reduced salary and candidates have been open to this due to the additional flexibility it has offered, coupled with the more scarce nature of these opportunities' says Steven Ewer, director of Franklin Fitch's US operations. 'Employers in these instances point to the fact a premium within the salary is paid not only to cover the cost of having to live closer to the office location, but the commute and the time invested in traveling to and from the office.'

'The difficulty is for those employees that have already been working in office-based roles that no longer require office attendance in expensive metropolitan hubs like San Francisco - employees will argue (with some merit) that if they are based in San Francisco or Wyoming their work is the same and therefore the measure of their value should also be the same.'

How will these new decisions affect the state of tech workers across the US? Will we see workers remain in tech hubs such as San Francisco in order to retain their higher wage? Or will we see tech workers forfeit these high salaries in favor of complete remote working in a city of their choosing? Only time will tell…

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*Edit - following poll on LinkedIn*

We wanted to get a closer idea of how tech workers would respond to the suggestion of a pay cut in exchange for remote work. We asked the following poll on LinkedIn:

Many tech giants are giving their tech workers the option to remain fully remote after the pandemic. VMware is the latest tech company to announce that this would be paired with a pay cut if employees were to move out of expensive cities such as San Francisco, New York or London. Would you take a pay cut in exchange for complete remote working and the option to live in more affordable areas?

No: 74%
5% salary cut: 19%
15% salary cut: 6%
25% salary cut: 1%

(558 votes)

These results were coupled with numerous comments of tech workers exclaiming their frustration with the prospect of a pay cut in exchange for remote work.

"Should be a pay increase as I wouldn’t be having coffee or using their electricity"

"Using own heating/electricity, the company saving money in overheads, and like many people, working longer hours with a result in increased productivity from WFH. Pay cut seems opportunistic of companies IMO."

"If anything we should get paid more since the companies overheads would dramatically decrease freeing up more profit for the company."

These are fair statements to make, considering that many companies would indeed be saving on overhead costs such as office space and utility bills if their workforce became remote. 

What many people failed to consider, it would seem, is the fact that this pay cut would only occur if the worker was to move somewhere a lot less expensive than their current city - in order to make that pay in line with the local wage. 

Whether everyone who participated in the survey considered that they wouldn't be subject to a pay cut if they remained living where they do currently? We don’t know. But we can't ignore that the overwhelming majority would not be willing to take a pay cut of any sort in exchange for remote working.

written by Evangeline Hunt

Do you want to be part of something special right from the start? At Franklin Fitch we offer exactly that opportunity as we expand to the US East Coast.

Why the East Coast?

The home of bagels, steak sandwiches, the tallest buildings and the straightest roads – of course it’s the US East Coast.

Two years into starting our Austin-based operations we’re ready to take our US venture to the next step. Covid-19 hit the UK recruitment industry hard yet hiring in the US seems to have been less affected by the pandemic.

A recent Dice report on the state of technology jobs across the US supports the idea of a real hotspot for vacancies on the East Coast which have the potential to be tapped into. From May to June 2020, Boston saw a 39% increase in tech jobs, Pittsburgh saw a 44% increase, Philadelphia saw a 36% increase and Baltimore saw a 34% increase.

In addition to this, job postings within the technology sector increased in Q2 of 2020 compared to Q2 of 2019 – during a pandemic this is quite an achievement. Java Developer jobs increased by 14% from 2019 to 2020 Q2, while Cyber Security jobs increased by 15% in this period.

What we can offer you

To assist with our expansion to the US East Coast we’re looking for our next generation of recruiters. Based in our London HQ, you will be working the East Coast market alongside our already established US team.

Since this is a brand-new venture for our business, we’re offering a unique opportunity to our consultants – autonomy to shape your role from the beginning. Although we have existing clients with East Coast presence we are keen for you to build up your own business within our business.

In addition to this you’ll be able to benefit from our market-leading commission structure as well as our plenteous opportunities for career progression which enable you to fast-track your way up the Franklin Fitch career ladder.

Once we have established our presence in the East Coast we will be looking to open an office there. Have you always wanted the opportunity to work and live abroad? This could be your chance!

As an experienced recruiter, you will already know the skills, attributes and work ethic required for the job but do you have the ambition to lead a new operation to success? Do you want to make your mark on a new venture? Then give us a shout!

written by Evangeline Hunt

Organize your day into time blocks

Start the day by looking at your to-do list and assigning yourself specific time blocks for each task. If you have to look for candidates today, assign it an hour – then move in. This will make your hour more focussed knowing you have limited time to get it done, and prevents time wasting and procrastination. It can also just make you feel more organized, which in itself can be a motivator.

We all need breaks

We're only human – and all of us need short breaks fairly often. Don’t be hard on yourself by saying you don’t have time. Taking small breaks will ensure that your working time is more productive – which saves time in the long run. 

Reward yourself

As recruiters we like to be rewarded for hitting certain metrics. But this doesn’t have to come from someone else and it doesn’t have to be for big things. It can be as simple as making a cup of tea after your next CV send out, or having a walk around the office after an hour of work. Small targets will make each task feel small itself – winning!

Don’t start the day with admin

Admin can be done any time of the day, and is actually quite a good task to do when you’ve run out of brain power near the end of the day. Instead, start your day with the most challenging tasks – the things that require the most brain power to get through. It’s only natural to get a little tired towards the end of the day, so having something easy rather than challenging to fill your time later on will seem less daunting.

Learn to prioritize

Prioritization can sort your never-ending to-do list into something that resembles organization. It goes without saying that the most important things go at the top… but sometimes there is the temptation to start with the easy stuff. Don’t do it!

Get out of the office

Having a change in environment is so important. On your lunch break try to get outside for some fresh air and to stretch your legs. Changing your environment is important when taking breaks – it can be hard to shut off from work at lunch time if you remain in the office. Besides, fresh air is never a bad thing.

Hot drinks

The thing that unites office workers across the world – a love of hot drinks. We’re not suggesting 27 cups of coffee each day, but caffeine can stimulate your brain and help you focus.

If all else fails, try something a bit more structured

Trying something like the Pomodoro Technique can be an easy way of ensuring your day has some structure. This technique encourages you to break your day up into 25 minute chunks of work separated by a five minute break. It’s a firm favorite of many, so it might be worth giving it a go if you’re finding nothing works for you!

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What is your favorite productivity hack? If we’ve missed a good one we’d love to hear it!

written by Evangeline Hunt

To pivot, or not to pivot, that is the question: 

“Pivot” must be the business word of the year. In 2020, many businesses have taken stock and considered whether to channel their efforts in a new direction. I understand it, particularly as the current economic landscape and even future outlook is very different to previous years. However, my question is this; if you chose to pivot, at what cost, and should you also reconsider your brand?

We've been clear since inception that our vision is to be a market leading talent provider focused purely on the IT infrastructure market. Naturally we will follow technology trends and advances of the IT infrastructure stack, but we will expand our geographical coverage long before diluting our service offering into other sectors or technology areas. Our Franklin Fitch feet are firmly planted within our niche, we love it, and will not be pivoting anytime soon.

However, if a business does choose to pivot, and hopefully it’s only once, then should that company’s brand identity also change? Surely the original brand was set up for the initial service offering, I wonder how this translates to the new path of said business? From an employee perspective, if decisions are made too hastily, further pivots or a retraction could follow and this creates brand uncertainty and confusion. At some point it could feel like the circus is in town and the whole organization have spent too long on the Waltzers.

Our people and our time are the two most important facets of our business. I believe it’s paramount that everyone clearly knows our purpose, fully understands it and identifies with it. One pivot can be tricky, numerous pivots can be dangerous. Brand identities can be lost in translation, your all-important people can become disorientated and time will be frittered away.

Leadership is tough right now, pivoting can look appealing, but be mindful, the brand you’ve worked so hard to build, may quickly be lost in the ether.

Pause:

I’d like you to hit pause for just a moment.

Given the opportunity, would you rewind the last 6 months to take another shot at navigating the Coronavirus storm? I wonder which decisions you would make differently and which you’d keep the same. I do not believe many business leaders could have imagined the magnitude or ferocity of the ensuing turmoil caused by this pandemic. Reacting quickly was critical, the stakes were high and potential mistakes costly.

Rewind:

I’m writing this to give an insight into Franklin Fitch’s journey over the first half of 2020. To do this fairly, I need to give perspective, so I’ve shared previous years’ results, our expectations at the beginning of 2020 and our actual results from January to June this year.

I am proud to say that since our inception in 2011, we have grown our group Net Fee Income* (NFI) each and every year. Eight years of successful, sustainable, organic growth, mostly gained through a mix of careful strategic planning, rigorous hiring processes, a “people first” growth mindset, and a great deal of hard work.

The chart above illustrates our H1 results for the previous 5 years. Using 2015 as our baseline, the year on year compound H1 growth rates are:

2016: 43% increase

2017: 47% increase

2018: 39% increase

2019: 42% increase

Thus, from 2015 to 2019, I’m pleased to say our H1 results have produced an average compound growth rate of 43%. So, when forecasting our growth expectations for 2020, we didn’t deviate far from the norm (dotted purple line on the chart). Since our forecast in December, it’s been a whirlwind, the game has certainly changed.

The solid purple line on the chart plots our actual H1 2020 results. This year for the first time ever, we have tracked behind the previous years’ H1 results. In fact, by the end of June 2020, we tracked behind our 2019 results by 12% and tracked behind our original H1 forecast by approximately 55%. Whilst the latter number is worryingly large on first view, it is completely understandable when considering the severity and pace at which Coronavirus’ effects were felt across Germany, the UK and the US.

When reflecting on the above I have many thoughts and feelings. My first thought is always with our people and the wider physical and mental impact of this period. We continually search for ways to support and lead our people to excellence inside and outside of work. Guiding the leaders and team members through this has easily been the biggest challenge I’ve ever had to face.

How successful we have been is difficult to know at this point. We believe we’ve made good decisions with the information available, but only time will truly tell.

Play:

I’m hoping that my transparency here can give other leaders comfort and confidence when considering their company and team performances. I am sad that we will very likely lose our impeccable record for year on year growth, but I am proud of the efforts of our people, their work rate, focus and resilience enduring this relentless downpour.

I believe we need to pull together in times of hardship, not forget the bigger picture, whilst working daily on the more granular tasks and targets.

According to our recent datasets, the choppy waters are beginning to calm and we are hopeful for a few sunnier days in H2. We are consistently reviewing the course we chart and are diligent in our decisions and movements, hopefully plain sailing is not too far away again.

Fast Forward. Bonus track coming….

I’m sure most of us would like to fast forward this entire year, but unfortunately time is one thing we cannot control. I would be interested to hear your views and opinions on the above. If comfortable, feel free to share your results or simply your feelings. I wish everyone luck over the coming months, it’ll be Christmas before we know it!

-------------------------------------------------------

*NFI is a term often used in the recruitment sector and can be used as a metric to measure success/ growth. Of course, there are many other important metrics.

1. Social media is your best friend

This might go without saying, but LinkedIn is the perfect space to be able to show your level of expertise and knowledge. Write articles, make videos, record podcasts, host a virtual workshop, engage with content from others, have an opinion – you get the idea.

If you’re an IT infrastructure professional, make sure your content is focussed on this space alone. You don’t want to be known as someone who has an opinion on everything, but you do want to be known as someone who has an opinion on all things IT infrastructure – you want to be that guy. But don’t be robotic, be you, make sure your personality shines through.

When recruiters/hiring managers are looking over job applications, LinkedIn is likely to be one of the first places they’re going to look to verify your level of expertise. Do you claim to be an expert in cloud migration? If you’ve recently written, shared or engaged with an article about it, that’s a pretty good indication that you know what you’re talking about. 

Doing the above is a great way to virtually network. Given that we can’t network in person yet, engaging with others online and adding value to their conversations is a great way to get your name out there and maximize your connections. You don’t always need to be the conversation starter but you should try and be involved in them. You never know who might have the next job opportunity for you!

2. Show that you’re adaptable

Coronavirus has changed everyone’s working life in one way or another. For many it was as drastic as losing their job, for others it was adapting to working from home. However it was that you were affected, you want to show that you rose to the challenge and came out on top. With the uncertainty of the future, employers will be looking for someone who can deal with the changing way of the world, so showing you’re adaptable should be a key trait of your personal brand. In that sense as when, showing vulnerability is not a bad thing, people are able to relate to it and will buy into you a lot more.

So how do you do this? You’ve got a few options. Include a section on your CV/resume on how you responded to coronavirus. Write a short post on LinkedIn. Mention it when you have job interviews.

And if you struggled to adapt to the changing way of the world, then it’s all a learning curve. Think about what you could have done differently, and how you can use this moving forward. Self-reflection is essential for development and growth, while also showing you can be genuine and honest with yourself.

3. Don’t be afraid of failure

As humans, we want to avoid failure as much as possible – that’s natural. But the reality is that in order to push yourself one step ahead of the crowd, you’re going to fail a few times.

Most successes don’t come first time around – there’s a lot of trial and error involved. Take any successful brand/person/business and all of them will have stories of trying things that didn’t work.

Walt Disney experienced countless failures throughout his career, but instead of getting him down, he learnt from it. ‘It is good to have a failure while you’re young because it teaches you so much’ says Disney. ‘For one thing, it makes you aware that such a thing can happen to anybody, and once you’ve lived through the worst, you’re never quite as vulnerable afterwards.”

We worry about what people may think but those that are able to get past that hurdle of fear will connect with those who they want to start building relationships with. The others don’t really matter.

And surely, the only thing worst than failing is never trying in the first place?

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Do you think you’ve got an awesome personal brand? We’d love to see it! If you need help building your own personal brand, or have any other ideas on ways to do this, feel free to get in touch.

written by Evangeline Hunt

With redundancies happening across the board due to the current pandemic, it can be even more difficult than normal to make your application stand out in a hugely competitive market. Not to mention the frustration of not getting a response (even when you are promised one).

‘I’ve never seen it so competitive out there’, says Practice Manager Simon Nicholls. ‘With that many people applying for the same role it’s impossible as a recruiter to review all of the candidates, and similarly impossible to get attention as a candidate’.

Despite this, there are things that you can do to make it as easy as possible to make your application stand out. Simon shares his advice below.

1) Make sure the role is a perfect fit for you

It’s common for people to apply to anything and everything when job hunting. This not only wastes your time, but also the recruiter/hiring manager who has to go through the applications. If your profile doesn’t match the job description, you won’t get the job – simple as! With this in mind, you do want to challenge yourself to a role that you know you can do, but requires some brain power and is engaging. Some people suggest your profile needs to match 80% of the job description – this isn’t an exact science and varies every time but might be worth keeping in mind.

2) Apply to the role on the job board/LinkedIn etc

This might sound like it’s a given, but you’d be surprised how many people call/email to say they’re interested in a job but haven’t actually applied yet. Job applications can be tough, so try not to procrastinate and get it done. You’ll be in a much better position after you’ve applied to the role.

3) Track down the recruiter on LinkedIn and send an InMail & Email. This InMail/Email should include a very short overview of your suitability e.g.

"Hi Simon. I've just applied for the ROLE in LOCATION. I feel I am a good fit for the following reasons:
- The rate/salary is in line with my expectations
- I am based near to the location (description)
- I have experience in X, Y and Z and companies A,B and C
- I am immediately available for interviews and starting
Please let me know if we could discuss this role further."

4) Follow up with a call (but at the same time don’t spam call)

It’s all about getting your name heard! (and having the application to back it up…)

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This may not be a sure-fire guide to get your application viewed by decision-makers, but it can sure help. If you have any more suggestions or questions regarding this topic feel free to get in touch!

written by Evangeline Hunt

Ahead of the November 2020 Presidential Election, diversity is at the forefront of many social issues, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the disparate death-rate from COVID-19 on elderly and BAME individuals, immigration, and LGBTQ+ laws.

On the surface, it appears that diversity is increasing in many US communities. But what does this actually mean for those living in the US? With less than four months until the election, we look at whether the US, and specifically our home in Texas, is really as diverse as it appears to be.

According to a recent study by the personal finance site WalletHub, Texas is the second most diverse state in the country.  This is based on an array of factors, such as household diversity, linguistic diversity, racial and ethnic diversity, and so on. The study shows clear evidence that the US is getting progressively more and more diverse, but what is the response to this?

According to a Pew Research Center survey, 77% of Americans say that the increasing diversity is a good thing, and 64% say that this diversity has a positive impact on culture. We’re pleased to see that our belief in diversity and inclusion is shared by the majority of people living in the US.

Having a diverse environment is important for so many reasons, but above all to bring diverse ideas. Businesses are amongst the first to see measurable success from having a inclusive working environment – multiple McKinsey studies examining diversity in the workplace confirm this fact. Their findings are clear:

‘Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.’

Texas is a blend of different nationalities, cultures, languages and religion – stemming from Americans, Latinos, Indigenous ethnic groups and more. Currently, five states in the US are majority-minority (where most of the population is made up of minority groups) and Texas is one of them. Looking forward, the US Census Bureau predicts that the whole of the US will be majority-minority by 2044.  

‘More than a third of the state’s population is Hispanic or Latino, and consequently, Spanish is spoken in almost 30 percent of Texas households,’ says Wallethub analyst Jill Gonzalez. ‘In terms of birthplace diversity, 60 percent of residents are born in the state and almost 17 percent are foreign-born.’

We’re happy that our home is in Texas, the second most diverse state across the country. Texas was ranked third in linguistic diversity, fourth in ethnic and racial diversity, and first for industry diversity – reflecting the wide variety of industries from the booming tech scene, to agriculture and arts. The result of so much diversity leads to Texans having a variety of choice - variety of food, drink, music, religion, job –an abundance of options in their everyday lives.

We recognise that there is a lot of work to be done to ensure that the ever-diversifying demographic is reflected in American laws. At Franklin Fitch, we’re proud to run our Inclusive Infrastructure campaign, where we actively promote diversity and inclusion in our interaction with candidates and clients, as well as the way we run our business. We are providing a platform for those working within or interested in IT Infrastructure to share their experiences with us and to come up with possible solutions together.

written by Evangeline Hunt

As of June 22 2020, the Trump administration has implemented new visa restrictions on immigrant workers. This measure also expanded on the April 22 executive order that denies green cards to several visa categories.

There are four types of visas primarily affected:

H-1B visas: for highly skilled workers

H-2B visas: for seasonal employees

L-1 visas: for corporate executives

J-1 visas: for scholars and exchange programs.

Some sectors are exempt from these new restrictions, such as agriculture, food services and health. These changes are in place until December 31, but it does not change the status of immigrants who are already in the US.

When asked on his reasoning behind his decision, President Trump wrote that allowing immigrants into the US within these visa categories ‘poses a risk of displacing and disadvantaging United States workers during the current [coronavirus] recovery’ and ‘would be detrimental to the interests of the United States’.

The US is facing the highest level of unemployment since the 1930s due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump’s officials estimate that these restrictions would ensure over 500,000 jobs were given to US nationals.

The technology sector is loudly objecting, as it has relied on the H-1B visa category for highly skilled tech workers that cannot be found amongst the US workforce. Data from the State Department shows that 188,000 H-1B visas were issued in 2019 – tech companies say these workers are essential and will be missed.

written by Evangeline Hunt

Silicon Hills, the Live Music Capital of the World, Bat City…

We’re talking about Austin, Texas!

120 people move to Austin every day – why is that? The unique culture, incredible live music scene, or the booming tech industry… to name a few.

We made the move to Austin in 2018 and haven’t looked back.

‘The best thing about Austin is the versatility of the city’, says Jordan Guttridge, Team Lead in our Austin office. ‘You can spend all day out on the water, paddling/tubing/kayaking and then head out into the bars for some of the best taco's and margs in the US!’

Since Austin has been our home for eighteen months now, we share ten reasons why you should consider making it yours..­­.

1. Sunshine

When most people think of Texas, they think of sunshine, and Austin is no exception. The summertime in Austin is HOT – with temperatures regularly hitting 95° Fahrenheit. Even in the winter the temperature sits at around 50°F. It’s no secret that sunshine and warm weather has been proven to be a mood booster. If you’re considering moving to Austin, make sure you pack some SPF, sunglasses and short sleeves – leave the snow boots behind.

2. Low cost of living vs high-quality lifestyle

Rent in Austin is slightly lower than the national average, and substantially lower than coastal cities such as New York and San Francisco. Wages in Austin are high due to its economic growth and booming tech industry, meaning that your paycheque will go a lot further here than it would in California – while still having access to incredible restaurants, bars and leisure activities that aren’t always available in smaller towns. In fact, when taking the average tech salaries from across the US and adjusting them to the cost of living in San Francisco, Austin comes out with the highest salary. So, while the Austin paycheque might not be as high as the same job in San Francisco, the affordable and high-quality lifestyle make it far more economical to live. Most Austinites are able to afford things such as eating out and gym memberships without breaking the bank. In addition, Austin has low levels of state tax which makes your money go even further.

3. Booming tech industry

It’s no secret that Austin is famous for being a tech hub – so much so that it’s often referred to as ‘Silicon Hills’. Large companies such as Dell, Google, Facebook and Apple are huge employers in the city, as well as countless smaller tech companies. These tech companies in Austin make up the majority of tech-related revenue in the whole of Texas. If you want to work in tech, Austin is the place to be. South by Southwest (SXSW) is very tech-focused, with meet-ups and interactive sessions that bring new ideas and talent to Austin every year. What’s more, the tech salary in Austin has been steadily increasing year-on-year, meaning you can have confidence as a tech worker that your pay will only increase if you work in Austin.

4. Friendly people

People in Austin are well-known for being friendly, warm and open. Austinites also care for their city – there are more charitable organisations per capita in Austin than any other city in the Southwest. Austin has a diverse demographic, which perhaps explains why there is such a culture of collaboration – diverse people bring diverse ideas. Whether it be the sunshine, the lingering hippie community or the small-town vibe, Austinites are friendlier than most.

5. Live Music Capital of the World

Known as the live music capital of the world, Austin is famous for its eclectic live music scene. Live music can be found across the city 24/7, as well as countless music festivals and famous nightlife. Austin is the home of SXSW, which has evolved from a small indie music gathering into a huge conference and festival featuring film, music and technology.

6. One of a kind culture

The unique culture in Austin pulls a lot of people in. Laid back, collaborative, and entrepreneurial – Austin has a diverse demographic who are warm and accepting of non-locals. Numerous parks, rivers and hiking trails make Austin an ideal home for those who love the outdoors, while also having the city-buzz with ample bars and restaurants.

7. Creativity and collaboration are at the heart of the city

Austin has a very independent and quirky feel that you might not expect from such a large city. Home to lots of entrepreneurs and start-ups, Austinites value street art, galleries, local jewellers and local retailers. Famous Austin-bread start-ups include Indeed, Bumble and HomeAway. Start-up culture is contagious, meaning the independent vibe should be here to stay.

8. Food and drink galore

When it comes to food and drink, Austin has it all. From food trucks to fine dining, there is food to serve all occasions and budgets. Coffee shops, bars and breweries are plentiful, with the glorious weather making alfresco dining a great choice. It’s not just tacos and barbecue (though they are still a staple in Austin) but sushi, Italian, and a host of Michelin Star spots. If craft beer is your thing then you won’t be disappointed with the number of craft breweries and microbreweries dotted around the city.

9. Outdoors, health and fitness

Austinites are generally fit and healthy people. Perhaps this is due to the number of outdoor activities on offer such as swimming and hiking. There are over 200 parks and 30 swimming holes across the city, as well as ample gyms and running/cycling trails. Water sports such a paddle boarding, tubing and kayaking are popular on the many lakes and rivers in the city. The glorious weather, combined with the ample green space makes it unsurprising that people in Austin love spending time outdoors.

10. Animal lover’s paradise

One word – DOGS. Austinites love dogs. Perhaps party due to the warm weather and the fact that residents of Austin love spending time outside, often there will be a dog in tow. The abundant restaurant patio’s and outdoor space makes Austin the ideal dog-friendly city. Lots of restaurants and cafes support their furry customers with dog treats. Even the parks are puppy-prepared, with specially made water fountains for dogs. The cherry on the cake is that Austin is officially the largest No-Kill city for shelter animals in the US, with an annual save rate of 91%.

Are you looking for your next IT Infrastructure opportunity in the new tech capital? Contact Jordan today, or browse our latest Austin-based roles on our website.

written by Evangeline Hunt

As we all adjust to a new way of living, let alone working, we wanted to reaffirm our commitment to supporting American workers and American businesses in these challenging times.

Since the start of the Coronavirus outbreak we have ensured to seek advice and guidance from trusted partners on how we can continue to work with businesses to keep them hiring and provide insight into trends. To date Franklin Fitch has:

• Upskilled US companies in remote onboarding processes and remote managing

• Provided group and one-to-one training on video interviewing for both businesses and individuals

• Continued to hire for our own business to meet the demand of American companies still hiring.

But we are also looking forward. We all need to play a role in getting Americans back working and help to contribute to building a stronger economy in which all Americans prosper.

This of course means jobs, but it also means much more at a business and individual level.

Over the past two months, we have brought together a suite of resources, research and technology to help increase employment levels in the United States including:

• State-by-state job and market trends reports

• Outplacement services (including resume clinics, interview preparation workshops and personal branding guidance)

• Back-to-work schemes for furloughed/unemployed workers.

If you’d like any more details on the above, then please get in touch with me on j.guttridge@franklinfitch.com

It’s been an honor to work with American businesses to grow and create jobs since we set up in Austin. We are determined that we play a significant role in building up the great American economy to pre-Covid levels through an innovative service offering in terms of infrastructure recruitment.

It’s official, the coronavirus is here. Yesterday the UK Prime Minister advised people to avoid non-essential travel and where possible to work from home to help slow the spread the of the Covid-19 virus that has already killed thousands of people around the world. Many European countries and parts of the US are already on lock-down. At Franklin Fitch we are heeding the advice and from today, most of us are working from home.

Thanks to technology such as Skype, Microsoft’s Teams and Zoom Video Communications, to name but a few, remote working is relatively simple. Provided you have access to a computer and an internet connection, most people can continue doing their job in the same way they would in an office. Meetings, document sharing and even interviews (we will return to this in a separate blog) can all be done remotely online – it just requires a bit more planning and perhaps a little more discipline from the individual workers to ensure they remain engaged and motivated. 

It's about collaboration and communication

Some companies had already made the decision for their employees to work remotely before yesterday’s announcement, but it was one that was not taken lightly at Franklin Fitch. Ultimately we are a business built on collaboration and communication, and while this can be successful at a distance, it is something that David Annable, the firm’s founder, believes is even better done face-to-face.

“We are all about collaborative working,” says David. “And what’s the easiest way to achieve that? – to sit at a desk with other people.” For him, there are huge benefits to sitting in an open-plan office surrounded by colleagues doing a similar job. As well as the collaborative aspect, he believes the learning and emotional support provided by nearby colleagues is very important.

“Being present in the office means you are more aware of what is going on with your colleagues and are able to see the visual clues to help you provide the right emotional support at the right time,” he says.

People can work just as well remotely

Still, the government advice is very clear and we fully support the move to reduce close contact in the office, especially when our employees can do their job just as well remotely. We will continue to offer the same level of training and support to our staff and engagement with our candidates and clients via email, phone and video conferencing.

For many, flexible working is nothing new – in fact, according to a study by business payment advisers Merchant Savvy, 61% of global companies already allow their staff to work remotely for at least some of their working week. But for those who usually travel into an office each day and not only enjoy the company of, but also learn from, the colleagues sitting around them, the isolation of home working can be difficult. We at Franklin Fitch are very aware of this and will be keeping in close contact with all our employees, candidates and clients to ensure that not only business continues as usual, but also that their health, both mental and physical, remains strong .

We are open for business

Contact us on +1 512 886 4700 or email info@franklinfitch.com

It’s been an awesome 9 months for us so far, getting accustomed to life in Austin, meeting so many great characters and we can’t wait to continue this indefinitely moving forward. I never thought I’d be kicking back with a Lone star, a Texas chili and enjoying 93F heat every day but here we are having a great time and doing our best work!

• Texans love Texas! We’ve worked on jobs both in and out of State and the passion that Texan’s have for their state definitely trumps most others. Other than a distinct dislike for traffic, you guys can’t speak highly enough about the food, the weather and the atmosphere from city to city. We’re glad we chose to settle in Texas, that’s for sure!

• If you’re not laidback, are you Texan? We’ve enjoyed getting to know both our clients and candidates, but something that has jumped out of us is how laidback you guys are! As a business that have expanded from London, it’s nice not to be operating at 100mph every day and to be able to have a conversation with people you don’t know! Whether it’s an early finish, a day by the lake or a beer on the patio you guys know how to chill, and we are more than happy for you to educate us on this!

• Talk about versatile! I don’t think there are many other states that can boast the versatility that Texas can. With Austin quickly becoming one of the most attractive technology cities in the country, maybe even the world, who wouldn’t want to be involved! Techies and tech firms from far and wide (Including us Brits), are banging on the door and are desperate to be a part of what this awesome city can offer. The oil and gas sector in Houston bringing in a different crowd altogether, combined with the sheer quantity of farmable land makes for a pretty diverse State – and we couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it!

• July 4^th in Austin:  Austinites, newcomers and natives alike are rightly proud of their City, State and Country and on July 4^th it shows.  The only remote access needed on the 4^th is to hook up your Spotify by the pool as the grilling gets underway.  For those venturing out, Auditorium shores welcomes the Austin Symphony concert as fireworks light the sky.  And where else but Texas can you celebrate Independence Day at Willie Nelson’s 4^th July Picnic!

If you guys have any other ways we can “Be more Texas” then let us know, because we’re happy to try anything once!

Similarly if you’re hiring or thinking about a change, you know how to get in touch…

Happy July 4th everyone!

It was a fantastic night at Recruiter Magazine’s Investing in Talent Awards where we were delighted to pick up the award for Best Company to Work For (11-49 employees) as well as being shortlisted for two other awards.

In what was the most competitive category on the night, with 10 consultancies shortlisted, the award recognises the recruitment company “that provides the most effective work environment, incentives, benefits, professional development/training, internal communications, ‘best practice’-orientated management, inclusion, and social responsibility activity.”

The evening didn’t get off to the best start for one of the team, Chris, realising that his newly purchased suit still had the security tag attached. A dash to Oxford Circus was needed, and all was quickly forgotten when the Franklin Fitch name was announced and the team proudly walked up on stage to pick up the trophy.

Dave Annable who collected the award with the team from Hays’ Director of People & Culture, Trisha Brooke reacted to the recognition with pride:

“I was genuinely surprised when we were announced as winners, we’ve been working hard to build a great business, and to receive some external validation and recognition is fantastic. The whole team are bought into our vision and we are committed to the ongoing development of each person working for us, whatever their role.

We have ambitious growth plans for all of our offices in Europe and the US, so hopefully the 2019 awards will see Franklin Fitch feature in the 50 – 99 headcount category!”

We’d like to thank Recruiter Magazine for putting on an excellent evening and congratulate all other winners and shortlisted companies and individuals.

Are you a Network Visionary?

The Network Architect

Do you want a thriving IT career? This is the roadmap to becoming a successful Network Architect.

The Role:

Compared to a traditional Network Engineer, who is focused on implementing and troubleshooting, a Network Architect designs computer networks. This means constructing layouts for the usage of hardware and software and creating models to predict future network needs, using network modeling tools such as Opnet, OMNeT++ and NS2. Furthermore, architects are involved in the analysis of business requirements, project planning and budgeting, and often require softer skills including stakeholder management to complement their technical abilities. This requires a lot of diplomacy and consultancy skills.

But, Network Architects are among the highest paid employees in the IT-world.

Skills & Certifications:

The role of a Network Architect usually requires a bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, several network certifications are highly recommended. These include Expert level certifications, such as Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) or Cisco Certified Internet Expert (CCIE). Also beneficial are certifications such as ITIL and TOGAF or even the Cisco Certified Architect (CCAr).

Knowledge in key areas such as cloud computing, virtualization, programming, security and application design are also in high demand.

However, it should not be forgotten that building your experience is as important as having a degree.

If you put in the time and effort into gaining professional skills, certifications and experience in the networking field, the position of Network Architect could be the ultimate goal in your IT career.

As attractive as a counter-offer may seem, you should seriously consider if it’s wise to accept it. If you have already decided to move on from your current job, you shouldn’t let anyone change your mind.

As soon as you hand in your notice, a lot of bosses will try and convince you to stay – the standard counter-offers include higher salary, more training and development, more new technologies, etc.

So your mind starts wandering: “What if they are right?” “Should I give my old job a second chance?” “Who knows, what the new job might be like – it could be even worse than the current one…”

Please stop this thought process right now! Counter-offers have a lot of traps that you might not detect at first. In most cases, people regret accepting counter-offers.

Why does your employer only react to your wishes now?

Counter-offers are quite a common thing – and here’s why:

1. Your boss thinks: “Another company is interested in our employee – maybe we need to change something…” – no one likes to change so some people will try and avoid it for as long as they can.
2. You would leave a gap, which would be very time consuming and expensive to refill.
3. Depending on your specialisation and due to numerous amounts of skills gaps, it can be extremely hard to find the right candidate to replace your position.

Let’s imagine you accept the counter-offer – what happens next?

Your boss is happy you stayed, and he doesn’t have to replace you, so he pays more attention to you and your needs for a while. You might get that pay rise, better working hours and that long-desired bonus. Then your boss eventually realises – you wanted to leave. So, he will keep a close eye on you and what you do: a person that decided to leave once might do it again. Unfortunately, that makes you a very unsafe candidate for any upcoming promotions – because if they invest in you today how do they know you won’t take your expertise to a competitor tomorrow. Chances are, your boss only wants to keep you until he has found the right replacement. Once you realise what’s happening – the job offer you secured back when you decided to leave will be long gone.

Why is your employer only appreciating your value now?

Receiving a pay rise is a nice perk – but was the pay rise really the reason you wanted to leave in the first place? Money is important, but usually there are more reasons for an employee to leave: no career progression, no work-life-balance, not enough appreciation, bad atmosphere within the team, feeling bored or overwhelmed with the tasks. If you are now still considering accepting the counter-offer from your boss, then please make sure you mention the other issues you have within the company – more money alone won’t make you happy. In a lot of cases, and we are speaking from experience, accepting a counter-offer has made candidates unhappier rather than happier.

If you are looking for a new position within IT Infrastructure, contact Xenia Kusainovtoday or browse our current vacancies here.

Today’s the day – 32 countries from all over the world are about to compete in one of the most renowned tournaments on the planet. Entering for Franklin Fitch this year will be Team #Germany, Team #England, Team #Wales and Team #Austria. “4 Locations?!”, you say? – Yes, that’s correct! We’ve grown a lot over the last few years not just in the number of consultants, but also in experience, market knowledge, internationality, and languages we speak. (9. We speak 9 languages 😊: German, English, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, French, Swedish, Greek and Welsh of course!)

Since we started in 2011, we have used the international football tournaments (previous UEFA Euros and FIFA World Cups) for team motivational purposes. And since the official Panini FIFA World Cup Collector’s Sticker Albums have always played a big role in this, we wanted to honour this by changing our profile pictures for the duration of the FIFA Football World Cup in Russia. Let us know what you think!

There are many reasons why Graduates should look to recruitment as their first step into the working environment. The traditional image of recruitment is changing. What used to be a “plan B” career is fast becoming the occupation of choice. Why?

More companies are using recruiters due to the high demand for talented people in the industry. Recruitment consultants use their knowledge, expertise and judgment to match talented candidates to business’ job opportunities. Most companies have realised that their most valuable asset for success is their employees, giving recruiters the change to make a real impact on the economy and business growth.

Agencies are not only seeking the skilled candidates for their clients but looking for the top talent to join their own workforces. There is a significant demand for enthusiastic, ambitious professionals who are self-driven, hardworking and want to “be their own boss”. Recruitment companies are looking for those personalities that can build rapport, handle negotiations, influence and manage relationships.

Here are 8 reasons why recruitment is a good career move for you:

• High remuneration – Recruitment is built on financial incentives for performance, through commission, rewards and trips away. The more activity you create, the more successful you are in delivering the recruitment solutions inevitably means the more reward you gain. Types of incentives at Franklin Fitch includes: Trips to Miami, Las Vegas, Dublin, Cannes, Skiing, Water sports and many more!
• Scope for development – Recruitment agencies don’t want a high turnover, they invest in their staff to help them grow and develop as a successful recruiter with expenses on training programmes, coaching and mentorship. Agencies are moulding their staff into business leaders of the future.
• Variety of work – Recruiting gives you flexibility you may not get in other industries. For instance, one day you may be on the phones working that ‘wolf of wall street’ lifestyle, the next you’ll be out and about meeting clients and candidates, attending meetups, finalising contracts.
• Progression Opportunities – Top performers will advance their career quickly in recruitment, moving into more senior leadership roles. Recruitment is solely judged on performance, not time served or waiting for someone to take a step down.
• Competition is exciting – As a recruiter, you are in head to head competition with other consultants and recruitment companies. You’ll be a successful recruiter if you find competition exhilarating, challenging and enjoyable.
• The opportunity to meet the best – You’ll be speaking with the top talent of whatever industry you choose every day. Allowing you to develop your own specialisms, understand a particular sector inside and out and growing your connections for future job prospects.
• Consultative approach – Recruitment is for people who aren’t afraid to push themselves. You aren’t selling a product, you’re selling people. People are unpredictable and difficult to manage on the candidate and client side. You are developing skills to consult with clients to find out what they need to make their business grow and help them find the candidates who will make that happen.
• Human interaction – A highlight with recruitment is the interaction you get on a daily basis. You spend the majority of your time speaking with clients and candidates, understanding their needs and developing your relationships to help advance your career.

Franklin Fitch, the IT Infrastructure specialists have launched their fifth international office, and first outside of Europe, in Austin, Texas. With established offices in London, Frankfurt, Cardiff and Vienna, Franklin Fitch’s expansion into the United States comes during a period rapid growth in terms of headcount and financial performance.

Jordan Guttridge who has been with the business for four years will be joined by Matthew Forshaw who has over 10 years recruitment experience with four of them based in Texas.  Managing the operation will be Steven Ewer who has been a director at Franklin Fitch since 2013 and is excited about the new venture:

“Establishing a presence in the US has always been a part of the Franklin Fitch growth strategy.  We didn’t want to jump into such a big move until we knew we had the right team, infrastructure and opportunity.  We have that now.

Being true specialists in the areas of networking, systems infrastructure and cyber security means we can carve out a real niche in these markets and we’re determined to offer a real focused offering to the US market.  In Jordan and Matthew, we have experienced and ambitious individuals who will go that extra mile for candidates and clients as well as provide the platform for Franklin Fitch’s growth in Texas and beyond.”

David Annable, founder of Franklin Fitch, says that he believes that the latest office will emulate the existing offices that have performed so well since they launched:

“This year our business performance has consistently exceeded expectations and I’m confident that the newly formed Austin team will follow in the footsteps of its European counterparts.  We’ve invested significantly in our people development, brand and systems infrastructure over the past 12 months and it’s great to see it now paying dividends. The US is another exciting marketplace, offering further opportunity to our existing team but also playing a vital role when attracting external talent to Franklin Fitch. We work hard daily to fulfil our vision, and this really is a giant leap in the right direction.”

 About Franklin Fitch:

Founded in 2011, Franklin Fitch is a specialist recruiter in IT Infrastructure, covering the networking, systems infrastructure and cyber security markets across the UK, Germany, Austria and United States.