The Big Apple to Tech-Savvy New Graduates: 'We're Hiring' A recent report has New York City and Boston seeing major growth in hiring for tech-media companies.
By Andrea Huspeni •
Looking to join a startup? Head over to New York City.
Big Apple-based internet and digital-media companies snapped up new workers at a rate of 7.3 percent -- amounting to 2,200 jobs added across 357 companies -- in the second quarter of 2013, according to the East Coast Internet and Digital Media Jobs Index produced by executive-search firm Cook Associates. The same time last year New York only saw 5.6 percent growth.
Boston also watched tech-sector jobs launch 5.4 percent -- amounting to 800 jobs, across 178 companies.
Related: Can NYC Keep Its Startup Prowess? A New Report Shines Doubt
According to managing director of Cook Associates John Barrett, the increase in jobs in these two areas can partly be attributed to timing.
"The increase in tech hiring is due to a perfect storm of factors," says Barrett. "Huge established sectors in media and financial services combined with disruption in those sectors from the internet and a massive influx of venture capital money."
In New York, Google topped the list with its addition of 600 employees, followed by Amazon, which added 330 jobs. AppNexus came in with 210 new workers, while Facebook and Spotify both added 100 new employees in the quarter.
The firm also spliced the data to include up-and-coming private companies with large headcount gains. At the top of the heap was Complex Media followed by Yext, Warby Parker, Etsy, Yodle, BuzzFeed, Fab, Magnetic, Alloy Digital, BorderFree and Operative Media rounding out the top 10.
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To be sure, this survey which only tracks internet and digital-media companies in New York and Boston doesn't speak for the country's employment situation as a whole. But for those looking for a job in fields such as social networking, advertising, mobile commerce, ecommerce and video in either city, the trend is clear. While Cook Associates wasn't able to provide a data breakdown of what exact positions were being filled at these companies, Barnett did state he heard many of the jobs tend to be skewed toward sales, marketing and account services and less so toward software engineering.
"People who work at startups are not generally looking to punch a clock, they're looking to make a difference in the world," says Barnett. "Sometimes making a difference means long hours and little pay for a few years, but most who take the plunge into a startup never look back."
The survey's findings are based on a pool of 530 pure-play online companies (just involved in one line of business) and digital-media companies with at least 10 employees and located in Boston or New York City. Cook Associates believes its research represents more than 90 percent of the digital and media companies located in these two areas.
The recent findings are some comfort for the New York tech scene in particular, as an earlier report hinted at the Big Apple may be losing its edge in the world of tech world.
As a young entrepreneur in New York, Boston or elsewhere, how has the hiring process been for you? Let us know in the comments below.
