Candidates interested in enterprise “mobile computing” careers should focus on the true subject matter experience most sought after among enterprise mobile computing technology vendors.  The required experience may not actually be “mobile computing”.

“Mobile computing” with quotes is a facetious way to infer that this discipline should not always be considered such a distinct category of skills and knowledge, especially for Sales, Sales Engineering, and some Professional Service positions (as compared to engineering positions, where the learning curve is more challenging and time intensive).

Mobile computing challenges facing technology companies and enterprises frequently evolve around security, analytics, content … Continue Reading

Sally Sweeney of Xtra Effort suggested our team review this online video.  We found it be a simple but informative overview of how Social Media, Mobile Computing, and Cloud Computing HAVE converged.  So whether we embrace “Somoclo” as the new buzzword or not is unimportant, but we may benefit from Aberdeen’s observation and interpretation.

As a professional involved in enterprise information security, your value to an employer is diminished if your focus is limited to security technology alone. You also need to build up your ability to integrate security into enterprise solutions, and have awareness of industry specific regulations.

Relative to security technology itself, enterprises seem to distinguish candidates according to their particular technology background, particularly (Wikipedia definitions):

Network security: consists of the provisions and policies adopted by the network administrator to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of … Continue Reading

I don’t know about you, but I have been so immersed in helping clients, that I have been ignoring yet another trend and popular term that do not seem to be going away.

I can no longer continue to acknowledge having an awareness of  the term with no real clue what it is all about.

“Big Data” seems to be real.  Bummer.  I have to concentrate and really think about something new.

You should too. This ComputerWorld article makes it easy to learn and digest.  Voilà,  you are now a “Big Data” guru!

Two decades of selling & implementing enterprise content.  What has changed, and what remains the same?

From an enterprise technology recruiter’s perspective,  Xtra Effort has seen LOTS of change.

We originally helped enterprise technology companies in the content market segment hire Sales Engineers, Account Executives, and Professional Services personnel with capabilities related to document management, workflow, and … Continue Reading

Candidates with Business Intelligence backgrounds may benefit from being aware of related technology trends where their skills may be better appreciated.

How can the term Business Intelligence be viewed? Many different technologies and projects can be tightly or loosely related to the “BI” ecosystem. 

Data needs to be extracted, housed, manipulated, interpreted, and shared.   Depending on the size of the company and project, each of these phases can represent different technologies and discussions. Traditional technologies associated with these different phases include data warehousing, data modeling, dash board, performance management, financial reporting, OLAP, and ETL.    Some aspects of this continuum include highly technical discussions and … Continue Reading

You may recall reading a previous blog post related to why and how enterprise technology companies are hiring more inside sale people.

This trend only seems to deepen, particularly with infrastructure technologies.  Current day examples include:

1) Database technology

2) Security technology

3) Privilege management technology

Field Sales exceptions include consulting services sales positions, such as solutions for the utility smart grid initiative,  and for Cloud Application Development. 

Companies that value the NY market, have deals that exceed $100k, and are selling new technologies, always seem to value “feet on the street” and want field sales people.  Application Performance/User Experience Management … Continue Reading

 This representative list of recent Xtra Effort client hires includes: 

1) Candidate’s motivation for changing jobs

 2) Hiring location

3) The role

4) Compensation, including On Target Earnings

5) Miscellaneous (most often $ quota)

6) The Technology or Service offering

We hope the information helps support your 2012 planning process.

Xtra Effort’s observations:

• Change in compensation structure, culture, or executive team (most often related to acquisition, but not always) were the top reasons for change
• More technology … Continue Reading
  

THE MODERN DAY ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE SALES CAREER

 Years ago, enterprise sales jobs often started in one of three ways (with plenty of exceptions)

 1) A college graduate with a business degree would join a large information technology company such as Computer Associates, IBM, Burroughs, or NCR. Many of these companies and Software sales jobs started in Massachusetts, with such companies as Prime Computer, Data General, Digital Equipment Corp, and ComputerVision.   This fresh college grad’s first software  sales job would include … Continue Reading

Sales Engineers are in great demand because have developed both technical acumen and communication skills. The more current a Sales Engineer’s technology skill sets, the greater the demand for his candidacy. Earnings potential is driven by the candidate’s sales and business acumen and business acumen, but you first must ante up with the technology and communication skills.

Sales Engineers careers had stereotypically been associated with a utility role, often only performing demonstrations and answering technical questions. Now Sales Engineer careers often include more ownership of the prospect relationship and sales cycle.

Today’s PreSales Engineers more often are considered partners to the sales … Continue Reading