At the intersection of a long-standing advertising industry and the growing technology sector, adtech is becoming huge in New York City.
Many of the tech companies that formed the original ‘Silicon Alley’ made their names as pioneers in digital advertising, and that trend continues today as many firms continue to thrive in the fast-growing adtech sector.
We caught up with three of New York City’s most prominent adtech companies to find out what it’s really like to work in this niche industry.
Here’s what they had to say.
Nicole Olver, Head of People Operations at Contently
Built In: What do you look for in candidates in the hiring process?
Nicole Olver: We’re looking for people who bring something interesting to our culture. We want employees who think differently and bring skills that we don’t already have brewing here.
BI: How would you describe the employee culture at Contently?
NO: The culture here is very friendly. When you join Contently you feel like part of a family — people say hi to each other all the time and there are dogs running around. People here are also very hardworking. It’s very much a unique environment.
BI: What type of backgrounds do your employees come from?
NO: Hiring is pretty department dependent. When we’re hiring in sales, marketing, engineering etc., most candidates have direct experience in similar roles.
BI: How do you retain your appeal to talent?
NO: We’re looking to invest in people. We lay out what a career looks like, and offer great perks such as continuous education opportunities and health benefits. We even recently rolled out a five year sabbatical policy, where after five years with the company, employees can take two months off to go do something interesting. Ultimately, we want to hire and retain people that are inquisitive and make sure our benefits accommodate that.
Suzanne Logan, Senior Manager of Recruiting at Yodle
Built In: What do you look for in engineering candidates in the hiring process?
Suzanne Logan: Ideally we look for strong developers who have worked on software products that they’ve created. The tech team here is integral in owning the entire process from initial product all the way to launch.
BI: How would you describe the employee culture at Yodle?
SL: The culture here is fast paced with a lot of movement. At the same time, we have great work-life balance. Thats a big thing for our tech team — to have ownership of the product and have a life outside of Yodle.
BI: How do you retain your appeal to talent?
SL: We move quickly, there’s not a lot of red tape we have to go through. We also work with the latest and greatest technology. If a developer comes and wants to try new language, they can. If we change one aspect of the software dev cycle, it doesn’t affect other pieces, and developers are able to take on new tech. Overall, we groom, we promote, and we give employees the option to move up and across the organization. We also allow employees to take full ownership of product from marketing to tech. Additionally, we offer great benefits such as flexible paid time off, 401k match and tuition reimbursement.
Lorraine Buhannic, Senior Director of Talent Aquisition at AppNexus
Built In: What do you look for in candidates in the hiring process?
Lorraine Buhannic: We look for candidates that qualify under three categories. The first is a person’s intrinsic value. We’re assessing if a person has high career potential and meets our values. The second is a person’s capabilities. We’re looking for analytical skills, communication skills and the ability to develop skills over time through experience.
BI: How would you describe the employee culture at AppNexus?
LB: We have a culture of learning and teaching. We care deeply about employee experience, and even have a people team on the ground to put on community events and facilitate knowledge sharing. Our transparent culture also resonates with a lot of candidates.
BI: What type of backgrounds do your employees come from?
LB: We used to hire exclusively from within adtech, but most ad tech companies don’t operate at the scale we’ve grown to. Now, some of our most successful come from different backgrounds, such as financial services, consulting or they’re straight out of college. Over last four years broadened industries people come from, and a lot of people make a career pivot into technology when they join AppNexus.
BI: How do you retain your appeal to talent?
LB: Our employees are our best advocates on the market. They go back to their friends and family and tell them about AppNexus, as word of mouth is important for us. We are deliberate about giving our employees amazing work. At the end of the day we want people to feel like they have an impact and are working on meaningful projects.
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