New Job Opportunities in New York

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Amazon is building its first fulfillment center in Staten Island, NYC. This warehouse will ultimately be responsible for the provision of 2,250 new jobs, where workers – together with the firm’s robots – will pack and ship orders to the tri-state area.

Given this, the company hosted a job fair on August 2, so that it can fulfill its goal to hire 50,000 new fulfillment employees over the coming months. On that one day alone, the firm received 20,000 applications for the positions which begin at $12 per hour plus benefits.

Barclays Bank is also anticipating job creation in New York.  As a reaction to Brexit, the investment bank is likely to feel the pain with lawyers joining bankers in moving away.  According to Barclays investment bank architect Bob Diamond (based in London), “People are beginning to understand Brexit is going to be far more profound and long-lasting than they thought. I’d be very surprised if support services and legal services don’t move,” which will ultimately be beneficial to New York job seekers.

New York SMEs: Making the Connection

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The City of New York is attempting to assist small business owners, as well as businesses owned by minority groups.  The way they are doing this is through certification.  One example was what happened with black-owned business Dabar Development Partners back in 2009.  Being certified by the city as a “minority-owned business,” the firm’s owner, Dawanna Williams was thenceforth awarded over $100 million in city contracts. This resulted in an increase in steady revenue as well as putting her and the business more in the spotlight, leading to even more business.

Companies can be certified either as a minority or woman owned-business (M/WBE) within the city of New York.  As if that wasn’t positive enough for NYC, it just so happens that women and minority business owners are at the prime time for opening new businesses.  For the first time ever, city agencies are joining together to assist owners of local small businesses by reducing bureaucracy and streamlining the process of opening a business in the city, thanks to the Small Business First plan.

In addition, the Mayor has recognized that facilitating the building of strong, diverse businesses will ultimately support his work and that of the government in the establishment of a stronger city.

Pre-Screening Engineers

Employment, , ,

In an attempt to facilitate the hiring of engineers and ensure their staunch technical skills, Triplebyte was established in 2015.  Initially in San Francisco, the company that has built an enhanced hiring process, enabling engineers to showcase their capacities, Triplebyte is now ready to move on to its second market, in New York.  At the same time, it will be moving into an additional industry to technology – that of finance.

After two years of focus in the Bay area, last month, Triplebyte announced the launch of its services in New York. Initially concentrating on “late stage startups” including Dropbox, Palantir and Peleton, the company is interested in engineers currently working in New York or willing to relocate and has even committed to cover interview and related costs.

The way Triplebyte works is by putting all technical recruits through an automated screening test, followed by a two-hour technical interview. It then identifies their strengths and weaknesses and using that data, seeks the most appropriate work environment for them.

Resumes are not required.  The process just works with candidates face-to-face and uses that method to test their abilities. That way it is completely non-discriminatory and not based on paper. So if someone has not gone to college but has taught themselves, but are extremely proficient in what they do, they will likely be placed.

Next up for Triplebyte:  the finance industry.

Trump Bump NY Tourism

News

At one point there was some anticipation in loss of revenue in tourism due to the Presidential election (and the resulting anti-immigrant rhetoric). That has been eliminated and replaced with what people are terming the “Trump Bump” as tourism-related revenues have increased this year compared to the same period in 2016.

Indeed, if you look at the latest report from the U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Trends Index, there was a 6.6 percent growth in international travel to America in April and 5 percent growth in May compared with the same months last year. In addition, STR (hotel tracking industry) ’s senior VP Jan Freitag said that the first five months of 2017 witnessed higher hotel occupancy “than ever before.” And there has been no deceleration in US meetings/events recorded by AMEX Meetings & Events.

New York will, no matter what, always be an icon and a place people from around the world will flock to visit.  Clearly the alleged Trump Trauma has not put a damper on that.

In Brief: What the US Dollar is Up To

Economy, ,

The dollar jumped against a slew of currencies that measure its broader strength earlier this month.  A four month peak was reached against the yen on the back of the numbers at the beginning of the month’s 25 basis-point rise in 10 year US government bond yields.  According to co-head of Millennium Global, Richard Benson: “The real story at the moment is the rise in U.S. real yields.  That does look like being the theme for the moment. Dollar yen is properly supported, and I don’t think there is even that much participation yet (in that trade).”

It has also been speculated that the US dollar could advance against the pound, following the Fed’s Labour Market Conditions Report, expecting to indicate an enhancement of market conditions that may spark some appreciation in the US dollar.

Other impacts on markets at the moment are central bank events, with anticipated raised interest rates imposed from the Bank of Canada and data indicates the economy in Britain looks gloomy suggesting an interest rate hike there later this year.

New York Businesses

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Atena (a diversified healthcare company) is to move into New York in the near future.  Rejecting Boston in favor of the Big Apple, in 2018 the company will be making NYC’s 61 Ninth Avenue its new home, relocating 250 employees.  In addition, innovators from the area’s “deep talent pool,” will, according to Mark T. Bertolini, company Chair and CEO, provide for “an invaluable resource as we consider additional investments in the city going forward.”

This will be a fiscally beneficial move since the office of the New York Mayor has stated the company will receive tax breaks worth $24 million from the state over the next 10 years, facilitating the building of its new headquarters in the region.

Atena is not alone in large companies showing their favoritism to New York. Sportswear giant Nike also showed its adoration with its #NewYorkMade campaign, featuring a slew of community collaborations and interventions around NYC.

Education in NYC: Next Steps

Education, , , ,

In this video Manhattan Institute’s Director of Education Policy, Charles Sahm, Center for New York City Affairs Insideschools Education Policy Director Clara Hemphill, Alliance for Quality Education Advocacy Director Zakiyah Ansari, discussed with City Limits Jarrett Murphy the issues that currently require the most focus as New York City prepares for the upcoming 2017-18 academic year and the municipal elections.

The video was put together by BRIC TV, Brooklyn’s first TV channel that runs 24/7.

Increasing Diversity in New York’s Media Industry

Employment,

In an effort to increase the diversity among those working in the media industry (specifically in TV – writing or directing), a bill was passed in the New York State Senate and Assembly which established a $5 million incentive program to be allocated to salaries of those who are female or come from another minority group.   This is in addition to New York state’s $420 million film and TV production tax credit.

The reasoning behind the bill was because it was found that those being hired in the industry were often passing over others just because they knew someone in the industry, leaving talented individuals without the job they deserve.  As Eastern DGA Executive Director Neil Dudich pointed out, “For years the DGA has pushed the industry to change their imbalanced hiring practices so that talent, and talent alone, is the defining factor. By encouraging studios, networks and producers to discover the talented New York TV directors and writers that are out there in abundance, this bill can be a meaningful step forward in establishing a level playing field for all.”

The way this will work in practice (if it gets Governor Cuomo’s support and becomes law) is that 30% of the salaries of female and minority writers and directors would have the opportunity to earn a tax credit, with caps of $50,000 per episode and $150,000 for a show’s entire season.