Voices

A Financial Startup With an Aggressive Hiring Plan

Now that the layoff era is finally over for Wall Street, large financial institutions are beginning to grow their teams again. But they are not the only ones that are on the lookout for fresh talent. Many boutiques and startups are also searching for the bright minds and hardworking individuals that can take their growing firms to the next level.

One such firm is FinancialForce.com, a cloud applications company.

“We have a very aggressive hiring plan and an aggressive growth plan,” Jeremy Roche, President and CEO of FinancialForce, told StreetID. “It is our intention to keep doubling up the business.”

“We are recruiting across the entire business,” he added. “At the moment we are [looking for] sales people, research and development, consulting and support.” The consulting positions include accounting, media and billing, and professional services automation.

FinancialForce is currently hiring for its offices in San Francisco, California; Manchester, New Hampshire; and the United Kingdom. “Some of the roles that we have are location-specific, but many of our roles aren't,” said Roche. “Although the time zones occasionally [create] a challenge, the fact that we've been able to recruit in multiple locations has helped us get the skills and the people that we wanted.”

On that note, Roche said that his company has one rule. “We try and avoid anyone who is an individual contributor reporting to a manger who's in another country,” he said. “That was a learning thing that we got through when we had cross-Atlantic reporting with too many individuals contributors working for a single manager in another country. And then you run out of time because you can't communicate enough with everyone. That's the only real rule for a lot of our roles.

“Things like a sales role, they'll typically either be in San Francisco or they might be out in our enterprise sales, they'll typically be working out of their home office in territory. But things like support, R&D -- even consulting to an extent -- we'll take across territory and across country.”

In describing FinancialForce’s company culture, Roche said that one of his fundamental beliefs is that businesses are “inherently social.”

“Our goal here is to build a diverse but open and enthusiastic culture where everyone is encouraged to work together and support each other, so that as we grow we also diversify and bring in people with different views and different skills,” he said. “But people that we believe will fit into our infrastructure but will also get [along] with our customers as well. So our culture is very people-driven.”

“As an employee, I would have to say he's telling the truth,” said Sandra Lo, Director of Public Relations at FinancialForce. “I've only been here two months now, but my first impression is still how I feel today: it's a very open and collaborative culture.”

Lo said that during her first week at the company she received help from Roche after running into some IT trouble. “It's a very flat culture in terms of everyone really does pitch in to get the job done,” she said. “It's fun. It's very productive, too, because I think people actually enjoy the environment. I love working here. It's a very positive culture.”

“You spend more time at work than you spend on pretty much anything else, even sleeping,” Roche added. “So you really need to enjoy it because that's what makes you productive.

“The one other really positive thing about working here,” said Lo. “I'm a mom, and there is that respect here for life and work balance, and there is a trust that you were hired to get the job done and you will. It's very respectful of people who have families, and that I appreciate very much."

“It comes back to diversity,” said Roche. “You have life skills from being a mother that actually brings a benefit here.”

Lo was surprised by this assessment. “Really?” she asked.

“I believe so,” Roche replied. “Look at Debbie, who's our VP of R&D. She has two young children, she lives in the U.K. and pretty much works U.S. hours and she balances her life around it. Her organization skills, even in what she does in R&D, are upped by her organization skills in her own life. You've got to have the skills for the job, but it's about people who have the right attitude and the right approach."

Jesse Marrus is president of Street ID

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