Jessica Shirazi joined our Boston office in March of this year and she is a key player in keeping things on track and running smoothly in that office.  Jessica was drawn to Talener because she felt it was a great fit for her personality given that it was filled with driven people that are all trying to make a difference in the technology industry.   One of her favorite things about working here is being able to keep her office motivated and happy (she’s even been known to bribe them with candy!).

Jessica believes that Boston is a city of opportunity and is exceedingly proud to call it home.  Having recently been looking for a job in Boston, she does have a unique perspective on the job market there and said, “It was extremely difficult not only for me but for all of my friends to be recent college graduates in the job market.  Luckily, with encouragement from friends, family, and recruiters, I landed a job with Talener!”

Outside of Talener, Jessica enjoys spending time with her “abnormally large, continuously growing, outrageous” family, and says “there is never a dull moment in the Shirazi family!”  Jessica is known in the Boston office for putting up inspirational quotes, so we’ll leave you with one of her favorites:

Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering—because you can’t take it in all at once.      -Aubrey Hepburn

If you are looking for a development job in Boston or you are a current Boston client, please feel free to say hi to Jessica on your next trip to our office!

Ariel Kahn started with Talener in September 2012 and has been a force on the NY Open Source Team and an active, lead organizer of Talener’s NY W.I.T. branch ever since.  Ariel first came to NYC on a family trip in February of 2012 and realized she wanted to be here permanently as soon as she graduated.  She reached out to everyone she knew here and connected with Daniel Nooromid, who she had known growing up.  Dan talked to her about Talener Group and his excitement about the job intrigued her.  After speaking with Henry Boulos about the job and hearing the Talener story and meeting the Talener team, she was excited to come on board.  We asked Ariel how she felt about the technology market in New York City and here is what she had to say:

“New York is an amazing place to be involved in the technology industry. It’s one of the fastest growing tech hubs in the U.S. The technology job market is always changing. It’s so competitive and it’s advancing at an amazing pace. We are at an advantage here in New York because there are so many different companies here to work with!”

In addition to the pace and the variety, Ariel said that she loves being able to help people get jobs, and that she really enjoys her team and the structure that has helped her grow and be successful.  Outside of work, Ariel is really into music and enjoys going to concerts with her friends as well as going on motorcycle rides with her dad.  Her zest for life is clearly working for her, we asked her what the strangest thing a candidate has ever asked her and she said: “Soooo, what are you doin’ tonight?”

If you are working with open source technology or looking for a job in that sphere, reach out to Ariel and the open source team, their contact information is available on our TEAM page!

Maggie Brett-Bowen originally started with Talener in March of 2011 in our San Francisco office and recently transferred to our New York City office.  Maggie came to Talener from a nursing background and had never worked in an office environment.  She really liked the open plan of the office and the collaboration and camaraderie that comes from working in a place where there are no cubicles to hide behind.   Maggie said, “Because Talener was so choosy when hiring me- I think it may have taken 4 interviews- I knew that all of my colleagues would be really talented and engaging people. It turns out I was right, and I’ve remained close friends with everyone even after relocating offices.”  Maggie loves helping people find their dream jobs and said it has helped her make the move from nursing because she is still changing people’s lives for the better.

We asked Maggie what some of the differences between the San Francisco and New York technology markets are and she said:

“San Francisco has Facebook and Google, but they also have a lot of smaller consumer facing startups that offer insane benefits like multiple beer taps and work from home Fridays even if they’re not profitable because they have so much funding. Technology is a lifestyle there and work is really mobile- every café is filled with developers or business people working on the latest and greatest things… in New York there are starting to be more startups like that, but a lot of our clients are the big established media giants.  In both New York and San Francisco, the more successful startups of late have been business to business.”

When not tracking down the best candidates working with the hottest technologies, Maggie can be found spending time with her husband and their new dog, with a glass of wine in hand, either watching UK television shows or creating Europop playlists on spotify.

She has been an excellent addition to the recruiting staff in New York and we are very happy to see her continue to grow with Talener!