The MTA recently announced its continued commitment to the Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (“M/WBE”) community, citing its $736 Million spend with M/WBE businesses during the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The MTA surpassed Governor Cuomo’s 30% discretionary spend goal for State contracts during this period, with a significant amount being in support of their information technology initiatives. As a longstanding vendor of the MTA, the MTA’s press release cites QED National’s 64 assignments and $12.4 Million in awards since the ...
In today’s world, nearly everyone is aware of the potential dangers of unsafe emails, website scripts, and text/SMS messages which attempt to compromise your personal information via a multitude of tactics. One of the most common and effective methods used by today’s cybercriminals to steal your confidential information is phishing. Cybercriminals often employ phishing tactics by impersonating known entities – pretending to be a person or entity you are most likely to provide sensitive information. Cybercriminals will provide links to ...
Whether you’re at home or at work, it’s important to be surrounded by people who push you to be your best and motivate you towards greatness. As much as greatness can be a singular pursuit, powered by the actions of an extremely determined individual, greatness often requires a conducive environment and a support system to cultivate and nurture it. At QED National, we firmly believe that, “team work makes the dream work.”
When you surround yourself with people who push you ...
You’re an information technology professional and your current role has ended. Or maybe you’ve been looking for work for some time. Over three million unemployment claims have been filed since the onset of COVID-19 in the United States. How should you differentiate yourself if you’re an IT consultant looking for new IT jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what should you expect in the search process?
According to recruiting experts, some good first steps to consider are listed below:
Be flexible, don’t ...
Recently, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera shared one of his major tenets for becoming successful at this craft.
“The word “try” cannot be in our vocabulary. When we try at something we are giving ourselves an excuse to fail or fall short.”
At QED National, we have a similar philosophy championed by our President and Founder Colleen Molter.
“You’re either doing something or you’re going to do something. There’s no ‘trying’ involved,” she often says.
This may appear to be a ...
As the world continues adjusting to life in the age of COVID-19, many organizations that are able to perform work remotely have enabled their workforces to do so. With this dramatic increase in “remote” workers, it’s important for organizations and their employees to maintain a proactive cyber security posture. Connecting to organizational networks from personal devices such as laptops, tablets and smart phones can introduce a variety of risks. Cyber criminals are well-aware of the mass migration to remote work ...
As the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic continues to intensify across the globe, criminals are ramping up their phishing and fraud efforts, often masked as COVID-19 updates, donation platforms, and related phone apps. Especially in times of crisis, cyber-attackers latch their messaging onto the latest news or media sensation and pretend to be a valid source of information or outreach. Once engaged with these fraudulent means (emails, phone calls, texts, or social media/internet links), criminals aim to steal your money, by deploying malware ...
The NYC Department of Education’s Career and Technology Education (CTE) IT Commission recently hosted a panel discussion to inform educators and CTE administrators about information technology hiring trends and recruiting practices. The purpose of the panel was to provide educators with this relevant knowledge, enabling them to best assist students in their pursuit to standout as emerging IT professionals for both private sector and government jobs. Panel members were represented by a variety of industry perspectives, from start-up leaders and ...
After a rigorous approval process, the City of New York’s renewed and significantly expanded diversity participation law is now active. City agencies have started using a portion of this law which increased the City’s Noncompetitive Small-Purchase amount from a limit of $150,000 per contract to $500,000 per contract. This significant increase enables City certified Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) to more efficiently transact business with the City of New York, bringing the City closer to its diversity goals ...
At the beginning of each year, after the excitement of the holidays finally subsides and regular work schedules resume, QED National organizes a New Year’s Kick-Off event for all its IT consultants and corporate staff. This important event invites everyone who works under the QED National banner an opportunity to come together and celebrate. And with all the accomplishments of 2019 – successful engagements and partnerships, diverse expansion of critical projects and solutions – there’s been a lot to celebrate.
By ...
Technology today is advancing at an unprecedented rate, pushing newer technologies and more efficient hardware, software and technical services into the marketplace faster than ever, revolutionizing the operation of major industries and the way we live on a daily basis. When artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, and robotics are mentioned in public or private discourse, there’s often uncertainty, and sometimes fear. Fear of job replacement which can snowball into eventual unemployment or worse. Fear that your career and life could ...
Everyday we’re bombarded with messages on various platforms, from emails to voicemails and texts. Has someone ever contacted you pretending to be someone else, someone that you know or should know? Maybe they were acting as a potential employer or a current colleague. Maybe they were acting as a car salesman you recently visited, or a clerk at a clothing store where you just shopped. And maybe for a split second the impersonator had you convinced, ready to click a ...
When you diligently search for something, or someone, that you’re persistently unable to find, it hurts. This pain rings true across a score of scenarios, and it’s no different for hiring managers for private sector or government jobs. Is your organization having a tough time finding its desired candidates? You may be on the long, circuitous road of looking for a purple squirrel. But how would you know this is the chase you’re on?
It’s enticing to pursue the purple squirrel, ...
Approved by New York State Legislature in mid-June, a package of bills recently signed into law overwhelmingly expands New York’s Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) Program. The most celebrated term of these laws includes an ample increase for the City’s M/WBE Noncompetitive Small-Purchase to $500,000 per procurement (previously $150K for NYC agencies). Championed by political leaders such as NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and prominent M/WBE business owners such as QED National President Colleen Molter, the new diversity law ...
To adapt to the demands of a tight labor market, it is smart to consider certain adjustments. Organizations lose some of the best talent in their recruiting pool for IT jobs to competitors who move quicker and keep candidates more engaged throughout the entire hiring process.
According to recent studies, the United States industry with the longest delays in their hiring cycle averaged 53 days to select a candidate, whereas the median across industries and countries was 23 days. In the ...