New year, new job? Ten companies that are hiring

Computerworld - Even in this today's economy, there are rapidly expanding companies that have set big hiring targets.

Companies are looking to attract top candidates by, among other things, putting advertisements on buses and combing social networks like LinkedIn to search for people with tech expertise and problem-solving skills.

Executives at these firms say they are looking for people who are selfless and willing to work collaboratively. They will examine a potential employee's work history as well as test his or her skills and assess smarts.

Virtually all of these companies want to hire employees with passion, who are willing to contribute ideas and energy. The hiring execs could find evidence of passion might in a career accomplishment or even a hobby.

For the second time in as many months, Computerworld is highlighting 10 selected firms that are looking to hire tech workers.

Acquity Group

Acquity Group, which builds websites and other Internet enabled applications, has hired 190 people so far this year and expects to add another 10 employees before the year ends. It currently has 475 employees, and plans to hire many more next year.

"We try to hire people who enjoy working with one another," said Jim Newman, executive vice president of operations. Some office connections have turned into friendships and "several marriages," he said.

Acquity clients include General Motors, AT&T, Motorola, Discover Financial, American Medical Association, and Sears.

Chicago-based Acquity seeks back-end and front-end developers, including Java developers who know CSS and HTML, as well as business analysts, application and information architects, visual designers, user experience specialists, and project managers.

The company has a campus recruitment program and about 25% of its hires this year will be recent college graduates, with the rest experienced hires, said Newman.

About 20% are hired though employee referrals, said Newman.

The recruiting process is rigorous, said Newman. It includes an initial screening with a recruiter where skills are assessed with a technical test. There's a telephone interview with a developer, followed by face-to-face interviews with teams of two people. One team will focus on technical requirements, and another on functional needs.

Acquity assesses the written communication capabilities of candidates with an essay question.

The work environment is "open and collaborative" with few offices and a casual dress code, said Newman.

The company may hire as many as 300 employees next year, said Newman.

Acquity's career page is here.

Ideeli

Ideeli had an IT staff of 12 a year ago. The Internet flash sale retailer now has more than 60 IT employees, and is searching for more.

"My business partners have an insatiable demand for new features and functionality that we cannot deliver fast enough for them," said Eduardo Frias, the senior vice president of engineering at the New York City-based company.