It’s that time of year in Ann Arbor when the leaves start to look a bit less green. When it’s a little harder to get a table downtown on a Friday night. When every store is reminding you of “Back to School Savings” on lots of stuff that nobody really needs in the first place. It’s the time when we ask ourselves, “How did summer go by so quickly?” and, “What the heck did I do with it?”
Anyone in the recruiting business knows that the summer months tend to be a slower time for hiring. Dataspace is no different, and our team makes the best of it. Besides taking time off for beach days and trips up North, we also make good use of lazier days around the virtual office. We’ve all taken on new tasks, doing things we don’t have time for during the hectic hiring season. Below we share some of our favorite things we did this summer, both in and out of work.
A new skill and a move to Michigan
Chanée, Recruiter & Relationship Manager
Chanée never shies away from a challenge, and she took on plenty this summer. She’s been using some of her spare time at work to learn coding, specifically JavaScript. By broadening her technical knowledge, Chanée gains more insight to use when assessing candidates for data roles. Not to mention, JavaScript also has lots of practical applications that she’s eager to try. When it comes to learning to code, she’s been enjoying the self-paced courses available at Codecademy.
This summer, Chanée and her family also made a big move back to Southeast Michigan from Virginia Beach. They love living closer to relatives and friends and also enjoy visiting kid-friendly attractions in Detroit on the weekends.
Social listening and local events
Katie, Lead Recruiter, Emerita
There are many ways to enrich your knowledge about your industry. Katie took on the task of monitoring LinkedIn for notable posts on recruiting. She identified key accounts to follow and tracked conversations, job postings, and industry trends. By doing so, Katie gained valuable insight for our recruiters, as well as for marketing and lead generation. While there are plenty of paid services that provide social listening, a homegrown approach like Katie’s can be just as worthwhile.
In her free time, Katie prefers to stay off social media and meet up with friends IRL at local events. Some of her favorites this summer were live music at A2SF, picnics at German Park, and runs on the B2B trail with the Erratic Run Club.
Blogs posts and family time up North
Charlotte, Lead Recruiter
Data science hiring still happens in the summer, and Charlotte spent most of her time managing our recruiting efforts. But she also was able to stretch her skills and contribute to our blog with her best tips for screening resumes. Getting ahead on blogging is an excellent task that practically anyone can contribute to when times are slower. Stay tuned to our blog for more insightful posts from Charlotte and the rest of the recruiting team at Dataspace.
Charlotte’s extended family has an annual tradition of taking a summer vacation together at beautiful locations around the state. This year she and her immediate family joined relatives in South Haven where they enjoyed relaxing days at North Beach and delicious gourmet hot dogs at Chomp.
CRM cleanup and kayaking on the Huron
Cathy, Marketing Manager
CRMs are invaluable catch-alls for customer data. Contact info, form fills, meetings, calls, and deals are all logged, often automatically, which can introduce errors. But, when business is booming, it’s easy to let CRM housekeeping slide. Cathy made time this summer to comb through our CRM and clean up outdated and unnecessary contacts. While not a glamorous task, it sets the entire team up for easier client outreach and lead prospecting in the fall.
Outside of the office, Cathy loves to get out on the Huron River, whether it’s taking her kids to Argo Livery for a paddle, or going upstream to Hudson Mills Metro Park to kayak with friends. She hopes to get a few more river trips in this season.
Consulting projects and flight time
Ben, CEO
Consulting is still a part of what we do at Dataspace. With more than 30 years in data warehousing, it’s hard to keep Ben from getting his hands dirty. This summer he’s been advising on a mission-critical data integration project for The Henry Ford museum. The work builds on a previous project he did for the museum. One that inspired Ben to launch Golden Record, a data matching and integration service built for museums and cultural institutions.
But when the weather is especially nice, Ben makes every effort to get flight time in with the Michigan Flyers. After hours and on weekends, you can find him soaring over Washtenaw and neighboring counties as he works toward earning his pilot’s license.
Looking forward to the hiring season…
This summer we’ve done our best to lay the groundwork for a successful fall of staffing and recruiting for data science roles. As August winds down, we start to look forward to Dexter Cider Mill visits, U of M football games, and the events at A2Tech360. But for now, it’s time for one last trip to Sonic Lunch, and at least one more Dataspace team lunch, al fresco, in downtown Ann Arbor.
Thinking about expanding your data team this fall? It’s never too early to talk to us!
We’ve been seeing lots of uniquely qualified data science, data analytics, and data engineering talent in the job market this summer. If you’ll be looking to fill a data-focused role in the coming months, you may benefit from learning about the trends we’re noticing. Send us a message—we’re happy to book a no-pressure chat about your potential data hiring needs.