Before a car purchase, buyers usually have a list of must-have and would-be-nice features.
The basics may go unspoken, like reliable brakes, effective windshield wipers and reliable heating and cooling systems. Instead, subjective must-haves make it on the list — easy phone hookups, a hatchback or all-wheel drive — while features like sound system quality or a sunroof may be for the wishlist.
Job seekers looking for a new role in 2025 would benefit from a similar approach.
Just as drivers prioritize safety and performance in a vehicle, candidates can focus on core job attributes like stability, growth potential and work-life balance before considering perks such as remote work stipends or wellness benefits. Understanding what’s non-negotiable versus optional can help navigate today’s dynamic job market with purpose and clarity.
Built In Chicago heard from local team members at four companies hiring now about what drew them to the team and what opportunities await new hires in the new year.
TravelPerk is a business travel management platform offering tools for booking, expense management and compliance to simplify corporate travel processes.
What first attracted you to your employer? When did you know it was the right place for you and your career?
I was particularly drawn to the stage of growth TravelPerk was in. TravelPerk is a unicorn company out of Spain but was still relatively new to the United States, and the opportunity to be an early hire in this market was really exciting to me. I also learned TravelPerk had managed to avoid layoffs during Covid which was really impressive as a travel tech company and, to me, spoke highly of how people-centric the leadership team is.
I knew pretty early on in my TravelPerk tenure that joining the team was the right decision! Everyone was so welcoming and I was quickly immersed in the company culture — seeing the team three days a week in real life really helps with that!
I was also given a pretty long leash to lead U.S. recruiting however I saw fit. I appreciated that the team had trust in me right away — some companies make you earn that trust before you’re given it, but TravelPerk welcomes recommendations even if you’re brand new to the company!
Share one exciting challenge or project you are working on right now. What impact will this have on the business?
Right now my major focus is hiring and building out our North American team, but making sure we’re doing it in a way that’s quick and efficient without sacrificing the quality of our hires. The job market is getting more competitive so I’m also constantly collecting market data to make sure we’re positioning ourselves as best as possible and getting in front of the right talent.
We’re in growth mode over here, and every hire that we bring on has the opportunity to make a big impact on more than just revenue — they get to help shape processes, brand and company culture. It’s really fun knowing I get to play a part in that by helping hire the team!
“We’re in growth mode, and every hire that we bring on has the opportunity to make a big impact on more than just revenue.”
If your company culture was a car, what would it be, and why?
TravelPerk would have to be a Tesla — sleek, efficient and innovative. Like Tesla, we simplify outdated systems and use technology to deliver a smooth, user-centric experience. Both are adaptable, performance-driven and forward-thinking, with a shared focus on sustainability and global reach. It’s the perfect fit for a company redefining business travel!
Strata Decision Technology is a SaaS company that delivers financial planning, analytics and decision-making tools for hospitals and health systems, financial institutions and higher education institutions.
What first attracted you to your employer? When did you know it was the right place for you and your career?
I was part of Strata’s last business combination, and I knew right away that this was the right place for me and my career. I’ve never encountered so many dedicated people with long-tenured careers all at one company — it’s rare to see that these days.
I wondered — what’s the secret sauce? What makes this place so special that people stay for 18 to 20 years? I quickly discovered it’s really everything. From the leadership to the culture, Strata is a company that cares deeply about its people and its customers.
This place is filled with hardworking, successful individuals who are also good people. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a team like that? I’ve been part of a few acquisitions in my career and, honestly, I’ve never felt more at home or more welcomed than I do here at Strata.
“This place is filled with hardworking, successful individuals who are also good people. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a team like that?”
Share one exciting challenge or project you are working on right now. What impact will this have on the business?
We’ve done so much to bring best-in-class employee engagement opportunities through our Strata Circle and other people operations initiatives. Currently, I’m working on forming and rolling out a new services engagement committee that will offer nearly half of the organization with additional opportunities for fun, collaboration and meaningful engagement. This initiative is designed to complement the wonderful work already being done by our people ops team and provide engagement on a more localized level.
Employee engagement is a passion of mine and I look forward to finding ways to connect with team members across the country and in our offices. With a hybrid and remote workforce, connecting with the team is even more important. I believe initiatives like this will continue to strengthen our culture.
One of our core values is that “We get better every day,” and this effort is another way we are doing just that.
If your company culture was a car, what would it be, and why?
I think it would be a Ferrari — fast, exciting, sophisticated, colorful and powerful. Our culture is what makes this place so great.
It’s fast in the sense that we make decisions quickly and respond to feedback even faster. For example, we recently received survey feedback and responded quickly with an approach that hit the mark.
It’s exciting because we’re continuously evolving and exploring new ways to improve. Many of our recent initiatives reflect our commitment to bringing best-in-class ideas and cultures together to get better every day.
It’s sophisticated because we do more than most companies I’ve seen — and we do it well.
It’s colorful because of the wonderful people who work here. Studies often show that people leave organizations because of the relationships they have (or don’t have). I like to tell my team “be the culture you want to experience.” Strata lives that every day. I see it in the daily interactions that I have with team members across all functional areas.
And finally, it’s powerful. Some team members have been here for two decades and still love working here. It’s not something you see every day.
Vivid Seats is an online marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of tickets for live events, including concerts, sports and theater.
What first attracted you to your employer? When did you know it was the right place for you and your career?
Vivid Seats was on my radar early on after experiencing the office and culture during a Chicago Java Users Group meeting. After applying and going through the interview process, everyone was very genuine, open and honest. No trick engineering questions, just good discussions about engineering and design practices and questions which allowed me to put my experience on display.
I knew it was the right place for my career after the first two weeks when the job role and responsibilities were exactly as advertised, the tech stack matched my expectations and the software engineering process was modern and organized so I knew my experience would be put to good use. I knew Vivid Seats was the right place for me personally when I realized that everyone I talked to loved sports or music (or both!) just like me. It’s great to not only be able to work for a company whose product I enjoy using, but to have my fellow employees just as deeply invested in what we do.
“It’s great to not only be able to work for a company whose product I enjoy using, but to have my fellow employees just as deeply invested in what we do.”
Share one exciting challenge or project you are working on right now. What impact will this have on the business?
I am helping my team and others move scheduled jobs to the Argo workflow engine for Kubernetes. In the past we’ve had a mix of applications run by cron tasks on a batch box and tasks triggered by Spring Scheduling. Neither of those approaches provides much visibility into running tasks or task history. Spring scheduled tasks have the added complication of management across multiple instances and requiring the application container to be always up.
We considered moving to Spring Cloud Dataflow for my team’s use case, but after discussions with our platform team, we decided that using Argo would provide more opportunities across the engineering org to make use of the infrastructure without having to be constrained by a Java-centric approach. My team — paid search automation — now has a number of different jobs that run at various times throughout the day, and there are over 100 total jobs across all of engineering.
It has been both fun and impactful to help the platform team find edge cases and work collaboratively with other engineers to streamline the process of getting new jobs ready for Argo that meet everyone’s needs regardless of the kind of application they need to run.
If your company culture was a car, what would it be, and why?
I’d say our culture is a Jeep Wrangler: rugged but adaptable and ready for adventure. We value being able to explore new places easily and take on tough challenges regardless of terrain. We don’t let bumps in the road slow us down, especially when moving into unknown territory.
Also, like Jeep owners, we’re not just a bunch of coworkers, but a community with a shared passion for the space we’re working in. We also support our fan communities with Make-A-Wish, On Site Support for fans picking up tickets for big festivals and special seating in our sports team partner stadiums. Finally, we’re environmentally conscious with compostable dishware, cups, and utensils throughout our offices.
Our engineering work reflects this culture, as we are working hard to build a reliable yet customizable infrastructure, ready to be stress-tested by the other parts of the organization and their need to remain nimble.
Jobba Trade Technologies provides software solutions designed to streamline operations and improve efficiency for roofing contractors and service providers.
What first attracted you to your employer? When did you know it was the right place for you and your career?
I was looking for a small software development company selling a product to an underserved industry. I wanted a role which would require my IT and development operations experience. I also wanted a role in which I would have a direct impact on the business. Each encounter with the team during the recruiting engagement further solidified that Jobba would provide me with a great blend of small company culture, motivated peers and management, and opportunity for impact.
The roofing industry is underserved and it was clear to me that the product Jobba provides is unmatched in the space. I knew that I could have an immediate impact on the business by reducing IT spend. Ultimately it was the people which sealed the deal for me; I felt welcome and knew I would learn from each and every person I met.
Share one exciting challenge or project you are working on right now. What impact will this have on the business?
When customers subscribe to Jobba they may be transitioning from a competing product or have a need to configure their customer and material lists. Today this is being accomplished using Excel spreadsheets coupled with database scripts. When Jobba database schema changes, the database scripts must change as well. We are designing and developing a tool which will utilize the Jobba WebSocket API to ensure validation done on incoming data matches what would happen in the UI.
We are also intending to create providers for the common source systems. We’ll utilize a tool such as Singer or AirByte to facilitate the mapping of source to target. This tool will streamline the onboarding of customers and reduce/eliminate ongoing maintenance of database scripts.
If your company culture was a car, what would it be, and why?
Jobba culture is like a teenager’s first car. Like a teenager’s first car, Jobba gets improved constantly, is kept very clean and ignores limits.
“Like a teenager’s first car, Jobba gets improved constantly, is kept very clean and ignores limits.”
