Charity Event Unites Thousands in the Largest Ever Recruiting Event for New York City Startups

NEW YORK, June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Silicon Alley Talent Fair (SATF) will showcase over 100 NYC startups to meet face-to-face with candidates on Thursday, June 16th at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue.  A full house is expected at what will be the largest startup recruiting event ever in New York City.  All profits will be donated to a popular charity selected by registered candidates.

The Armory will host the event from 12:00 to 6:00 PM, when participating startups will be stationed throughout the 27,000 square foot space.  Rachel Sterne, NYC's chief digital officer will provide the opening speech for an event that includes a curtained-off networking lounge, startup demos, refreshments provided by PepsiCo, and music by DJ erock.  The networking lounge will also be home to a competitive ping-pong tournament sponsored by Cellufun.  After 6:00 PM, the space will host an after-party sponsored by ideeli, where candidates will be able to mingle with hundreds of startup employees and enjoy beer provided by Beerlao.

"There is a noticeable shift towards entrepreneurship in NYC.  You're seeing more talented men and women turn down high paying jobs for the chance to grow within a young company," comments SATF Organizer Tarek Pertew, whose startup Referio leverages social interactions to help companies increase the effectiveness of referral hiring.

SATF was conceived immediately after an e-mail rejected some 80 startups from a recruiting event held at AOL this past April, due to capacity constraints. Leading sponsors include Silicon Valley Bank, General Assembly, InsideStartups.org, TechStars, StackOverflow, MLB Advanced Media, NYTM , Buddy Media and 10Gen.  Wifi service will be available thanks to the contributions of Clearwire, KeyWifi and Tekserve.

"We have the venue till midnight, so we might as well use it," says SATF Co-Organizer Ron Zeligzon, who credits the entrepreneurial nature of those involved for ensuring the event is "not your average job fair."  Miriam Ryan, SATF Co-Organizer and an experienced recruiter within the NYC Startup scene, adds that, "in the midst of what is still a very challenging job market, we know there is very strong talent out there that can have a material impact on our ability to grow."

Registration for startups is expected to reach capacity shortly, and already includes popular startups like bitly, Meetup, Paperless Post, Quirky and Rent the Runway, with exciting newcomers like ADstruc, GameChanger.io, Sonar, Shelby.tv, and TwoChop.

Interested startups and candidates can view further details and register to attend by visiting MyWorkster.com.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS: The planning team is led by experienced event planner, Tarek Pertew, founder of NYC startups Referio (a social referral platform) and MyWorkster (an event planning business), Miriam Ryan of Datalot (an online customer acquisition platform) and Ron Zeligzon of StuffBuff (a contextual social commerce platform).  Together, with help from others, including idea originator Dan Goikhman, co-founder of Mojiva and Adam Black of KeyWifi, the team is working hard to organize an event that is a far cry from your typical job fair.

PARTICIPATING COMPANIES (NON-INCLUSIVE): 10gen, Adaptly, Adconion Media Group, ADstruc, Animoto, Appdrenaline, AppFirst, AppNexus, Aviary, AxialMarket, Behance, bitly, BurdaStyle, Cellufun, CityPockets, Crowdtap, CrowdTwist, Datalot, EasyBib, Enterproid, EquaMetrics, Everyday Health, Exfm, EXPO, Fast Society, Figment, Flat World Knowledge, Freedom Teleworkers, GameChanger.io, GateGuru, General Sentiment, Genii, GetGlue, Gojee, Group Commerce, H.BLOOM, Hara Partners, Harvest, HereWeClick, ideeli, iGottaGuide, IndustryGraph, iSEC Partners, Jibe, JoorAccess, Jumo, KeyWifi, kikin, Kindara Inc., Krossover, Late Nite Labs, LeadPlace, LivePerson, LocalBonus, MLB Advanced Media, Mediamorph, Meetup, MergeSkills, Mind Body Play, Mojiva, NYC Footy, Ology Media, Organic Spread Media, Pagane, Paperless Post, PenPal News, PhotoShelter, Pixable, Proclivity Systems, Quirky, Red Rover, Referio, Refinery29, RentTheRunway, RevTrax, Schoology, Seamless Receipts, SeamlessWeb, SeatGeek, Shapeways, Shelby.tv, Skillshare, Social Media Link, Socialbomb, SocialBon, Solvate, Sonar, Squarespace, StuffBuff, Stylesight, SuburbanMomma, Sulia, TargetSpot, The Echo System, TheLadders, Tremor Media, TwoChop, VYou, Wantworthy, XGraph, Yipit, Yodle

SOURCE Referio