The Brokers Group, Ranks No. 398 on the 2006 Inc. 500 With Three-Year Sales Growth of 361.8%

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Technology Brokers is a full service staffing solution dedicated to providing qualified professionals to our clients. We are a complete resource devoted to assisting companies with their needs in technology staffing. Our success is a result of strong partnerships built with our clients in order to understand each corporate structure and how our candidates can contribute to their business. In addition, our solid relationships with our candidates allow us to find the best suited environment and opportunity for each individual.

Our company was founded on the premise that Quality people mean Quality solutions. Technology Brokers is composed of an all-star consortium of staffing/solution professionals, highly respected throughout the industry. Our knowledge and relationships constitute over a decade of experience generating incredible value to clients and candidates alike. Since our inception, Technology Brokers has developed a core business model that has been the cornerstone of our success…intelligent, timely, cost-effective and responsive solutions procure long, lasting, and mutually rewarding relationships.

Technology Brokers provides Consulting/Contract, Temp to Perm, Full Time Permanent, and Project Outsourcing Solutions. Our thorough candidate pre-screening process allows us to present the most qualified professionals for any financial staffing need. We immerse ourselves in our client’s culture, becoming a value-add partner in their solution.

CEO DAN REYNOLDS NAMED ERNST & YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR® FINALIST

THE BROKERS GROUP IS ONE OF THE TOP 50 FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES IN THE STATE OF N.J.; Recognized by NJ BIZ

The Brokers Group was recently named one of New Jersey’s Finest, recognition of the firm as

one of the fifty fastest growing companies in New Jersey. New Jersey’s Finest honors the states 50 fastest growing companies as dynamic businesses that have significantly contributed to the strength of the economy. Companies are ranked according to revenue growth over a three-year period.

THE BROKERS GROUP IS ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING NEW BUSINESSES IN THE U.S.; Entrepreneur and Pricewaterhouse Coopers Announce Hot 100 List

The Brokers Group was recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine and Pricewaterhouse Coopers as one of the nation’s fastest growing new businesses. Included in an impressive list of service industry companies in

staffing, advertising and consulting, the total combined sales of the Hot 100 for 2006 reached $1.7 billion. The complete Hot 100 listing is in the June 2006 issue of Entrepreneur magazine and can be found online at www.entrepreneur.com/hot100.

Congratulations to Dan Reynolds, a Finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2006 New Jersey program. The award recognizes and celebrates outstanding entrepreneurs and business leaders in New Jersey.

Dan is one of only 32 Finalists chosen from a pool of 177. Finalists demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

The Brokers Group, Ranks No. 398 on the 2006 Inc. 500 With Three-Year Sales Growth of 361.8%

Inc. magazine recently announced its 25th annual Inc. 500 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. The Brokers Group, a leading IT and Clinical Trials staffing company, ranks No. 398 on the list, with three-year growth of 361.8 percent.

Service Offerings • Temporary/contract staffing solution • Contract to hire staffing solutions • Direct hire solution • Payroll and referral staffing solutions • Human capital solutions

TBG Advantage At Technology Brokers, our product is not the people we place. It is the methodology we relentlessly and consistently execute to ensure we are providing the RIGHT fit, the FIRST time, EVERY time. Our 7 step engagement process enables us to customize the appropriate solution that addresses the specific and unique challenges in your effort to attract and retain Human Capital. Through this client intimate approach, we are able to decrease the many costs associated with procuring human capital.

• Labor Market Analysis • Cost Analysis • Realistic Job Preview • Success Profile • Sourcing Strategy • Standard Screening Process (SSP) • Performance Management/ Service Level Agreements

Talent Acquisition and Retention Technology Brokers believes we have an obligation to both of our clients, the customer and the candidates. Our SRP (Standard Recruiting Process) focuses on building and intimate relationship with the IT Talent pool and placing them in their ideal career opportunity. Executing our Resource Building, Resource Management and Redeployment processes, we are able to provide both quality and speed to market. Areas of Specialization

• PM (Application and Infrastructure) Technical & Non-Technical • BA (Technical & Non-Technical) • Application/Web Development (Java, .NET, C#) • QA-Automated & Manual (Seque, Mercury, White & Black Box) • Network Engineer, Admin Support (Unix, Windows) • System Analyst/Admin (Unix, Windows, Linux) • Database & SAN (DBA’s, Developers) • Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing • ERP (SAP, Oracle, Sieble, Peoplesoft)

The Brokers Group Princeton, NJ www.thebrokersgrp.com Technology and Clinical Trial Consulting Dan Reynolds – CEO and Founder Ranked: # 398 Growth: 361.8% over three years

September 2006

2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year

En

DAN REYNOLDS, founder of theBROKERSgroup, views his life as an "uncompromising and deliberate pursuit of love, success and wealth" for himself and all those that come in contact with him. Dan started the company in 2001 to provide senior-level staffing solutions to mid-to-large size employers in the information technology and clinical trial industries. Dan saw that existing companies were not able to guarantee clients flexible staffing, quality hires, screening, training and reporting, so he created a better alternative. The company that Dan wanted to build was a new kind of staffing firm, focused on long-term relationships. It had to be organized around meeting client demands, requiring high investment, complex infrastructure and a willingness to defer fulfillment. Dan started the company at the age of 27, with his family's life savings and without drawing a salary for a full year. Although he faced all the usual challenges of a young businessman, he says the added pressure to prove himself is part of what makes him succeed. The firm focuses on two growth industries: information technology and clinical trials. Its technology division places senior-level technology architects, project managers, developers, database system developers, infrastructure personnel, business intelligence and enterprise research consultants. Its clinical division provides senior-level medical writers, clinical research associates, clinical data safety experts, statisticians/bio-statisticians and clinical database managers. Five years after its launch, theBROKERSgroup has achieved an impressive 88% rehire rate of those clients it serves, a testament to the high quality of the professionals they obtain for clients. With results like these, Dan should easily reach his goal of expansion across the northeast, adding 90 more people within the next five years and building the next great staffing company.

2006 Ernst & Young trepreneur of the Year

Finalist

Congratulations to the 2006 New Jersey's Finest, honoring fifty

fastest growing companies!

The Brokers Group Princeton, NJ www.thebrokersgrp.com Dan Reynolds – CEO and Founder

The companies are ranked according to revenue growth over a three-year period; both dollar and percentage increases were taken into consideration.

2006

New Jersey’s

Honoring Fifty-Fastest Growing Companies

June 2006

Princeton, NJ www.thebrokersgrp.com Technology and clinical trial consulting Dan Reynolds – CEO and Founder Began: June 2001 w/o employees; now 70 employees Success Secret: Make company culture a strategic goal. Find a voice for all employees, and build a team culture that empowers employees to thrive.

The Brokers Group

COMPUTERWORLD

June 5, 2006

Volume 1, Issue 5 Spring 2007

Does HR "Get" IT Recruitment? IT Shortage May Be HR’s Limitations

A well-researched article that appeared in the Financial Times in mid-March questioned the ability of HR departments to properly assess IT candidates. The article went as far as to question the existence of an IT workforce shortage. The article, referencing a report from a London-based IT recruitment consultancy, stated that “the problem may be more to do with the way businesses approach recruitment than a lack of qualified candidates." According to the article, 73% of HR professionals acknowledged they were not the best choice for interviewing IT candidates. However, only slightly more than one-third (36%) allowed IT departments to choose the IT candidates to be interviewed. Only about one-quarter (27%) allowed IT departments into the assessment process. Part of the problem, as reported by the Financial Times, could be that HR may not have an understanding of what IT professionals actually do. One frustrated IT worker interviewed for the story described his exasperation during job interviews. He explained that HR does not question him about his skills and rarely gives him the opportunity to meet with a technical manager. Another criticism of HR departments was that qualified candidates are often overlooked because HR practices focus too narrowly on experience. For example, the IT worker in the story pointed out that job requirements and descriptions often are long, detailed lists asking for knowledge of specific tools and/or programming languages that, when added altogether, very few candidates would likely possess. Perhaps these unrealistic job descriptions are created because HR writes them with little or no input from the IT department and/or technology hiring managers. Another complaint from IT job seekers is that many companies are stubbornly unwilling to train. Many IT management positions go vacant for months and months because no candidate has the mix of skills and experience required. However, during the months of time looking for the perfectly skilled candidate, several highly talented and smart professionals could have been trained for the job.

One more reason to consider training and bringing on talented candidates with less experience is to build up management ranks. If the majority of businesses refrain from hiring new grads and limit their commitments to skill and management training, there could be a dearth of middle management talent in the relatively near-term future (five to 10 years). Think how tough recruitment will be then!

Unemployment Below 2% for Some Wage Growth Moderates

The current high demand for IT workers is demonstrated by persistent low unemployment rates. In the first quarter of 2007, the unemployment rate for some IT occupations was less than 1% (less than 2% for others). The overall unemployment rate hovered between 4.4% and 4.6%.

Occupation 1Q2007

Unemployment Rate Computer and information systems

managers 0.9

Computer hardware engineers 9.3

Computer programmers 3.0

Computer scientists and systems analysts

1.9

Computer software engineers 0.9

Computer support specialists 5.0

Network and computer systems administrators

3.2

Database administrators 1.9

Source: Unpublished tabulations of Current Population Survey data furnished by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

www.thebrokersgrp.com

Employment of workers in IT Occupations

3,100,000

3,200,000

3,300,000

3,400,000

3,500,000

3,600,000

3,700,000

3,800,000

2003

Q1

2003

Q2

2003

Q3

2003

Q4

2004

Q1

2004

Q2

2004

Q3

2004

Q4

2005

Q1

2005

Q2

2005

Q3

2005

Q4

2006

Q1

2006

Q2

2006

Q3

2006

Q4

2007

Q1

Source: National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses (www.naccb.org)

© 2007 by National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses. All rights reserved. www.naccb.org Reproduction and redistribution rights granted to NACCB members in good standing for dissemination to their clients.

Although computer and information systems managers as well as computer software engineers are seeing unemployment rates below 1%, hardware engineers are seeing unemployment rates far above the labor force’s unemployment average. IT industry observers surmise that hardware engineers are experiencing the high unemployment rate of 9.3%, because much of the production of computer and IT hardware has been moved offshore. It is likely also due to offshoring that computer support specialists are experiencing an unemployment rate that is slightly higher than that of the overall labor force. Pay for all workers in private industry rose 4.1% in February 2007 from a year earlier (February 2006). Pay in some computer-related sectors was consistent with that national average while others were more reflective of the law of supply and demand. Workers in the ISP and Web search portal sector benefited with a rise of 3.0% in hourly wages. Wages were up 3.5% in computer systems design services but up more, 5.0%, in custom computer programming services. Although not an IT service per se, computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing wages were down 5.4%, a reflection that production of these products is being transferred to lower-wage offshore locations. However, wages in the semiconductors and electronic components sector were up 3.1%, and wages in communications equipment manufacturing sector were up 3.2%.

Investments Are on the Way! IT Spending to Increase in 2007

A recent CIO Insight survey, which polled more than 400 senior-level IT professionals, reports that IT spending will rise 7.6% in 2007. That figure is significantly higher than the 2.8% to 6.5% rise forecasted by Gartner, Inc., Forrester Research Inc. and IDC. According to CIO Insight, IT executives are "focusing more on growth and improving service than on cost reduction; the current economic expansion has proved resilient; and security worries and regulations require more purchases toward IT protection." The survey revealed that in the application area, the biggest spending increases will be in business intelligence, analytics and data-mining software.

In the hardware categories, spending on storage equipment and mobile devices will increase the most. Survey respondents said they will be increasing their spending in all IT services areas with training, organizational and leadership services taking priority and closely followed by security outsourcing. While one-third of total IT spending will focus on staff costs, nearly three quarters (73%) of IT executives surveyed plan to consolidate their IT infrastructure to save significantly on IT costs. Other cost savings strategies include increased outsourcing (21%) and reducing IT staff (18%).

Clutter Bug versus Neat Freak Whose Neurosis Is More Efficient? A new book jointly authored by a professor of management at Columbia Business School and writing teacher may have you re-thinking your attitudes about people with messy desks. A Perfect Mess by Eric Abrahamson and David Freeman, published in January 2007, "is a godsend to anybody who has a cleanliness fanatic for a boss," according to The Wall Street Journal. Subtitled "The Hidden Benefits of Disorder," the authors make the point that disorder really isn’t bad. The authors contend that people who keep neat desks "spend an average of 36 percent more time looking for things at work than people who keep a fairly messy desk." If a creative approach to problem solving is called for, as often is the case in resolving IT challenges, the authors assert "that moderately messy systems use resources more efficiently, spur creativity, yield better solutions and are harder to break than neat ones." Umm, perhaps Einstein's axiom "If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, of what then, is an empty desk?" isn't so off the mark. So get don’t be afraid of the mess. It could be a career advantage.

Volume Volume Volume Volume IIII, Issue , Issue , Issue , Issue 6666

July July July July 2002002002007777

www.thebrokersgrp.com

IT Execs Sound Off on Recruiting & Retention Issues

IT executives recently shared their thoughts regarding several IT talent challenges in the 2007 Recruitment, Retention and Development Survey conducted by CIO Insight and Ziff Davis Media. It may not be news that IT executives continue to face talent challenges, but the results do point to systemic issues that if addressed could help alleviate retention difficulties for some organizations. Demand for IT staff is growing. Only 50% of participants agreed that their current level of IT staffing was sufficient when the survey was taken (April to May 2007). Another 56% expect to grow their IT staff in the next 12 months. When this question was asked only eight to nine months earlier (August 2006), 48% said they had sufficient staffing levels and only 45% expected to add IT staff in the subsequent 12-month period. The survey also found that different HR strategies seem to yield different full-time staff turnover rates. As the chart below demonstrates, companies that use a pay-focused strategy end up with double the staff turnover of those that use a human capital investment approach. A human capital investment approach is characterized by long-term staff development, career development and job stability rather than professional achievement and compensation.

HR strategy Use this approach

Full-time IT staff

turnover

Human capital investment

44% 5%

Work-life balance/security focused

28% 7%

Task focused 20% 8%

Pay-focused 9% 10%

Only a minority of companies says they practice a pay-focused HR approach (the approach that clearly yields the highest staff turnover rate), which is good news. Obviously professionals can be recruited by offering top salaries, but it’s a risky technique as those same employees may eventually move on to companies that can offer more exciting projects and more money and perks. According to the survey, the most common reason that IT staff members left over the past three years was for "better pay or benefits."

What Skills Will IT Executives Look for Over the Next 12 Months?

Although the list of needed skills provided by the survey covers most all IT occupations and functions, programming/systems development was at the very top of the list with 36% of executives expecting to add to that area. The subsequent, most-sought areas of expertise were project management (36%), helpdesk/tech support (27%), information/network security (23%), architecture and planning (21%), business analysis (21%) and systems integration (20%).

IT Unemployment Remains Low; Wage Growth Outpaces the Market

Today’s high demand for IT workers is demonstrated by persistent low unemployment rates coupled with growth in wages that are considerably higher than those of the overall economy.

The unemployment rate for most IT occupations was less than 2% compared to the overall unemployment rate hovering at 4.5% during the second quarter of 2007. The lowest unemployment rate was for network and computer systems administrators, perhaps reflective of the increased demand to harden IT security systems. While wages for all workers in the private industry rose 4% in May 2007 from a year earlier, pay in many IT and high-tech related sectors was generally higher. These wage increases are no doubt reflective of the higher demand for workers in these areas.

Employment of workers in IT Occupations

3,100,000

3,200,000

3,300,000

3,400,000

3,500,000

3,600,000

3,700,000

3,800,000

2003

Q2

2003

Q3

2003

Q4

2004

Q1

2004

Q2

2004

Q3

2004

Q4

2005

Q1

2005

Q2

2005

Q3

2005

Q4

2006

Q1

2006

Q2

2006

Q3

2006

Q4

2007

Q1

2007

Q2

Source: National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses (www.naccb.org)

© 2007 by National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses. All rights reserved. www.naccb.org Reproduction and redistribution rights granted to NACCB members in good standing for dissemination to their clients.

India Offshores to Silicon Valley?

With all the discussions about U.S. jobs being offshored to low-wage locations, it is important to take note when the situation reverses. India's largest media group, The Times Group, recently reported that of the 400,000 new high-tech engineers graduating from Indian schools each year only a quarter of them are "actually ready to join the job world." This lack of job-ready talent could signal a global reversal of fortunes — or of talent pools. In a recent editorial discussing "reverse-outsourcing" in which jobs from Bangalore are moving to California because of rising wages, The Financial Times cited results from India's leading software trade association. The association estimated that there could be a shortfall of 500,000 qualified, competent high-tech workers in India by 2010. In an example of offshore reversal, Mumjal Shah, CEO and co-founder of Like.com, wrote in his blog this spring of his company’s decision to refocus on California skills: "Bangalore wages have just been growing like crazy … this huge run up in the wages has destroyed the ROI … so today we decided to consolidate all of our engineering and research efforts back to our HQ in California."

Compared to a year prior, wages were up 6.3% for workers in the computer systems design services sector and up 5.8% in custom computer programming services. However, wage changes in IT/high-tech-related manufacturing sectors were mixed with some sectors dropping and others on the rise. With wages in computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing decreasing 6.2% over the past year, the debate about offshoring will likely not abate. Pay in the semiconductors and electronic components sector was up 8.6% while wages in the communications equipment manufacturing sector were up by only 3.7%.

It’s a Fact: People Will Click on ANYTHING!

A bit disturbing, this next news item should put all those in charge of corporate IT and e-mail systems on high alert. A European IT security professional, as an experiment, created a Web site ad that invited people with a virus-free PC to get infected — and that is not a joke. His goal was not to infect computers but to demonstrate how people will click on ANYTHING. If he had been determined to infect visitors, he could have easily set-up some "drive-by" malware or a virus (computers are infected at the moment the visitor views a Web page). Regardless if the user machine would have blocked the malware or virus, his little ad didn’t have any trouble getting accepted by a major search engine company.

Viewed more than quarter of a million times in six months, the bogus ad was clicked on 409 times, delivering the unsuspecting surfers to a bogus and virus-free Web site. The lesson here is that a significant number of Web users are much more curious than they are cautious.

Occupation 2Q2007 Unemployment rate

Computer and information systems managers

1.7

Computer programmers 2.7

Computer scientists and systems analysts 1.3

Computer software engineers 1.6

Computer support specialists 1.7

Database administrators 1.5

Network and computer systems administrators 1.1

Network systems and data communications analysts 2.0

Source: unpublished tabulations of Current Population Survey data furnished by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.