unfilled tech jobs galore!

[gophins72]

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11148930/1/tech-jobs-plentiful-talent-is-not.html

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- While the tech sector remains one of the few bright spots for the U.S. job scene, firms are having a difficult time finding qualified people to hire, a new survey says.

Despite a higher-than-expected rise in overall jobless claims, unemployment in the tech sector hovers around 4% -- less than half the national average.

More than 65% of hiring managers that recruit IT professionals said they plan to hire more aggressively in the second half of 2011 than in the prior six months, according to Dice.com, a tech job board.

Among the firms looking to hire is Google(GOOG_), which recently said that 2011 will be its biggest hiring year ever.

Intel(INTL_), too, said it will add 4,000 new workers this year to its payroll.

Yet finding qualified tech professionals remains a challenge.

The tech industry is facing a talent shortage with available positions staying open for months at a time. About 63% of respondents in Dice's survey cited a lack of talent as the primary reason employers have difficulty filling positions, compared to just 46% six months ago.

Blame innovation for the shortage. A flood of start-ups in entrepreneurial hotbeds like Silicon Valley, New York City, Austin, Seattle and Boston are competing with powerhouses like IBM(IBM_) and Microsoft(MSFT_) to attract engineers, designers and computer scientists.

"It's challenging because I'm interviewing engineers and there will be 10 companies who are giving them offers," said Alan Chan, CEO of Bre.ad, a New York City social recommendation company. Chan said he had to fly cross-country to San Francisco to recruit engineers after having little luck on the East Coast.

The entrepreneurial surge also sees some engineers choosing to forgo working at tech giants -- or even hot, buzzy companies like Facebook -- in favor of starting their own businesses.

"There are people who would be fantastic early employees at start-ups who are instead choosing to first do their own thing," said Jordan Cooper, a venture partner at Lerer Ventures. "A promising start-up that would be built in New York is now having trouble getting the talent to do it."

As the war for tech talent wages on, companies must focus on unique ways to distinguish themselves for potential employees, said Marc Hedlund, chief product officer at cloud-based digital publishing platform Daylife.

"If you're a start-up and competing with a company like Google that gives out very high salary offers, your goal is to try and find someone who is a little unconventional and might not want to work at a traditional company," he said. "You need to have a really good story about why your project is a great one to be working on."

--Written by Olivia Oran in New York.

 

[Saint Nick]

Too bad they are all wanting 3-5 years exp. Or 5-10.

 

[shortylickens]

Bullshit.
I been outta work for 3 years and every time I talk to a recruiter they say "yeah you look nice but you arent exactly what we need and we can afford to hold out for someone else".

Fuck them. They are making excuses to send all our jobs to India and Korea.

 

[Farmer]

Fuck them. They are making excuses to send all our jobs to India and Korea.

Silver lining: a job sent to Korea or India may not be a job you want.

 

[shortylickens]

Silver lining: a job sent to Korea or India may not be a job you want.

Yeah its much better for me to leech off the taxpayers.
Funny thing is, some American SOMEWHERE actually has to go to a job and make some fucking money so he can pay taxes.

 

[Kev]

Silver lining: a job sent to Korea or India may not be a job you want.

he's been out of work for 3 years, I'm pretty sure he'd want it

 

[spidey07]

I've been saying this for years. There's a huge shortage of highly skilled people.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I thought you could only leech for 12 months shorty? Or can you leech for as long as you want, until you find a job?

 

[dquan97]

Here's a thought: if a company is having trouble getting qualified people to apply for a tech job with XYZ requirements and 5-10yrs exp, maybe they should think about offering more than $40k/yr.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Maybe everyone needs to take a step back and realize the top 5 % is only 5% total pool of candidates. 5% of people can't fill more than 5% of jobs. If you only hold out hiring for the top 5% your gonna be on hold a long time.

i.e. Do you really need someone who is an expert on everything right off the bat? People can learn things pretty quickly especially in the same field.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

I thought you could only leech for 12 months shorty? Or can you leech for as long as you want, until you find a job?

its been 100 weeks(maybe more) for a long time

 

[Exterous]

If you're a start-up and competing with a company like Google that gives out very high salary offers, your goal is to try and find someone who is a little unconventional and might not want to work at a traditional company," he said. "You need to have a really good story about why your project is a great one to be working on."

Eh? I was under the impression that Google was already an unconventional company

 

[rudder]

need moar H2B visas!

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Here's a thought: if a company is having trouble getting qualified people to apply for a tech job with XYZ requirements and 5-10yrs exp, maybe they should think about offering more than $40k/yr.

This too.

 

[Farmer]

Eh? I was under the impression that Google was already an unconventional company

Unconventionality decreases exponentially with time after IPO.

 

[her209]

need moar H2B visas!

OMG this.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Intel(INTL_), too, said it will add 4,000 new workers this year to its payroll.

Sweet! We are a major supplier to Intel so that bodes well for my job.

 

[Kadarin]

Having interviewed numerous people for positions at both my previous company and my current one, I kind of agree with the article. It's difficult to find someone who knows HTTP and unix and scripting languages, and who has enough of a personality that they can fit in well with the group.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Having interviewed numerous people for positions at both my previous company and my current one, I kind of agree with the article. It's difficult to find someone who knows HTTP and unix and scripting languages, and who has enough of a personality that they can fit in well with the group.

so loosen the requirements. what happened to on the job learning?

 

[her209]

so loosen the requirements. what happened to on the job learning?

Or offer more money.

 

[Farmer]

Having interviewed numerous people for positions at both my previous company and my current one, I kind of agree with the article. It's difficult to find someone who knows HTTP and unix and scripting languages, and who has enough of a personality that they can fit in well with the group.

That's why vocational training is way more valuable to the majority of people than traditional college degrees. People who actually should goto college will pick that stuff up in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, most people would be better served just learning those languages instead of a lot of the theory that most CS programs focus on.

 

[Wyndru]

Or offer more money.

This will have to happen eventually. I think a lot of companies have been trying to offer low salaries based on the unemployment hype in the news. It's a bad strategy because when things look better, people just leave.

Our boss kept turning down candidates the last time we were hiring because he figured that since everyone is out of work he could snag an amazing employee. We ended up with someone with 10 years experience and he was great. He worked for 3 months, then moved on to a better job because the salary was way too low.

I'm thinking about jumping ship too...they are finally considering inflating starting salaries to higher than what I currently make after 2 years for the same position, now that things are better financially.

I guess the pendulum is starting to swing in the opposite direction again.

 

[bignateyk]

Bullshit.
I been outta work for 3 years and every time I talk to a recruiter they say "yeah you look nice but you arent exactly what we need and we can afford to hold out for someone else".

Fuck them. They are making excuses to send all our jobs to India and Korea.

I've got a full time job, do 20 hours contract work a week, and have recruiters calling me every other day asking to come interview for software/hardware engineering jobs.

My wife also has a full time job, is currently doing contract work for 2 companies, and has turned down jobs related to instructional technology.

There are thousands of tech jobs listed on sites like indeed in a given city.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Our boss kept turning down candidates the last time we were hiring because he figured that since everyone is out of work he could snag an amazing employee. We ended up with someone with 10 years experience and he was great. He worked for 3 months, then moved on to a better job because the salary was way too low.

Companies are short-sighted. This is exactly what will happen if you do find a good employee and don't pay them their market value. I laugh when I see jobs requiring 5-10 yrs experience, advanced certifications or degrees, and a salary range of under $50K. You don't want to work for those kinds of people because they obviously have no clue.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Too bad they are all wanting 3-5 years exp. Or 5-10.

Yep, my favorite is when they demand 10 years of experience programming for Android devices...