DearSummer
Apr 9th, 2012, 11:30 AM
Help wanted: tech firms scramble for talent
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/help-wanted-tech-firms-scramble-for-talent/article2395687/
Down the street from Research In Motion Ltd., (RIM-T12.970.352.77%) where a new CEO is firing senior managers at a firm whose growth has stalled, hundreds of smaller technology firms are having the exact opposite problem: Growing too fast, they can’t find enough people to hire.
In the Kitchener-Waterloo area, deep within the technology ecosystem that blossomed as RIM grew into a global giant, companies are struggling to fill roles even as their growth helps anchor the region's reputation as an expanding high-tech hub. Some are large firms experiencing the dramatic growth that accompanies global expansion; others are small outfits that require extremely specific expertise. What they have in common is that they operate in exploding industries, like mobile applications, that barely existed a few years ago.
As a result, local technology firms and community groups are teaming up to build a regional hub that would benefit every company here by pulling in more people. But companies, individually, are also getting extremely creative with their workplace and hiring practices - building gyms, catering two daily meals, offering unlimited vacation and huge cash incentives - in ways that could hold lessons for others hiring in tight talent markets.
Last year, nearly 300 new companies formed in the region, creating roughly 450 jobs at various startups, according to Communitech, a local group that represents about 800 technology companies in the region. There have also been about 1,000 tech jobs created at medium-to-large tech firms over the last three years, a period that has seen 531 new companies established here. But those companies are now growing, fast, and a "conservative estimate" is that there are roughly 1,300 unfilled tech positions locally, says Communitech's CEO, Iain Klugman. Even RIM, which laid off 11 per cent of its work force, is still hiring.
Definitely seems like a good time to be in the technology sector.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/help-wanted-tech-firms-scramble-for-talent/article2395687/
Down the street from Research In Motion Ltd., (RIM-T12.970.352.77%) where a new CEO is firing senior managers at a firm whose growth has stalled, hundreds of smaller technology firms are having the exact opposite problem: Growing too fast, they can’t find enough people to hire.
In the Kitchener-Waterloo area, deep within the technology ecosystem that blossomed as RIM grew into a global giant, companies are struggling to fill roles even as their growth helps anchor the region's reputation as an expanding high-tech hub. Some are large firms experiencing the dramatic growth that accompanies global expansion; others are small outfits that require extremely specific expertise. What they have in common is that they operate in exploding industries, like mobile applications, that barely existed a few years ago.
As a result, local technology firms and community groups are teaming up to build a regional hub that would benefit every company here by pulling in more people. But companies, individually, are also getting extremely creative with their workplace and hiring practices - building gyms, catering two daily meals, offering unlimited vacation and huge cash incentives - in ways that could hold lessons for others hiring in tight talent markets.
Last year, nearly 300 new companies formed in the region, creating roughly 450 jobs at various startups, according to Communitech, a local group that represents about 800 technology companies in the region. There have also been about 1,000 tech jobs created at medium-to-large tech firms over the last three years, a period that has seen 531 new companies established here. But those companies are now growing, fast, and a "conservative estimate" is that there are roughly 1,300 unfilled tech positions locally, says Communitech's CEO, Iain Klugman. Even RIM, which laid off 11 per cent of its work force, is still hiring.
Definitely seems like a good time to be in the technology sector.