By Renee Budig, CFO, YouSendIt
Confidence in technology sector growing
According to professional staffing giant, Robert Half, 87% of technology executives are somewhat or very confident in their companies’ growth prospects for the next three months. In fact, 65% said it is particularly “challenging to locate skilled IT professionals”. This is a very good sign.
At YouSendIt, like many other companies in the technology space, we are on the “grow.” In 2011, we added 75 new employees—growing 56%. For the first three months of 2012, we have already added 29 new employees and are currently seeking an additional 40 professionals. While most of these roles are in engineering, other opportunities exist in marketing, sales, finance and more.
Competition for talent intensifies
The war for talent is heating up. Candidates in Silicon Valley and other tech-rich locales are in an extremely powerful negotiating position. Many of the most qualified and sought-after professionals are receiving multiple, quality offers. And, the competition continues to intensify.
Why the boom? Very little, if any, hiring was done in the very cautious 2009-2011 timeframe. Many people looking for work during that dismal hiring period either moved out of the area or took advantage of that time to retrain and learn new job skills. This has created a huge hiring vacuum that companies are rushing to fill as they become more confident and begin to expand and grow. Now companies like YouSendIt are thrown into the hiring fray vying for the same limited pool of candidates with major companies like EBay, Facebook, and Cisco as well as with the many “incubator” firms looking to fund the next round of emerging technologies.
Great time to look for work
Now is a great time to be looking for a job. For example, we are currently looking to hire a front-end web developer. But the challenge is that there are 495 similar open positions within a 20-mile radius of the YouSendIt offices in Campbell, CA.
In addition to the various economic research validating that technology is about to experience a hiring boom, I’ve been doing my own jobs research by simply looking at the traffic outside my office window. Over the past six months I’ve noticed a lot more cars on the road—and I’m anticipating seeing many more cars in the next six to 12 months. More cars mean more jobs. You can count on it.
