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Now Fighting for Top Tech Talent: Makers of Turbines, Tools and Toyotas (wsj.com)
The tussle over technology talent is reaching far beyond Silicon Valley. From a report: Firms from industrial giants to car makers are rethinking the way they recruit as they compete with each other and traditional technology outfits for people with expertise in high-tech fields like machine learning, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. For some positions that Siemens AG needs to fill, there may be a universe of fewer than 2,000 qualified people in the U.S., said Michael Brown, vice president of talent acquisition in the Americas for the German industrial conglomerate that makes everything from gas turbines to mammography machines. "The question is how many of those are looking for a job?" Mr. Brown said. Finding the right potential candidates on sites like LinkedIn isn't easy because "they're tired of being found."
Siemens has 377,000 employees world-wide and about 50,000 in the U.S. At the moment, it has about 1,500 open jobs across America, most of which require some software or science-related background. Employers are handicapped by several factors, data show and recruiters say: Cutting-edge skills are evolving faster than universities can train people, the supply of talented young workers entering these fields isn't satisfying the huge demand for them, and mobility -- a worker's willingness to uproot their life for a job in a new place -- has declined. The odds of luring rare, coveted candidates away from their current job or city are long, Mr. Brown said.
Siemens has 377,000 employees world-wide and about 50,000 in the U.S. At the moment, it has about 1,500 open jobs across America, most of which require some software or science-related background. Employers are handicapped by several factors, data show and recruiters say: Cutting-edge skills are evolving faster than universities can train people, the supply of talented young workers entering these fields isn't satisfying the huge demand for them, and mobility -- a worker's willingness to uproot their life for a job in a new place -- has declined. The odds of luring rare, coveted candidates away from their current job or city are long, Mr. Brown said.
Companies may need to start paying people what they're worth! Quelle horreur! Won't somebody think of the poor shareholders?
They must just not know where to look... I still need a job.
I've heard for years that 'tool and die' is where it's at...
"The supply of talented young workers entering these fields isn't satisfying the huge demand for them"
"Facebook, Amazon, and Hundreds of Companies Post Targeted Job Ads That Screen Out Older Workers "
Need I say more?
Assuming that this is really true and not just another attempt to justify bringing in cheap, exploitable, incompetent, foreign labor it sounds like they should train workers for these jobs.
They could either pool resources and form a school/cert and share graduates or do this in house.
Something like this is being done now by Swiss luxury watch makers to train talent to do repairs and maintenance.
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The requirement for people with 10 years experience of a concept that is only 5 years old is a problem. Racism, ageism and sexism are problems.
Most present systems are over-reliant on buzzword matching, which might work better if everyone agreed what the buzzwords were, and what they meant.
It is not much use attracting people to your job if you then reject them due to inability to evaluate them in any meaningful manner, not helped by the Kruger-Dunning problem where the people with most confidence in their skills are the people with least skill.
A completely new method of connecting people with high-tech jobs. Probably one with fewer middle men in it, and MORE PAY.
Disclaimer: I am retired.
Now get off my Cobol.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
Siemans seems like a smart company. They hire in smaller centers where the labor is cheaper.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
We're in a ridiculous bubble market right now. Some examples: at our company we're struggling to hire, more than we ever have, and new people are leaving 2 days in because they got a position somewhere else. Yep, it's great for employees, but please realize we're talking completely unskilled employees here. I've talked with people from other places and it seems to be similar everywhere. Also on the skilled side, I just went hunting for a plumber to sell me a new water heater for my house, and one plumber I used before just ignored my request, and then another one gave me a quote and then isn't getting back to me, even though I'm eager to get the job done and pay him. He claims they're very busy. Where my wife works they'd announced they want to increase the size of her department but they've had several unfilled positions for over a year and can't fill them.
This is what happens when the economy starts doing well - it goes into an uncontrolled upward spiral. That's why the government is increasing interest rates, to try to keep inflation from growing. What happens is, since everyone's eager to hire and buy stuff to fulfill demand, they're all willing to pay more and that's why inflation grows quickly. In reality there's not much flexibility in labour so once we get the unemployment rate down low, inflation starts to rise.
Unfortunately efficiency starts to drop. Training new people who are job hopping costs a lot more. Also, companies start to put off routine maintenance because they don't have enough maintenance people and there's a big push to produce more product to fulfill the demand. New capacity can't be brought online this fast because it requires large capital investment, and labour is already scarce.
On the radio I'm starting to hear a lot more advertisements for big loans "even if you have poor credit" and lots more ads for cheque cashing and payday loans. The wording is reminiscent of the ads that were on the radio leading up to the 2008 crash (at that time they were pushing interest-only mortgages). Giving people with bad credit more access to credit is a big red flag. You're dumping more demand into the marketplace (those people immediately spend that money), but the risks of default go way up.
It's also been a relatively long time since the last recession - longer than usual anyway. We're due.
I can't tell you when this is going to burst, but we've been through times like this before and they generally don't last very long. I suggest saving what you can now while times are good, because jobs are likely going to be scarce a few years from now. If you're looking for a job, find one at a company that's been around for a few economic cycles. Then hang on tight.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Gosh, that sounds like a problem. Whatever shall we do?
Wait! I know! Maybe we could just import more cheap ... er, I mean, invite talented folks from abroad!
(What's that Bob? Yes, that's right; we don't want our job postings showing to anyone over 35.)
Anyway, where was I? Yes, woe is us! Just no domestic workers out there :(
...everything you've learned is obsolete. People have been saying this for years now... and for some reason... are still ponying up soul crushing amounts of debt for what amounts to a CHANCE at a job.
It's a gamble. And we're playing with our children's livelihoods.
drop must have an degree and Taleo!
Also better recruiting I deal with some that just seem to like to say we have a big list of names but seem very clueless about the job or even where the job is.
Seems hard to believe that Siemens is struggling to hire considering the huge layoffs at GE (their number one competitor in power turbines). Also I know they are letting people be hired away and people are leaving because they're under the impression that layoffs are imminent. Sounds more like that can't retain and hire at the prices they want to pay.
They're selling bags of dry dog food on the internet again.
I thought that was a sure sign of impending pop, but it's been over a year.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Seriously, this is why we need to kill off H1Bs, and instead, do greencards. If we need ppl here for tech, then they should be allowed to stay.
Secondly, we need to restore our education system that we had before Clinton/W got ahold of it. Not everybody is cut out for college. Look at CHina/Europe/Japan. In America, we require nearly all students to take our tests such as GRE, ACT, SAT, etc. Elsewhere, by soph year, they have weeded out those that will go to college and those that will not. The ones not going will follow down a blue-collar path and learn various trades. We need to do the same here. there is nothing wrong with learning a trade, esp. when we need them.
Third, we really should do more teaching of the trades in the military. In particular, right now, in the last 6 months before getting out, have them return stateside, take up classes and do work on the base.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
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Considering how Guy Kawaski made the failed dog food app developer a central theme of his speeches for the last ten years, no surprise that someone finally figured out how to do it right.
We really aren't in a bubble. The stock market might be. Venture capital and student loans certainly are. The job market lagged far behind the capital market recovery after the global financial crisis. Jobs are only just starting to catch up with the awesome growth over the last decade.
The White wants to put visa restrictions in Chinese Students, you know because that will really help U.S. competitiveness.
Power turbines is a small fraction of Siemens' business. I doubt a reduction in demand for turbines has much bearin on the many other things they need people for.
Their shortage would be solved over night if they doubled the engineering positions' salaries. The real question is then: why are their salaries so low that they're having problems finding workers? Maybe their working environments suck too, but that's easily solved by making it suck less or upping the pay further to compensate.
The group I worked with were all Nazi's.
They went for the Russian propaganda full speed ahead.
It included the only Jewish Nazi I ever met, lol.
what about about companies that are people hopping?
Do it right?
You mean ship it to local retailers by the truck/train load?
The price of _local_ ground shipping exceeds the price of dry dog food by a substantial margin. Try and get local delivery of a bag of dog food from a grocery that delivers. The delivery charge (possibly obfuscated) will exceed the price of the dog food, if they will even deliver that low a price order, at all.
Chewy.com is losing money on every bag, running on VC money, same as pets.com was.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
The delivery charge (possibly obfuscated) will exceed the price of the dog food, if they will even deliver that low a price order, at all.
The delivery charge (service fee and driver's tip) by Safeway via InstaCart is 10% of the bill. If I order $100 in groceries, the delivery charge is $10. The "heaviest" delivery I had was three cases of bottled water, eight bottles of soda and four bag of groceries. While they don't offer anything in 25-lb bags, they do have plenty of specials on pet food.
Germany has good unions and apprenticeship systems that gives people realy skills not 2-4 years of pure classroom.
Minimum delivery amount?
I suspect they _won't_ deliver a six pack of beer for $0.60 or a 40 lb bag of dog food for $2.
Also note: Safeway pricing, aka obfuscated delivery charge.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
It's not that there is a lack of talent. Every time I see statements like this it comes down to there's no talent willing to work for peanuts. If you run a multi-million dollar operation you can afford to pay the people who actually make you profitable. That's what it really comes down to. The CEO can have a grand strategy, but without people who know what they're doing to implement it they might as well go fishing and drink beer all day. Part of the problem is there are still people willing to give away what they have for next to nothing just to barely survive. Corporations really only have the pull we give them. Kind of like the government. Quit working for them and quit buying their crap. See how long they last.
I don't believe in karma, I just call it like I see it.
Title says it all.
When will the media learn that this kind of thing deserves the dumpster and not the front page.
"and mobility -- a worker's willingness to uproot their life for a job in a new place -- has declined. "
Why is this even a factor? Very few high tech positions have any need for a worker to ever be physically present... even fewer if you have a few less skilled individuals to function as hands.
"Cutting-edge skills are evolving faster than universities can train people" This is your problem - you expect a university to do your training! Shows that companies have gotten so used to recruiting from abroad that they have forgotten that they used to lead the way in R&D and training!
Whether or not it is really a worthwhile endeavour to pursue a degree in a highly specialized field can be questionable. Success is not guaranteed (particularly if the school is decent), the jobs might not be there by the time the degree is complete, and a student's time might be better spent going for something more likely to work out.
Rather than looking for an academic credential, look for candidates which, as outsiders, demonstrate an ability to learn and reason about your particular field or tools, and train them in it under a contract with reasonably generous compensation.
Whew! I'm so glad that A.I. and automation is taking away all these jobs so this problem goes away.
Minimum delivery amount?
I'm not sure. The economics work better when you buy more. The shipping charge is $5.99 for a five-hour delivery window (most of my deliveries are within two to three hours) to $9.99 for one hour delivery. If you use the service more than once a month, you can pay $159 per year and get free shipping on $35+ orders. You can also get free shipping by buying $20+ from a promoted brand.
Also note: Safeway pricing, aka obfuscated delivery charge.
You don't get the in-store promotions. Some items do have special pricing that you can't get in-store. While I'm paying more for some stuff and paying less for other stuff, I'm breaking even overall. I just place one big order at the beginning of the month and 90% of my shopping is done.
I know most people in this thread are pointing out issues like 'pay more' or simply trashing companies for wanting to hire talent,.. but there is a piece of story that I think highlights a big part of the problem.. linkedin and 'being found'. Hunting and hiring, when not going through people's social networks, has become a pretty frustrating experience all around. Candidates get a never ending stream of spam that barely matches their skills, and employers are hard to find since they are mostly hidden behind generic recruiters that will not tell you who is hiring till you agree to work for them. The noise to signal ratio has gotten really bad, and the middlemen have been making it worse.
This is what happens when the economy starts doing well.... What happens is, since everyone's eager to hire and buy stuff to fulfill demand, they're all willing to pay more
That's how it's supposed to work, but right now wages aren't really growing, and the economists are a bit baffled.
Step 1: Convince people it's so hard to find "talent"
Step 2: Lobby congress to loosen visa requirements, outsourcing constraints, and tax loopholes
Step 3: Relish in the profits from wage arbitrage.
A Toyota inside recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn to gauge interest in a senior level technical position in "cybersecurity". Sounded like an interesting opportunity, maybe working on the data security between vehicles and the Toyota cloud. I asked if they would consider 100% remote. Job is 100% in Plano. Pass. Life is too short to spend so much of it in Plano. Told the recruiter that they would greatly increase their talent pool if they'd consider remote workers. Perhaps there is an in-person aspect to the position, given the physical nature of the vehicles involved. However, a variety cybersecurity jobs can be done 100% remote, especially anything cloud, so there is no reason the talent pool cannot be global.
I for one do not believe the tales of woe from corporations. If they paid these positions with "a universe of fewer than 2,000 qualified people in the U.S." the obscene compensation levels they pay their CEOs, they would attract plenty of talent. Pay it long enough, and it will be nurtured and the skills rapidly acquired by those capable of acquiring them, thus increasing the pool of candidates. Instead they bleat about gaps while they lie and say CEOs are drawn from a universe of fewer than a dozen qualified people in the U.S. and that's why they need to be so obscenely compensated. When in actuality, CEOs are drawn from a universe of tens if not hundreds of thousands in many cases. In the end, most of them get credit for macro events that were outside their control and very little blame for the fsckups that were in their control.
It's also like the 2001 dot com crash. Same things happened. Some company departments lost half their workforce in a week as the people shopped around for new jobs. Then months later they came back because the startup had gone bankrupt. If it isn't interest rates and unaffordable housing that kills the boom, it will be the end of demand for engineers. Whoever solves all the AI/ML/DL and autonomous driving will be the winner.
I worked at Toyota for a bit as a contractor on a data science project a few years ago; never ever again. They fired all the best talent on the project and handed the project to offshore resources that didn't have the first clue how to do the work. Unsurprisingly after that, the project collapsed after burning millions of dollars. It was the least Agile, least well run project I've ever worked on; ironic for a company credited with brining Lean to the US.
Bubbles are rarely economy wide.
The SI valley job market is certainly hot.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'