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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.
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 :(
Ditto. But then again, I won't uproot from Toronto which seems to have a ton of tech workers but few of the big corporations.
And offering them a life outside of work. i.e. 4-5 weeks vaca, reasonable working hours, like most of the civilized world outside the US.
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.
Yeah. Cry me a river.
Seimens is one of many that have no clue about how to recruit. These guys would go into a bar and strike out every time, and with good reason.
It's not necessarily about the money, or the locale, but to geeks, it's the challenge. Yeah, you need to eat, but geek entrepreneurs need a challenge, and a good one. You only get to make a few chances at making a mark in this life. Cubicles in Frankfort ain't it.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
We all bargain for what is on our own best interest. We cannot fault a Company for trying to bargain for something that is better for them.
However the problem is the Voice of a Company is a lot louder to policy makers then it is for the individual. Which is against the ideals that the United States was founded on.
You can create a company make it large and brings you in a lot of money so you and your family can live in luxury. However the political system has loopholes which in essence has created a position of a person with money to be a position of Power, without the democratic process to give such people actual power.
Being the ones who pay the most to the political parties gets the ear of the law makers, means their best interests will be heard, vs those who cannot afford to pay into the system.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
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.
Perhaps you need to look harder, or perhaps you may need to lower your standards for your expectation on what type of job you are qualified to do.
A lot of the time, tech workers will not look for work in a grimy manufacturing plant, or in healthcare... Just because you are not working with world changing technologies, or making the next big thing, but tweaking, and tinkering wit existing systems. The work can be challenging, and you are working with the newest and coolest stuff. However you can't point to that tool that everyone seems to love and say I made that.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
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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.
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'
"Perhaps you need to look harder"
Perhaps YOU need to stop assuming you are the smartest person in the thread.
I was unemployed for a year and a half. I would apply to anything slightly relevant in the US or Canada, things in the UK or Ireland if I though I could explain why I was relevant, and things on continental Europe if they were the kind of place where they did their business in English and they didn't specify that the applicant already be in the EU. I would apply for experience down to 0 years if they did not explicitly state "recent graduate". I wouldn't mention my last salary at all unless it was a web based form that required a number to submit. I applied to companies whose products were in fields outside of my won who did internal work in my field. I applied for junior jobs in adjacent fields.
It took a year and a half to get one offer.
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'
College isn't job/software training. The theory I learned decades ago is _still_ not obsolete.
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.
"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!
Sometimes this happens. I can speculate as to why, especially given some of your indicated means of applying. I personally was out for about 6 months, and that was in 2009, and only because I limited myself to certain jobs and salaries.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
College isn't job/software training. The theory I learned decades ago is _still_ not obsolete.
I'm not sure where people get this idea? That's my major complaint about software graduates - they don't know the theory at all, nor any useful basics. Just Java(Script) syntax and how to make a 10MB web page.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
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.
Same goes for the companies in the health care industry. If you want what they have you should have something to trade for it.
I don't care what you call it, it's armed robbery.
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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'
Really? Hope you never have to deal with healthcare. Then tell me if corporations can't take away your life.
They can decline to pay for treatment of an illness or injury, if it's not covered by your insurance. (Or even if it is, if they're dishonest or incompetent.)
But it's the illness or injury that will take away your life. Obviously. If the insurer were to magically disappear, you wouldn't suddenly get better.
Whereas, if the cop who was choking you to death for selling untaxed cigarettes were to magically disappear (or a passing Good Samaritan were to apply a 2x4 to the cop's head with an appropriate degree of vigor), you would get better, if it happened soon enough.
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.