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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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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 :(
Maybe true for the US. In Germany HQ is located in Munique, one of the most expensive areas in Germany. A lot of research is done in a much smaller town called Erlangen, which recently ranked 4th in salaries paid in german cities and is very expensive to live in or buy property. I know because I live there.
reason defies logic
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.
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.
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.
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.