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Where are the hot jobs?
By Sandeep Junnarkar If the companies flocking to job fairs are any indication of which fields are hot, then careers in consulting, business-to-business, wireless products and networking are on fire. Of more than 90 companies that descended on the University of California at Berkeley last week for its "Start-up and Dot.com Career Fair," the vast majority avoided any obvious ties to the once-hot Net content and e-tailing fields. Instead, the positions most companies wanted to fill were software and hardware engineers, sales and marketing representatives, and e-business consultants. Even content companies are looking for people to fill those jobs. "Companies are all facing a major job shortage in terms of skilled workers, and the supply is not meeting the demand," said Michaela Platzer, vice president of research at industry trade group AeA. "This is a big challenge: Do we have enough engineers to develop the next generation of tech products and services?" The fair at UC Berkeley was markedly different from a similar event held on the same campus in January. These days, far fewer online retailers and content companies are offering jobs. "Counselors monitor the job listings and companies coming to the fairs, and we can see what jobs are coming and what is hot," said Linda Hernandez, a counselor at UC's Career Center. "We are definitely seeing a shift to business-to-business, optical networking, traditional telecommunications, and Internet consulting and infrastructure companies." The enthusiasm for consultants is surprising, given the rash of layoffs at some of the smaller consulting outfits that have sprung up over the past year. But human resources experts note that as larger Fortune 2000 companies move their businesses online, they are turning to established companies to help them make the transition.
"Consulting is hot," said John Bongiorno, chief executive of
Myrecruiter.com, a New York-based staffing company that specializes in
Internet jobs
Executive recruiters, human resources professionals and labor analysts are stressing that there is a tremendous shortage of qualified employees in the high-tech industry. As a result, recruiters are increasingly poaching traditional businesses for nontechnical positions. "With the stock of many of these wireless, infrastructure and B2B companies still performing well, it is hard to recruit people from those sources because of the value of their unvested stocks," said Jeff Christian, founder of recruiting company Christian & Timbers. Christian, who helped place Carly Fiorina as Hewlett-Packard's chief executive last year, said talented CEOs and other top executives are still the hardest to find. A good place to look for talent aching to jump ship is the beleaguered online retail field. "E-tailing companies attracted some good talent that had expected to create considerable wealth," Christian said, adding that a strong chief technology officer is a rarity. "There's just a finite number of people who can combine technical ability with leadership ability." But with sectors going from red-hot to stone-cold almost overnight, what should employees do to maintain their currency? In addition to reading business journals to keep abreast of new developments, consultants suggest researching particular companies and their management goals to evaluate opportunities for growth. "A year ago, everyone wanted to be in a dot-com," Bongiorno said. "Now you should really look at the company and see what skills it will be able to teach you." Christian suggests that employees build strong reputations, similar to the way companies develop their brands among potential consumers. That could persuade companies to adapt candidates' skills to their needs even if they are not a perfect fit.
"I would tell people to sit on panels at industry conferences and become
known as a key 'go-to' person," Christian said. |
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and is helping consulting giant McKinsey & Co. staff its
Internet unit, @McKinsey.
