Talent Wars

TALENT WARS AN ARMS RACE IN TECH Poaching on new talent is nothing new. But the hiring games have recently become more intense as tech giants hungrily compete over a limited pool of skilled industry professionals. Here, we explore why it's happening, which companies are desperately clutching onto their talent and how they are keeping them. THE TALENT GAP EXPLAINED The American Society for Training and Development predicts that by 2015: 60% OF THE NEW JOBS BEING CREATED WILL REQUIRE SPECIAL SKILLS HELD BY ONLY 20% OF THE POPULATION. In 1991, by contrast: LESS THAN HALF OF U.S. JOBS REQUIRED SKILLED WORKERS. COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCE DEGREES AWARDED HAVE DECLINED "THERE ARE EASILY TWO OR THREE JOBS The types of skills that the tech industry requires are shrinking at the university level, FOR EVERY COMPUTER SCIENCE GRAD." as the amount of computer science and information technology majors have declined Anne Hunter over the years. Academic Administrator, MIT 60,000 50,000 40,000 NUMBER OF DEGREES 30,000 20,000 10,000 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 STILL, THE DEMAND GROWS -47 There has been an explosive growth in mobile and cloud-based applications, as well IT job postings online % have increased 47% since a year ago. as innovative web development, that is causing American businesses to fiercely compete for tech-savvy talent. COMPETITION EXPECTED TO BUILD Three times as many recruiters would hire a poached IT employee rather than lose the opportunity to do so. The career site Dice.com surveyed hiring managers at various companies and found that more than half predict tech talent hunting will get more intense over the course of the year. PERCENT OF RECRUITERS THAT EXPECT TECH TALENT POACHING TO. WOULD YOU HIRE AN IT EMPLOYEE WHO HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY POACHED? Grow more aggressive Depends on the employee 54% 56% Remain the same Yes 33% 33% Lessen No 3% 11% LOSING IN THE BATTLE? digg YAHOO! Google At the end of 2010, Digg fired 25 of Holger Luedorf, previous Senior Director Facebook employees who used its employees. Almost immediately, in charge of Yahoo's mobile deals, to work at Google: 12% job offers started to pour in from other abandoned the company last year and companies such as Groupon, joined Foursquare – a firm Yahoo had Twitter and IGN. unsuccessfully tried to buy. WHAT ARE COMPANIES DOING TO KEEP AND ATTRACT MVPS? With the fear of having their top tech professionals or potential recruits ditch them for other competitors, the big names are finding ways to retain and find the very best. COMMON ALLURES „Google To keep its skilled workers from leaving their posts, Google's strategy is to provide fringe benefits such as catered meals, free haircuts and laundry service to its members. Not only does it build real company culture, it helps talent stay put. COMPETITIVE SALARIES FLEXIBLE HOURS RAISES AND BONUSES facebook Having a career with Facebook means striking gold, and receiving the most competitive compensation in the industry-an average salary of $108,909, if you're a software engineer. zynga BETTER HEALTH CARE PACKAGES Online real-estate brokerage startup Redfin firmly believes it lost new tech college grads to the popular social gaming company, Zynga. The reason they cited? Unbeatable salary-and-bonus packages of $100,000 to $150,000. LUCRATIVE STOCK OPTIONS SPECIAL PERKS SOFTWARE ENGINEER COMPENSATION (BY TECH COMPANY)* $80,000 $90,000 $100,000 $110,000 $120,000 $130,000 Facebook $116,209 Twitter $110,000 Google $107,740 Yahoo! $104,364 Apple $101,929 Zynga $100,002 Oracle $93,850 eBay $92,904 *Includes salary, bonus and other pay. SEDUCING EXECS Polachi Inc. asked C-level executives at tech companies about their experiences and found that: For those that received offers, 78 78% say they get more offers now than they 90% report they were tempted with compensation that is the same or better than the previous year. 42% And 42% say the recruiting companies are also presenting bonuses. did a year ago. %06 SILICON VALLEY: TECH SANCTUARY? It's no wonder thousands of tech-minded folk flock to the gold-paved roads of Silicon Valley. SHIELDED FROM RECESSION 11.7% 40% Year California's unemployment rate: Tech job listings in Silicon Valley: + over Year AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARIES FOR SOFTWARE ENGINEERS BY AREA NEW YORK $98,214 BALTIMORE / WASHINGTON DC $98,214 SILICON VALLEY NATIONAL AVERAGE $89,491 $106,242 udemy Sources: Dice.com, NetworkWorld.com, BizJournals.com, CareerBuilder.com, Created By Crunchbase.com, GlassDoor.com, US Department of Education Statistics COLUMN FIVE