Qualified Candidates: Apply Within - IT personnel - Industry Trend or Event

Telecommunications, Nov, 2000 by Graham Wilde, Arthur Drewitt, Bob Marshall

SAN JOSE, Calif.--For all the uncertainties surrounding new technologies, ever-changing markets, and evolving regulations, many companies in telecom and IT industries say their biggest problem is people--finding them, hiring them and keeping them. So how's it done?

Option 1: Be the hottest thing in town. "We don't have a problem finding people--in fact, we only accept between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the people we interview," said Marc Moss, vice president of recruiting for Brience, one of Silicon Valley's hottest new startups. Brience is developing a suite of products that allows Web sites to deliver information to an Internet access device--be it laptop, PDA or mobile handset--in exactly the form needed for an end user to access it. The company received what it claims is the largest single round of funding for a pre-IPO startup--US $200 million.

Option 2: Concentrate on corporate culture. "We describe the people who work for us as swans," said Joan Rupple, vice president of recruiting at Diamond Technology Partners, a U.S.-based Internet systems integrator. "They are smart, they work hard and they are nice people." Rupple has seen the organization mature from hot start-up into a company that still impresses analysts with solid growth.

Rupple's team works hard to make sure candidates fit in with the company's team spirit. "You can usually tell whether someone will fit in by talking to them about their career aspirations and achievements," she said.

Anja Tschotschel, manager of HR marketing for the German-based IT security firm Utimaco Safeware, agreed that company culture is important. "Right from the day people join us, we aim to give them a sense of our values," she said. New Utimaco recruits receive flowers and a welcome pack with a card signed by every staff member, plus their new e-mail addresses and phone numbers. "We believe the details are important," Tchotschel said. Utimaco offers an orientation day for new employees and has regular "happy hours," where board members meet staffers in informal surroundings.

Option 3: Treat 'em right. Rocci Della Maggiore, CFO and co-founder of California-based network engineering specialists Network Catalyst, believes respecting staff members is a key ingredient. "Retaining staff in the highly competitive environment of California is a challenge," he said. "Especially highly qualified, highly paid network engineers, who are relatively easy to entice away by head-hunters. Network engineers are often required to work odd hours to fit with client requirements for minimum down-time. Some employers expect them to put in a normal 9-to-5 week on top of this, but that is detrimental to their health and private lives, so we insist they take time off."

Option 4: Grow your own. Some companies prefer to develop a significant proportion of talent in-house. Diamond Technology's Rupple said 40 per cent to 45 per cent of the company's new hires are recent college graduates, some with postgraduate degrees. Two of Utimaco's four main application development sites are in the same towns as universities with strong cryptography departments (i.e., Leuven, Belgium and Aachen Germany).

Option 5: Use the Web. Utimaco Safeware has seen a 40-percent increase in applications since it began posting vacancies on Web sites such as jobpilot.com and jobscout24.de. Network Catalyst claimed excellent results in filling lower-paid, less skilled posts from advertising on message boards. "Head-hunters are not really interested in finding people to fill jobs that pay under $70,000 per year," said Della Maggiore. "We filled most of the posts at our network operations center from Internet message boards."

Option 6: Go East--and further East. Geoworks, the California-based mobile solutions company, recently opened an office in New Jersey and found it significantly easier to fill vacancies on the East Coast. Brience recently hired 20 application developers in Armenia. BioDeo, a U.K.-based wireless ASP start-up in the healthcare sector, is looking to India for some of its Bluetooth applications development skills. "When you're in a hurry to get applications to market, you don't always have time to go through the long recruiting cycle in Europe with all of your staff," BioDeo's co-founder Adam Hanina said. "There's a huge pool of skills in Asia, which we are tapping."

Option 7: Use someone else's people. If you still can't find everyone you need, or if you need to deal with peaks in demand, you can always use external contractors and consultants. The rates are higher, but the upside is that you sometimes find the right people at the right time.