With the unemployment rate still stuck above 8% and economists projecting lackluster job growth for the rest of the year, hiring managers are increasingly looking at two job markets. One one hand is an oversupply of under-qualified job seekers and on the other is a shortage of technically skilled workers. Mark Schmit, head of research for the Society for Human Resources Management, says technology companies are working hard to compete for employees with the right skill sets.
Schmit says some of the companies he talks to are now considering the healthcare exchange established by the Affordable Healthcare Act as an alternative to employer=provided health insurance, but that companies in the wireless industry are not part of that group. “The data shows that most will continue on with coverage the way they have,” says Schmit. “If they don’t stay competitive with insurance, it’s hard to recruit.”
Salaries, of course, are the most important way companies compete for talent. For some wireless companies, the need to invest in research and development while controlling costs has put a cap on pay scales. “In the wireless industry in general cost has been a critical driver to success of the businesses, so the days when everyone was throwing around a lot of money – those days are not here anymore,” says George Orr, head of wireless executive search firm Telecom Connections. “We went throught the dot com when we saw companies not caring so much what they paid. People needed the knowledge more than they needed to control costs; now that has flip flopped.”
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