Some media (I saw it in the Miami Herald first) noted on the 9th of February: Miami and Jacksonville are in the top ten cities for growth in technology jobs.
http://www.smartplanet.com/business/blog/business-brains/fastest-growing-area-for-tech-jobs-is-detroit/13608/
smartplanet.com / Smart Business / Business Brains
Fastest-growing area for tech jobs is… Detroit?
By Joe McKendrick | Feb 9, 2011 | 1 Comment
ShareEmailDiggFacebookTwitterGoogleDeliciousStumbleUponNewsvineLinkedInMy YahooTechnoratiRedditPrintRecommend2Plenty has been said and written about Detroit’s death spiral â€" in these pages, we even talked about a proposal to plow under a portion of the city to rejuvenate it as farmland.
But the latest job-opening stats from Dice.com tell an interesting story about another rejuvenation taking place across southeast Michigan â€" a surge in technology job openings. Dice.com, which is currently tracking about 75,000 available tech and IT jobs nationwide, said as of this month, Detroit is leading all other areas in growth in demand for technology professionals from a year ago.
Just the other day, SmartPlanet’s Andrew Nusca provided perspective on Chrysler’s SuperBowl ad promoting its Detroit roots, and the city’s resurgence. SmartPlanet colleague Tyler Falk also makes the case, however, that cities such as Detroit need more community oriented livability to thrive once again.
As Dice senior VP Tom Silver puts it in his report:
“Detroit tops the list with more than 800 available tech positions on any given day â€" that’s double the number posted last year. Let’s extend those two minutes of Detroit super bowl advertising goodness, by highlighting that technology professionals make on average $71,445 per year in the Motor City, up two percent from a year ago.â€
In fact, Midwestern cities lead the list of this month’s tech job growth areas â€" a reflection of a resurgent economy that is lifting the region’s traditional manufacturing base. Of course, it can be argued that Detroit and many other cities in the region were in bad shape economically a year ago, so any growth at all is going to be significant. But the Detroit area also has its share of determined visionaries who seek to create a sustainable entrepreneurial climate, with new types of businesses to replace its auto industry base.
The fastest-growing metro areas for technology job openings include the following, in terms of year-over-year growth since February 2010:
Detroit 101%
Cincinnati 75%
Cleveland 62%
Columbus 57%
Seattle 54%
Pittsburgh 45%
Miami 43%
Jacksonville 41%
Chicago 40%
Silicon Valley 40%
In total volume, the top areas for job openings are the Washington, DC area with 8,500 tech jobs available, followed by New York/New Jersey (8,400) and finally, Silicon Valley (4,750).
So is this just one of those statistical things or is there / has been a trend here?
Does this include call center jobs? I'm kind of laughing in my head right now. I guess starting from zero and adding one tech job is like 100% growth...hmm ok, I can understand that list.
Some of the cities on this list are definite Tech centers, but Jacksonville is definitely not.
Wow Simms as someone building out a tech center in JAX I have to disagree with your assessment.
A lot of "traditional " markets are tapped out, and employers are looking at new areas for talent. They are quite impressed with what they are seeing here.
Quote from: simms3 on February 13, 2011, 02:02:43 PM
Does this include call center jobs? I'm kind of laughing in my head right now. I guess starting from zero and adding one tech job is like 100% growth...hmm ok, I can understand that list.
Some of the cities on this list are definite Tech centers, but Jacksonville is definitely not.
Depends on how you define "tech center". Silicon Valley we are not, as we don't host a great number of firms that specialize in technology only.
However, if you count firms that employ tech staff, then I could agree with the assessment made.
Financial Services & Health is where there is significant tech spend planned over the next 5 years. In those areas Jacksonville is very well covered.
In fact I am aware of some firms having trouble filling certain tech roles in Jacksonville due to the shortage of talent and they are recruiting them to move here. (And some are)
Its not the lack of local talent, believe, we are out there. There is a lack of job announcements. Dice.com is filled with recruiters who all want a piece of the pie and don't want to pay.
Same with Monster and other job places.
The company could offer 30$ an hr W2 to a prospective employee, yet these shady recruiters want to pay nothing so they can take a cut so you can work and make them money.
Lets take a look at a few:
http://bit.ly/fcw8uX
http://bit.ly/i442gR
Same job, one firm wants to pay 20$ an hr (very low side for this type of work) firm2 unknown pay.
Here's two more openings, same job, different wording:
http://bit.ly/eqQ7td
http://bit.ly/gpNVz9
Where is the original company posting? There is none, IT openings are not really advertised in the Jacksonville market, its a lot of word of mouth.
I know a lot of experienced IT people underemployed or not employed at all, and they check everywhere. Yet the only offers they get are through staffing firms who want their chunk of money.
I've been in IT for over 10 years, and only twice have I come across a real offer from a company that posted it themselves.
And if you do find the job on an employer website, good luck getting your resume past the HRIS to an actual hiring manager. You have to keyword the resume to death to get it past HR.
Quote from: jandar on February 13, 2011, 05:11:59 PM
Its not the lack of local talent, believe, we are out there. There is a lack of job announcements. Dice.com is filled with recruiters who all want a piece of the pie and don't want to pay.
Same with Monster and other job places.
The company could offer 30$ an hr W2 to a prospective employee, yet these shady recruiters want to pay nothing so they can take a cut so you can work and make them money.
Lets take a look at a few:
http://bit.ly/fcw8uX
http://bit.ly/i442gR
Same job, one firm wants to pay 20$ an hr (very low side for this type of work) firm2 unknown pay.
Here's two more openings, same job, different wording:
http://bit.ly/eqQ7td
http://bit.ly/gpNVz9
Where is the original company posting? There is none, IT openings are not really advertised in the Jacksonville market, its a lot of word of mouth.
I know a lot of experienced IT people underemployed or not employed at all, and they check everywhere. Yet the only offers they get are through staffing firms who want their chunk of money.
I've been in IT for over 10 years, and only twice have I come across a real offer from a company that posted it themselves.
And if you do find the job on an employer website, good luck getting your resume past the HRIS to an actual hiring manager. You have to keyword the resume to death to get it past HR.
"Try before you buy" is the name of the game today, and if you aren't willing to work with it, then yes, you have to know someone to get your name into the right hands. The days of the traditional send a resume, get a call are pretty much over.
The HR "blockade" or recruitment "firewall" has been caused by the sheer quantity of applicants for a single position. Many of which have no business applying, so HR resorts to keywords to match up candidates.
Networking is a valuable tool in getting the word out on your skills. Let's face it, if you can't communicate with your peers in a focused setting, how can you at a potential employer?
A bad habit that some desperate recruiters have picked up is "resume harvesting". They post faux open positions in an event to build a clientèle and have something to 'offer' on their cold calls to corporate america. Unfortunate. Some firms will interview you to get inside info on some past employer. No interest in you other than the info you can provide. Again, unfortunate.
Sometimes you have to under-employ to get yourself "sold" to a potential employer. If you think they are using you, simply find a new gig and move on.
Having a firm "get a chunk of your money" is OK, when they perform the introductions, do the background checks, verify your past employments and provide the payroll service for you and the client. Good firms will be honest with you, bad firms won't.