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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Second-Tier Tech Cities Vie with Silicon Valley For Employees

05/24/2010
Second-tier tech cities are giving Silicon Valley a run for its money when it comes to hiring new employees. Tech companies based in locations such as Austin, Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina are competing with California for top recruits now that the economy is improving and the job market is tightening.

"We've always had a bit of a competition for talent with Silicon Valley," Julie Huls, president of the Austin Technology Council, told The Wall Street Journal. "As firms over there start to recover, we have to make sure we stay in the game."

SailPoint Technologies of Austin makes security software for industries such as banking and insurance. It has found that prospective employees are choosier than they were during the height of the recession. The firm plans to hire 20 people this year, twice the number it did last year.

"As hiring improves in the Valley, I'd expect that we might have to start looking at bonuses, salaries, or options again as ways to attract people," SailPoint CEO Mark McClain told the Journal.

Other companies are using more personal tactics. Red Hat, a Raleigh company, encourages its hiring managers to share details of their career histories with candidates. And Sprint, the Kansas City, Missouri-based wireless company, is using social media to track down local Midwest candidates instead of competing with the West Coast.

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