It's people.

The work is there, but even in South Florida -- where unemployment in Dade remains high -- tech jobs go begging.

``The Information Systems Division has been at less than full staff since January 1996 due to the shortage of qualified candidates,'' Fort Lauderdale's city manager wrote in a memo last month.

When it takes 17 months to fill a mid-level computer systems management job as it did in that city, something's got to be done.

Like offering signing bonuses. Or stock options. Or something even bigger than that.

The American Electronics Association's Florida Council -- faced with several local CEOs saying that lack of workers is their biggest barrier to growth -- plans to approach the state legislature next year for help.

The AEA says Florida has 184,000 people working in technology companies, the sixth-largest tech workforce in the nation.

Nationwide, the shortage will only get worse.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 94 percent increase in the number of systems analysts needed between 1994 and the year 2005. Healthy increases, too, are expected in the demand for computer engineers, scientists and programmers.

``Our solution to it was to buy a company,'' Cyberguard Corp. Chief Executive Robert Carberry said.

Buying a workforce

Six weeks ago, in a stock transaction valued at $7 to $10 million, Cyberguard purchased Arca, a San Jose, Calif.-based consulting firm. Arca's 40 consultants are already experts in the professional services sector that Cyberguard hopes to grow into. By buying in, rather than building that staff itself, Cyberguard got experience and a jump start.

Most companies start out with something a little less expensive. Like a strong starting salary. Statewide, the average high-tech salary is $42,000, the AEA says.

At Cyberguard the starting salary range is $30,000 to $70,000. Many get stock options.

Smaller firms can't always compete on that playing field. At Innovex Group, a two-year-old Miami Lakes consulting firm which has 40 employees, starting salaries are in the mid-to-high 30s.

So that company makes a different pitch, trying to position itself as a group of elite players who enjoy a variety of interesting assignments.

Elite, as in: Innovex's firmwide GPA is 3.4 and the average SAT math score is 680.

``Good people like to be surrounded by very competent people as well,'' said Vice President Fernando Campo.

The environment is quick to change and there are no established timelines for a promotion. ``We offer graduates the opportunity to grow faster [than at a larger firm] and to have more fun doing it,'' President Randy Bast said.

He means the part about the fun. This company's best-employee award is a Wile E. Coyote stuffed animal. Innovex also recently took all of its staff -- along with one invited guest each -- on a cruise to the Bahamas. Even the company's newsletter is facetious, with made-up quotes and a discussion of one employee's hair.

All that is tempered with such serious measures as extensive performance reviews four times a year. The reviews themselves stress such skills as flexibility and how well the person listens to the client's needs. Innovex also gives twice-yearly raises.

The almost-continuous feedback system seems to work.

``The thing that impresses me the most about this company, is that they somehow manage to get what seem to me to be the best people in this field,'' says Jay Sauls, senior consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services in Fort Lauderdale.

A lot of hustle

Both Cyberguard and Innovex say their annual turnover rate is less than 10 percent.

No matter what strategy an employer takes, a lot of hustle is involved.

Innovex has its senior managers do the recruiting in person. Job candidates have to meet four or more staff members during a day-long interview process.

The company goes to career fairs and to meetings of engineering honor societies at the University of Florida, University of Miami, Florida International University, Tulane, and the University of Puerto Rico.

Cyberguard's Carberry says relationships are beginning to emerge between his 180-employee firm and the University of Miami. Some graduate students end up working at the Fort Lauderdale-based company several days a month. And there are discussions going on with Florida Atlantic University.

Techies themselves are known to be demanding.

``To recruit them takes creativity. Because they're all working,'' says Ann Machado, chief executive officer of Creative Staffing in Miami. Her firm has 200 technical openings today to fill.

She says it has gotten progressively more difficult to fill those jobs.

Two years ago, the highest pay was all Machado needed to win a recruit's favor.

Then it was that plus the job had to be intellectually stimulating and had to offer the chance to pick up new skills.

Now, she says it's all that -- plus stock options for new hires at companies that aren't even dreaming of going public for two or three years.

Plus some sort of golden parachutes if they lose their jobs.

They'd be out of work, most likely, for about a nanosecond.

Harriet Johnson Brackey covers workplace issues for The Herald. The beat includes training, diversity, civil rights and work and family matters. You can e-mail her at hbrackey@herald.com

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page