2012 - Let the Talent Wars Begin!

Among many of my professional colleagues they have noticed a significant upswing in hiring in our local area of the Silicon Valley and their local areas across the country. However in many cases while they see the hiring we have not been able to take the time to compare notes on what we see as trends.

While a totally informal poll with absolutely no scientific method, among the executives and technology specialists that I interact with on a regular basis there are a number of areas of growth:

• Cloud. This is both a mix of cloud providers such as SalesForce, Amazon, etc. Also there is growth in cloud enablement or provisioning where organizations are looking to create their own internal clouds.
• Mobile. Everyone I have spoken to has seen significant demand for mobile expertise. While there is a large amount of focus on Apple iOS and Google Android, there is also increased demand in Windows Phone 7 as well. 
• Big Data and it's corresponding analytics. I put both of these together because in my mind there are several facets to big data such as infrastructure/operation, and the very valuable analytics. While it is true that the ideal is to have data scientists, many organizations want the value of the analytics are looking to convert internal personnel to the task and/or looking for tools/services.
• Enterprise Applications. Surprised? As more experienced individuals retire or move away from core enterprise applications, younger talent finds such applications very boring and unattractive leaving large gaps in terms of having personnel capable of meeting the demand. This demand is unlikely to change as enterprise applications are not really capturing the imagination of graduating college students.
• Social Networking. A very fast growing area thanks to the competition between Facebook and Google, many professionals are finding significant demand in this area in terms of services, analytics, competitive products, and consulting. 
• Gaming. Casual and social gaming have certainly increased but the increased interest in gamification techniques and how they can be applied to companies have created a noticeable increase in companies looking for those with some degree of background in gaming. How much this grows remains to be seen but it is interesting.
• Enterprise Consumerization. Many organizations are looking to create large financial impacts by engaging and retaining orders of magnitude of customers. In order to do this, companies are looking at ways to introduce degrees of consumerization into their organizations and ultimately personnel who understand various aspects of this concept and what it entails.
• User Experience. Many companies now realize that user experience is tremendously important to attracting and retaining customers. As a consequence there is a very large increase in looking for designers, user experience experts, and other disciplines. This includes not only creating whole new experiences from scratch but transitional as well moving from existing ones to new ones. 

In addition to these areas, there are corresponding increases for a variety of experience levels ranging from college graduates to experienced professionals. 

Another observation about these positions is a commensurate increase in their expectations along a variety of dimensions: flexibility, entrepreneurial, adaptability, and many others. Many of my colleagues have also noticed that most of the organizations had in fact held conservative stances during the recession which while natural created skills gaps between what the market now demanded and their own skills. As a result, many find seizing these new opportunities more daunting than they had originally planned.

2012 signals a period of unparalleled demand for professionals that we all hope will be shared by others on the road to recovery.

Love Where You Work - Working With Someone, Not For them

One of the best things about what I do is having the opportunity to speak with a variety of younger professionals entering the workforce. It is a pleasure to see their energy and enthusiasm in the workplace. Often times they ask advice about their career. Sometimes we discuss specific skill sets, other times it is about trends, but invariably we always come around to career goals and objectives.

In one of the more recent discussions I had with some of these younger professionals, a topic that I firmly believe in came to light which is that you love where you work. A workplace environment is where as an individual you will be spending a significant part of your day and a good portion of your life. So it helps to start early in making sure you are actually choosing these workplaces with care.

A key thing that I always point out is that it is up to the individual professional to do the necessary due diligence and homework so that they can be best prepared for the environment. In addition to searching the internet, there are sites like Glassdoor that can be of great use in determining the culture of a potential workplace. Also there is no substitute for speaking with individuals from that company through events such as unconferences, hack-a-thons, conferences, meetups, and the like. Additionally close friends, professional associates, and mentors are great networking sources for meeting with and speaking to people within the target organizations.

Meeting individuals is not usually the biggest challenge. The most difficult part is understanding what the professional is looking for in a workplace. My advice to these budding (and seasoned I might add) professionals: look for a workplace environment where you are working with people, not for them. This sounds simple enough but in truth many professionals find the distinction very confusing. Typically speaking an environment that approaches the working relationship as "working for people" is very command-and-control oriented. They have a rigid hierarchy, rigid procedures, proper channels, and are very critical of individuals that do not adhere to these conditions. Sometimes this is necessary such as working for the Pentagon, credit agencies such as Equifax, or the NYSE. Even specific groups within organizations such as Human Resources or Payroll have very rigid controls for legal and compliance reasons. However what I am referring to is such a rigid adherence to rules for rules sake. Even the most basic suggestions for change are thoroughly quashed not because the ideas are not without merit, but because literally there are individuals in leadership positions that take the "working for people" approach too close to heart. The most clear case one can hope for is to see situation where a supervising professional tells others reporting to them something like "You will do what I tell you because I am your boss!" A lot of young professionals are amazed such attitudes exist but they are sadly all too common.

By contrast an environment that most respond to well is one that I call "working with people." This type of work environment displays the traits of open and consistent communication, mutual trust and respect, collaboration, support, dissent and commit, openness and transparency, and a common sense of purpose that everyone rallies around. This type of environment is radically different than it's counterpart. People are passionate about their work, the organization and their peers. They respect one another and while there are arguments and debates, everyone gets along at the end of the day and buries their professional differences with strong dose of camaraderie.

Most professionals both budding and experienced respond well to the "working with people" environments. However many of them settle for the "working for people" workplaces thinking mistakenly that the choice is not their own. In truth, making your own choice is the ultimate power that professionals have in taking charge of their careers and their professional lives.

Thinking Like an Entrepreneur - It's About Survival

A lot of discussions in my profession revolve around several themes: innovation, problem solving, business opportunities, professional opportunities, coaching/mentoring, technical work, etc. However recently I have been involved in numerous discussions about entrepreneurialism. To be more specific, how entrepreneurial spirit is absolutely necessary not to simply just a start-up but to employees within an organization.

Let me start off by saying that anyone in business knows how fast things change. However business leaders tend to be far more in tune with this viewpoint than standard employees. One of the key reasons for this happens to be the fact that most top tier business leaders think and act like owners. So from this frame of reference they see how their customers change, their market evolves, how competitors are emerging and why they are different/appealing, keeping costs in line, finding additional market opportunities, growing profitability, connecting with their customers, etc. This is not the typical mindset that an employee comes from. They see daily tasks, operational imperatives, things to get done for the day before they rush home to spend time with family and friends, they do not look forward to the endless justifications for what they do, and complain at the constantly changing requirements. Fundamentally most employees are very disconnected from the ownership mentality of their leaders.

Now this is not always the case. Certain companies such as Toyota, Apple, Facebook, and many others spend a great deal of time investing in the acquisition, training and continual work necessary to instill the proper level of perspective into their employees that everything they do matters. For example, many high tech companies like Apple and Facebook have publicly mentioned that they want employees who believe in changing the world, making customers happy, etc. This is not different than Toyota. They just have different directions and different ways of approaching the same perspective. 

It is also irrelevant of the type of employees. For example Apple retail employees are very passionate about what they do. I daresay they are far more passionate than any of their competitors. A very similar level of passion can be seen in Toyota dealerships. Their employees are equally passionate about delivering quality experiences for their customers. Obviously they are very different in what they provide to their customers and how they go about, but it is clear to the customer that they are being treated very well. 

In today's marketplace which is still clawing itself out of the latest recession, I am constantly consulted by both employers and employees about their workforce. From the employer side there are concerns about retention and attraction. From the employee side, there are concerns about doing meaningful and career-enhancing work. In my experience the issue is really about the core perspective about being an owner or not.

In my consultations and mentoring of professionals I always start off with core values: passion, belief, commitment, flexibility, integrity. These are the same as an business owner. Throw in some other entrepreneurial viewpoints such as valuing every dollar, seeng offerings in terms of products and services that you are delivering as a business, and the like really help instill in professionals traits that resonate with like-minded business leaders but they also enhance their value to the organization and others. Someone that loves their work, loves their customers, and wants to make meaning, is not at odds with an organization who at the very core wants the same thing. What typically happens is that the two sides tackle the problems very differently and fail to recognize that they are actually on the same side.

Being more like an entrepreneur does not mean that everyone will "get it right" for themselves immediately nor should they. It is a journey and experience that every individual works through. However most entrepreneurs know when they are successful or not based on a mix of growth, profitability, satisfaction ratings, and customer engagement for their products and services.

In the high technology sector, entrepreneurial spirit is an essential ingredient to success. It is taught in many of the local schools and colleges not because it is an aspiration but that even in pursuing a position within an established company, many of the leading edge companies are looking for professionals that embody more qualities than what they did a few years ago such as initiative taking, risk analysis, problem solving, dynamic planning, critical thinking, innovation and creativity, to name a few. Many of these skills are very much lacking in the more experienced workforce, who simply find it challenging to adapt.

No where else can this be seen than in the local Silicon Valley job market. It has been noted that hiring is indeed on the rise and that the hiring will only increase. Many of the fundamental reasons are steeped long in the history of the local markets, and one of those fundamentals happens to be that the region fosters the necessary professional talent that is a highly desirable blend of technology, innovation, creativity, vision, commitment, passion and confidence that is not just marked by a handful of people but by whole generations of individuals. The increase in demand for such individuals amid a huge workforce across the region, the state, and the country is in my opinion a clear indicator of how the market has changed and what many organizations now consider absolutely critical to have in order to compete now and in the future.

Business professionals know all too well how things can change. However in my experience addressing the change is not just merely picking up a new language, learning a new management technique, or the like. It is fundamentally understanding that every one of us has to be a little more like a business owner and entrepreneur and start to act like one.