FIRMS WOO COMPUTER TALENT : HIGH-TECH WORKERS IN HIGH DEMAND.

Byline: Katie Fairbank Associated Press 

Bounties are offered, wanted advertisements are posted on billboards and headhunters lurk on the Internet. Qualified computer workers are hunted down wherever they might be.

With the fast pace of growth in high-tech fields, many companies are struggling to find technical talent to fill their needs.

``Software and computers are a significant part of everyone's business. The demand has increased because of that,'' said Gary Slagel, mayor of Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb with more than 500 technology companies located in an area nicknamed the Telecom Corridor.

The quest for top technical performers means companies find themselves in bidding wars for workers. Salaries are edging up to reflect the competition.

``It's just the talent pool has been sucked up by high-tech businesses,'' says Howard Miller, senior vice president of engineering and technical services for Intecom, which designs and manufactures network switches.

Miller's efforts to get qualified computer specialists runs the gamut: He hires headhunters, offers a $2,500 bounty offer to any employee who makes a successful referral, and advertises in the newspaper and on the Internet.

Miller also recently put up two billboards located near DSC Communications Corp., which does work similar to Intecom.

``We're trying to get their software engineers' attention,'' said Miller, who offers prospective employees signing bonuses and other perks.

``Terms of employment are negotiable, vacations are negotiable. We also have other things to offer,'' he said. ``We use every avenue that we can think of.''

The Dallas area isn't the only part of the United States with the problem.

``When you look at the rest of the country, you'll find there are regions with a similar shortage: Silicon Valley, Boston, Research Triangle Park in North Carolina,'' Slagel said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that from 1994 to 2005, computer-related employment will jump by an estimated 60 percent nationally.

That increase will mean a shortage of skilled personnel for fast-growing high-tech industries, according to Michelle Bragg, a research associate with the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas.

Companies are working on various solutions to solve the shortage.

Northern Telecom in Raleigh, N.C., recently held a bring-a-friend-to-work-day, with a $1,500 bonus offered to workers if the friend ended up accepting a position with the company.

Texas Instruments, Dallas Semiconductor, Cyrix Corp. and TwinStar Semiconductor Inc., joined to create a program to teach students on-the-job skills at community college campuses in the Dallas area.

Virtual Solutions regularly searches overseas to recruit employees, according to chief executive Mike Baldwin, who says he spends over 30 percent of his time looking for talented techies.

And many are turning to the Internet.

Some Richardson companies are forming a coalition to help them recruit candidates from other regions rather than pilfer employees from each other.

``One of the things we're looking at doing is advertising in other parts of the country, so the companies in this region aren't just looking at the candidates that work across the street,'' Slagel said.

Recruiters also are a popular way to fill an empty job, the companies say.

Allen Kriesman, a programmer analyst, said he was consistently called by recruiters hoping he would jump ship from American Airlines.

``Basically the headhunters got so desperate that they'd call once or twice a week. I don't know how they got my name,'' Kriesman said. A lucrative salary offer encouraged him to move to Chicago Title, a mortgage company.

Kriesman said he still gets an occasional call from a searching recruiter.

``I keep thinking it's going to get saturated. I'm surprised there is as much of a demand for programmers as there is,'' he said.

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Photo

Photo: A billboard in a Dallas suburb demonstrates the demand for workers at computer and electronics firms across the United States.

Associated Press