While the market is hot in CDMA, it’s looking for skilled engineers in other applications as well.

Those whose resumes are clear, concise, and list current technologies, longetivity at past positions and can show excellent cost saving results are sure to get an interview.  Salaries have dropped a bit, as there’s now more competition but there are also great jobs available.  Most companies are looking to hire before the fall season and will now have budget approval, so get out there and make it happen!

-Dayna Romanick
Sr. Recruiting Manager
Silicon Elite

There are job openings out there. Companies are looking for innovative ways to fill their needs with a large number of contract to hire or trial periods being offered. Salaries are down markedly and expectations are higher. The majority of companies that are hiring are looking for specific skill sets, hands on experience and a large variety of soft skills. Interns, new grads and less experienced engineers from prestigious schools are being hired by forward thinking, budget conscious companies. Those with many years of experience are finding a new full time direct hire less easily, though they continue to be in demand for contract positions. The key word is flexibility. Your willingness to work with an employer in terms of hours worked, job title and salary all contribute to your employ-ability.

More than ever, engineers will have to prove their worth in 2010. “Companies with highly paid engineers whose skills are not up to date are doing a market reset,” says Karen Panetta of IEEE. This means that engineers must either improve the value they bring or risk being let go. “Some engineers are going back for a master’s degree or a certificate program.”

Will engineers who have been laid off in this recession get back on track in 2010? “If they aren’t evolving their skills, they’ll have a hard time,” Says Panetta.“ Compared to 2009, we think 2010 will be better,” says Kurt Rippelmeyer, industry principal for engineering and energy at staffing firm Yoh. With credit tight, production down and the future unusually uncertain, many firms laid off engineers in 2009.

As the new decade begins, when firms do hire, they will likely place strong hedges on their bets. “The majority of hires in 2010 will be on a contract basis to start,” says Rippelmeyer. “Large engineering firms are going to a new workforce composition of about 20 percent contract. Companies will start to bring folks back on contract.”

Still, some believe an engineering jobs recovery has already begun. “We’ve recently seen a 180-degree turnaround” from the recession’s difficult market for engineers in certain specialties, says Karen Panetta, chair for the IEEE Women in Engineering Committee and associate professor of engineering at Tufts University.

There are some great opportunities available for those willing to drop their salary expectations and wear multiple hats. At the moment, project managers are also lead engineers, trainers and QA. There are also opportunities available for experienced professionals willing to travel. New graduates are having a more difficult time finding companies willing to pay premium prices for non experienced staff. There are a large number of new graduates looking to garner experience through internships and entry level positions, some paying as little as minimum wage.

According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey:

In the South, 12% of employers surveyed expect to take on more staff, and 10% plan to decrease employee levels, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook of +2%. When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the Quarter 1 2010 employment forecast is slightly weaker compared to one year ago at this time but moderately stronger than Quarter 4 2009. Employers in the South have the strongest Outlook among the four U.S. regions for Quarter 1 2010.

Employers in all 12 industry sectors surveyed in the South anticipate stable or strengthening job prospects for Quarter 1 2010 when compared to Quarter 4 2009.

In Austin specifically, there are a number of start up companies, smaller companies expanding into our market, and industry leaders beginning to look at new engineering needs, as new products are coming to market requiring expertise in multiple areas. Again, companies seem to be looking for candidates with less than 2 years of specific experience or candidates with 7 or more years of hands on engineering expertise. There are few opportunities for those who have moved away from hands on technical skills.

As always, most positions are found through networking. We recommend that you update your resume, highlight your skills, success stories (especially those that show quantifiable money savings) and leadership abilities. Be open to new “non-traditional” proposals of work, such as part time, remote, contract, travel and possible relocation. As always, prepare for your interview, brush up and stay current with your technical and communication skills. Consider practice interviews within your networking groups.

Make sure your resume contains current contact information, both email and phone, and use spell check!

Analysis of the Current Job-Market for Semiconductor Engineers

While there are areas of the country that are showing an upswing, we have yet to see the robust hiring intentions that were predicted earlier this year and would be indicative of a full labor market recovery. Seasonally adjusted data reveals only the southern region of the US  showing promise with a slight increase in employer optimism. Western and southwestern parts of the country appear to have somewhat stabilized, and companies based in the northeast are trailing behind with the weakest outlook of all.

Of the more than 28,000 employers surveyed, a significant 69% expect no change in their Q4 hiring plans. Twelve percent anticipate an increase in staff levels while 14% expect a decrease in payrolls, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook of -3% after seasonal adjustment. These are the weakest figures since the survey began in 1962. The final 5% of employers indicated they were undecided about their hiring intentions.1

In the Technical/IT/Engineering fields most companies are waiting until their budgeting processes are complete to determine hiring needs for next year. As we’ve seen in past years, most people hired in Q4 will have actual start dates in Q1 of the following year, although these opportunities are proving to be more sparse than was predicted earlier in Q3.

Looking Forward

Most professionals in the staffing and recruiting industries expect contract positions to be the first key indicator of labor market recovery since many of these position signal the beginning of new projects. In Austin, some layoffs are expected to continue with lack of funding, the inability to borrow money and the widespread availability of less expensive outsourced labor taking a portion of the blame.

Look for opportunities in “newer” technologies and with employers catering to government enterprises. In spite of discouraging figure, opportunities continue to exist for highly-skilled and focused professionals as well as for qualified persons with limited experience ( < 5 yrs) who hold reasonable salary expectations are open to relocation and travel.

Improving Your Chances

At this point, your resume is one of your best assets. This can be a chance for you to document valuable hands on skills, money saving improvements at past companies and other positive impacts that can open doors to an interview. Keeping up to date on new technologies is also an important trait that should not be overlooked. Be sure to present skills that could potentially be useful, even if they’re not in the job requirements. This shows initiative and could differentiate you from countless other applicants.

Remember that resumes should be custom tailored to each position that you are applying for. Thoroughly read the posted job descriptions and requirements of each position, and incorporate these things into your own qualifications, past responsibilities and objective. Cover letters are also important in capturing attention, and your correspondence with potential employers is an excellent place to demonstrate the strength of your interpersonal communication skills. This article gives some solid advice on resume writing principles.

Network with everyone you know in the industry, even if it’s nothing more than keeping in touch on social networking sites. Try writing personalized recommendations for people on LinkedIn (not cut and pasted blurbs), and you may be surprised to see how many people will return the favor.

This year remains tough for many job-seekers in the semiconductor industry. Q3 has been marked with leading employers laying off and consolidating work forces in all areas of the semiconductor industry. Although layoffs have declined, salaries of new hires have dropped due to the surplus of labor, and employers are becoming increasingly selective of those who they bring aboard. A recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows that 28% of large companies continued layoffs throughout Q3.

However, it’s also important to remember that any statistics you read may possibly be slanted toward the larger companies simply because of their large operational scales. The same SHRM poll showed that only 13% of companies, regardless of size, conducted layoffs in Q3. Small companies and startups are now where the majority of opportunities currently exist. Because of this, attending networking events and staying in tough with old co-workers have become increasingly more important for job seekers.

New grads, or those with less than 2 years experience continue to find positions more easily than those in mid career, and there is a market for designers with mixed signal / analog experience in the audio area. Researchers and process individuals continue to be in demand by fabs, and sales people should find a good marketplace for their skills as well, especially those who have well documented expertise in developing new clients.

Many engineers prepare their resumes with a heavy emphasis on technical experience. While this is certainly important, it can also be beneficial to mention cost savings or additional profits that can be directly attributed to things that you have done. In this economy, it could be the one thing that sets you apart from other candidates of equal qualification.

There’s good news in the marketplace if you’re a bit adventurous, startups are hiring. Many experienced DV engineers are leaving behind the security of their established companies in hopes of becoming a part of something that could become the next Google. In fact, recent grads (with less than 3 years of experience) and highly experienced engineers (with >10 years in the field) seem to be in the greatest demand at the moment.

But why are these people finding work, while so many others continue to struggle? The key here appears to be their hands on nature. Those who have moved away from day to day engineering skills in favor of management are finding it extremely difficult to reposition themselves. Those who have stepped away for a year or two are also finding difficulties in re-entering the marketplace. With the closing of multiple fabs, design centers and the discontinuation of several verification projects, the industry’s unemployment rate is roughly at about 9.8%. This includes the loss of another 8000 jobs last month alone.*

Although the industry has seen tough times this year, things do appear to be getting somewhat better. Employers are beginning to budget for next year and project the cost of hiring additional engineering personnel, albeit at reduced pay rates. Opportunities are also expected to increase over the coming year with companies specializing in products and services which serve to expedite getting chip designs to market.

If you’re still looking for a job, you should know that an upturn is predicted in Q4, with even more opportunities surfacing in early 2010. Now is the time to prepare for it by updating your resume and sharpening your selling points as a prospective employee.

* source: Bureau of Labor Statistics