Job Market's Wild Ride

Growth of wireless technologies is a global phenomenon that likely will affect nearly every aspect of human life on this planet. From basic cellular just a couple of years ago, the industry has mushroomed into a plethora of companies managing a myriad of technologies: digital cellular, PCS, E-SMR, GSM, CDMA, CDPD and others. Things are just getting started as wireless service providers figure out how to converge wireless technologies with consumer appetites for data transmission and use of the Internet.

This expansion of wireless technologies is a boon not just for qualified engineering and technical professionals. Wireless growth also is creating opportunities for sales, marketing, customer-care and other administrative personnel.

According to Bob Roche, CTIA assistant vice president for policy and research, wireless service providers increased payrolls by more than 12,000 employees during the second half of 1997 alone. Today, wireless service providers as a whole employ more 120,000. Having created tens of thousands of new jobs over the last three years, the entire wireless industry now employs more than 800,000 nationwide.

"The (job) market is as hot or hotter than I have ever seen," said Bill DeWitt, president of Orion Technology, a wireless industry executive-search company. "The last two years are the best I have had in my 26-year career."

Wireless employers in the United States and around the world are adding jobs at an exponential rate. Aerial Communications, for example, has grown from 53 employees in 1996 to more than 1,500 today, and PrimeCo Personal Communications grew from a staff of 100 in April 1995 to a roster of more than 2,800 employees. Lucent Technologies had predicted that new hires would reach 1,200 by the end of its fiscal year in September 1998.

"The labor market is particularly tight because a lot of the competitors are in a stage of expansion," said Sharon Fitzpatrick, Aerial director of staffing and employee relations.

Just about the only thing that could cause a downturn in wireless-employment opportunities is a global economic collapse. However, not even such a catastrophe is likely to slow industry growth for long because of the extensive array of wireless applications yet to be created, say industry experts. They predict the job market will stay strong for the next 12 to 18 months. What happens after that depends largely on consumers and how they respond to marketing and new products.

"At some point there will be a downturn, but I don't think it will be a long-term downturn," DeWitt said.

Specialists in wireless engineering and technical fields will continue to enjoy a bombardment of offers from wireless-industry suitors in 1999. Hardware, RF, DSP and imbedded-software engineers are in especially high demand. So are imbedded-code writers, particularly in R&D areas where they're being asked to develop applications for call processing or call features.

"For the next two years, good RF engineers and good software engineers will be able to find good employment wherever they seek it," DeWitt predicted.

In addition, technical personnel will be needed to address number portability and resolve the year-2000 computer problem. Meanwhile, jobs will continue to migrate from systems work as carriers complete their build-outs. Employment in manufacturing and R&D-related areas will continue to grow rapidly as user programs and applications are incorporated into advanced data phones and handsets. Joe Sommers, Ericsson national employment manager, said his company is having difficulty finding technical and engineering professionals who can handle these kinds of converging telecommunications technologies issues.

"We look at individuals who can help bring technologies together: wire, wireless, the 'net, optical, video, the whole nine yards," Sommers said. "I think that is going to be our biggest challenge going forward."

Although much of this convergence work still is relegated to R&D, some applications are beginning to filter out into actual products as the company looks at overlaying wireless technologies onto the Internet.

"It is here; it is today," Sommers said. "The Internet is a very important factor, and we are trying to get the right people in the door."

Iona Kerr, Lucent Wireless Networks Group human-resource director, said her company is always on the lookout for technical genius.

"(They) don't have to have a lot of years of experience, but a sufficient amount of experience to make an incredible amount of impact," Kerr said.

ROOM FOR SOFT SKILLS, TOOJob seekers don't necessarily need an engineering or computer- science degree to take advantage of the wireless revolution. Explosive growth in wireless service markets also is creating new openings in non-technical fields such as sales and marketing.

Customer-service professionals such as call-center administrators and managers also are finding opportunities in the wireless industry. Nancy Hammenway, PrimeCo vice president of human resources, said one of the ways her company is differentiating itself from competitors is by trying to meet customer needs "the first time, every time."

"Consequently, the bulk of our current growth is in sales and customer service," Hammenway said.

Employers say they need people with entrepreneurial qualities who are results-oriented, innovative, creative and who show leadership skills. They also must work well in teams and be adaptable to an ever-changing environment. Just as important is the candidate's desire to stay on the leading edge of technology and to provide world-class customer service.

As the industry globalizes, employers also want people comfortable in an international setting.

"We are living in a fast-track period of globalization," Kerr said. "It's not easy to find executives who have a lot of international experience."

KEEPING THE BESTAs wireless employers search for the best and the brightest, they also must work hard to keep them once they are aboard. According to Tara Floyd, president of search firm The Caradyne Group, the average time an employee spends with one company now is down to two to three years.

"They migrate from one company to another for a better deal," Floyd said.

Hiring the best people in the wireless industry today -- particularly those with technical skills -- is a fiercely competitive process that often sparks bidding wars.

"When you identify a candidate whom you are interested in, it is common to find that they have more than one offer on the table," said Aerial's Fitzpatrick.

Consequently, salaries have gone up as companies try to hold on to qualified personnel. According to Floyd, engineers with up to two years of wireless-industry experience command salaries of about $55,000 per year. Sales managers command $80,000 base salaries with no cap, and marketing managers and more experienced engineers can expect 6-figure contracts.

"Salaries have gotten way too high for some of these positions, and they need to slow down a little bit," Floyd said.

The old adage that money isn't everything applies to keeping people happy in the wireless industry these days. Companies also must focus on employee-retention strategies such as creating an attractive company culture.

Development programs and management career opportunities are high on the list of tactics for retaining qualified talent, according to Ericsson's Sommers.

"We try to create the type of environment that really does keep employees in-house," Sommers said.

LOOKING OVERSEAS FOR HELPIn such a rarified labor market, it's no wonder that U.S. companies are increasingly recruiting overseas. U.S companies are plundering talent from countries such as China, England, France, Germany and India that also are experiencing growth in wireless networking.

During Lucent's recent hiring binge, for instance, one-third of the company's 1,200 new hires were from outside the United States.

"We were growing in Asia at the time of the (economic) crisis and were well positioned to benefit from other companies' workforce reductions," said Lucent's Kerr.

Most recruiting still is being done domestically, however, where companies use internal employee-referral programs or toll-free job hotlines with voice-response units that list openings by location. Human-resource departments also use the Internet to identify candidates. Of course, placement companies have proven pivotal in their role of locating qualified candidates.

"Most qualified candidates are not aware of new opportunities until a headhunter presents it to them," said Orion's DeWitt.

The average for filling wireless industry jobs is somewhere between two weeks and several months, DeWitt said. Although wireless experience still is preferred, search companies and human-resource executives agree that companies will increasingly be recruiting sales and marketing professionals who can bring skills from other industries.