Difficulty finding quality hires in San Diego (contractor, college)

[shmoov_groovzsd]

To any local San Diego C-D posters that are in a position to hire, have you been having challenges?

Its been incredibly frustrating over the past several months finding quality talent here. I would prefer to find folks locally but in some instances have had to go outside the region which is a pain.

Most are either working already or just not interviewing very well. Its not that I am losing people on the teams I have built, we are actually ramping up across the board.

I am using pretty much all the standard issue online stuff like linkedin, local networking connections etc. Some of the clients are also having problems as well which we joke about, but it is the reality.

If you have had success hiring locally for specific positions was it difficult, care to share some of your search tactics? What industry?

[oddstray]

In the industry I work in (government contractor), the young "good" people who were laid off were enticed to move to where there was more work (in my case back east, to the NOVA/DC area). And the older ones have given up looking for work and now consider themselves to be retired.

I'm guessing a similar pattern happened in most industries.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by oddstray

In the industry I work in (government contractor), the young "good" people who were laid off were enticed to move to where there was more work (in my case back east, to the NOVA/DC area). And the older ones have given up looking for work and now consider themselves to be retired.

I'm guessing a similar pattern happened in most industries.

Thanks oddstray for the input. I would imagine that being the case for Govt contract work as I have seen it happen in mine as well (mobile/cellular) with good lower management types going to SF or Austin to work for internet companies.

I am either running into grossly overqualified/under qualified candidates. It absolutely has nothing to do with salary comparisons or benefits etc to other cities.

Its sad to say but in my industry I am noticing a tremendous gap in the engineering field between the 15 year veterans and the newer crop. There are some more obvious reasons why (jobs going overseas) but its slim pickens. The 15 year engineers are not moving up into higher roles and are somewhat stagnant. The younger ones are fast but burn out too quickly.

Even the kids coming out of college are just not up to speed enough to even get in the door, which is sad, but a reflection of not only how rapid the industry shifts but how out of touch the courses are.

Anyhow, I am still really hopeful, just wanted to see how others were faring in their respective industries.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Seeing the same. We can't afford 120K app developers but when we hire them for about half that it's a really painful learning curve that keeps your better talent handcuffed helping the new hires. I think the in between (around 5 yr) employees have found a spot and dug in for the time being.

[Huckleberry3911948]

the san diego quandary. how to get a 80k a year employee for min wage.
also worded, how to get a new BMW for the wife and send junior and his GF to hawaii again all in the same year.

[MovingAloha]

I wish my brother-in-law was there instead of Pennsylvania. He just got laid off as an Engineer with a Gov't Contractor - the whole funding for his project was eliminated last year.

He's been doing software engineering for at least 20 years!!

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

the san diego quandary. how to get a 80k a year employee for min wage.
also worded, how to get a new BMW for the wife and send junior and his GF to hawaii again all in the same year.

Huck, salary is not the issue for me and what I am looking for. Its actual talent here. I can find talent in other parts of the country, thats not the problem, I would just rather employ a San Diegan.

An app developer for 120k is completely out of touch with reality, even for a good one. Granted if they are providing a service post launch then that is a different story.

[hitman619]

I just saw something on the morning news about,how all the qualified people are moving out of state
And how the unqualified people are replacing them!
California is going backwards.
Some of these kids coming out of college got some unreal expectations also.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by MovingAloha

I wish my brother-in-law was there instead of Pennsylvania. He just got laid off as an Engineer with a Gov't Contractor - the whole funding for his project was eliminated last year.

He's been doing software engineering for at least 20 years!!

I bugged out of IT 5 years ago and pretty much freelance for the Company now. IT took a HUGE hit in 2008.

[oddstray]

(A mix of responses ... )

Yeah, the kids coming out of college are all expecting to be the next Mark Zuckerberg. Or the next wunderkind at Google. The ones who can sing a little expecting to be the next Madonna. And the ones who are good athletes expecting to be immediate sports idols. They don't seem to understand that most of them will never be stars, and they better get busy doing the best they can do. I suppose it's an offshoot of the sense of entitlement that most of them were fed while they were growing up.

shmoov ... you said in one paragraph "salary is not the issue for me ..." and in the very next paragraph, " An app developer for 120k is completely out of touch with reality ... ". It sounds to me like salary really is an issue for you, even if it's not the only issue. As it should be, when you're looking to hire.

What's wrong with hiring some of those "grossly overqualified" candidates? I'm guessing those are highly competent engineers who have been laid off and had trouble finding work during the recession. You might find yourself a couple of gems there, and I would guess they're not expecting to be paid what they were paid before the recession.

The phenomenon exists all over the engineering world, and always has, that experienced engineers need to mentor new-hires. No one comes in ready to produce on day one, unless you happen to have had them as an intern previously. Which is a good reason for instituting an internship program - it's a win-win.