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We relocated our web technology company to Asheville, and are having a difficult time finding the necessary qualified workers. We are concerned that the Asheville area is simply too small to attract the necessary talent base. Of course it's hard to find good workers anywhere, but the resume flow here is very slow. Given that many of the resumes we receive are from non qualified workers this is a problem. What is it that is needed to attract qualified programmers in WNC? It seems that all the qualified ones are off the market.
We relocated our web technology company to Asheville, and are having a difficult time finding the necessary qualified workers. We are concerned that the Asheville area is simply too small to attract the necessary talent base. Of course it's hard to find good workers anywhere, but the resume flow here is very slow. Given that many of the resumes we receive are from non qualified workers this is a problem. What is it that is needed to attract qualified programmers in WNC? It seems that all the qualified ones are off the market.
Where did you relocate the business from and why did you choose Asheville over the more populated areas in the state? Asheville is known as a town of retirees and tourists. If you read any of the threads on this forum, you will realize that the local economy in Asheville does not have many professional positions available. You may want to network with other entrepreneurs in your area if there are any. They may be able to give you some tips.
Would you be willing to let qualified applicants telecommute? Are your wages in-line with the market for the field? You may also want to check with community colleges to see if they are training people with the necessary skills in this area. You may be better served by relocating the business to a more populated area where there are more qualified applicants
I lived through this 20 years ago ... took a job as a programmer in a little mountain town. I was single, many of the other co-workers were too. We could lump it, find enough to do or simply move 45 minutes away to a neaby large city and carpool in. But I heard that the business had a difficult time recruiting married people, because the job base in the area was not diverse enough for a professional spouse to find employment.
Asheville may be an appealing place on many levels, but not necessarily somewhere that a working "couple" can keep up the lifestyle they could persue in a larger metro.
You may have to draw them here or as someone else suggested, allow them to telecommute. Suggest you network with local schools if you're interested in training new grads. This is a great place to live, and I'm sure many folks would love to move here and take your jobs.... Get the word out in appropriate markets. Network with folks from HR at AVL Technologies. Good Luck
Would you be willing to let qualified applicants telecommute? Are your wages in-line with the market for the field? You may also want to check with community colleges to see if they are training people with the necessary skills in this area. You may be better served by relocating the business to a more populated area where there are more qualified applicants
Yes, we do allow telecommute, but we don't start workers unless we have met in person. Wages are inline with freelance/startup work. Yes, we are already considering relocation to Charlotte. Thing is, due to the small size of our company we believed that we could find a handful of good workers here as that is all we needed. Still searching, but so far have been quite underwhelmed.
"Still searching, but so far have been quite underwhelmed."
Sounds like potential qualified candidates are quite underwhelmed, too.
This. If you are tying to bring decent tech workers aboard but are only paying "freelance/start up" wages well you get what you pay for. People are desperate for jobs in WNC but those who are actually "professional" don't stay in the area long because they can get paid twice as much somewhere else.
Yes, we do allow telecommute, but we don't start workers unless we have met in person. Wages are inline with freelance/startup work. Yes, we are already considering relocation to Charlotte. Thing is, due to the small size of our company we believed that we could find a handful of good workers here as that is all we needed. Still searching, but so far have been quite underwhelmed.
I understand the need to meet in person beforehand. With what's been said, I have a few more pieces of advice.
1) Are you working with a local recruiter? It sounds like you didn't know the local market well before you moved the business. A recruiter may be able to help you find qualified candidates, if there are any looking in the area.
2) Has your business gotten any notice that it's even there? The slow resume flow may be because candidates just don't know about your business. Asheville has a lot of strengths, but a robust tech market (and job market in general) are not among its advantages.
Do you have a local network that could get the word of mouth rolling? Have you advertised on the job boards of neighboring metros? If you cast the net wider, Knoxville TN, Greenville SC, the Triangle, and Charlotte all come to mind, you'll probably find qualified people who could telecommute without the need to relocate the business, unless you're looking for some super niche skill. They're close enough to drive in for an interview, but far enough away that you may not have to factor in the Asheville tax.
3) Like it or not, you may have to raise your salary minimums if you choose to stay in Asheville. People with money from elsewhere and retirees have bid up home prices and rents to the point that many natives have trouble affording the basics on the poor prevailing wages in the area. This is an "Asheville tax" that will make other areas of NC more cost-effective to operate in. Combine this relatively high cost of living, a small metro that doesn't have much in the way of your industry, and what looks like below market wages that you're offering, qualified candidates are in the catbird's seat and you will probably have to pay a good candidate MORE in Asheville than you will elsewhere.
Virtually all of those metros I listed above would have a more favorable cost of living, doing business, and a better candidate pool than Asheville. It's great that you are trying to provide professional jobs in Asheville, but unless you have some specific attachment to the town, you'd probably be better off in the long run relocating the business, even though there's going to be a lot of upfront hassle.
We relocated our web technology company to Asheville, and are having a difficult time finding the necessary qualified workers. We are concerned that the Asheville area is simply too small to attract the necessary talent base. Of course it's hard to find good workers anywhere, but the resume flow here is very slow. Given that many of the resumes we receive are from non qualified workers this is a problem. What is it that is needed to attract qualified programmers in WNC? It seems that all the qualified ones are off the market.
First of all, thank you so much for bringing your business to WNC. Please don't give up on finding a suitable person for your job opening. Like someone before suggested, the Programmers that I know have needed to move to another area to find work in the last few years. There possibly would be those that have moved elsewhere that would love to be back home in the WNC mountains. If you had the desire I would suggest posting your job on Monster or some of the other sites . If your wages and benefits are competitive then you may get a good response.
Good Luck and I hope you can succeed here as we need your business!
Seems like there's a bit of a Catch-22 in the area: there's so much discussion on this board and probably others about the depressed job market in the Asheville area, so qualified candidates would be scared off, with good reason. Companies that might consider the Asheville area because the principals and management might like to live there or other reasons, find that there are few or no qualified candidates in the area. Years ago in Florida businesses would re-locate to the area because it was low cost and they'd take the attitude that they were gracing the state with their presence and employees should be willing to accept less pay because they were "paid in sunshine". Fortunately, the cost of living was relatively low for most people provided they didn't live an extravagant lifestyle, so it sort of worked. However, things have changed over the years. And in parts of the country where the cost of living is higher, people need to be paid more so they can afford to live there.
And I don't really know what the climate is like for businesses, as far as taxes and things like that, but I did read somewhere that North Carolina is one of the top ten states in the country for high taxes. I think they meant for individuals, combining state income taxes with property and sales taxes.
I guess, you've got to have the labor pool to attract the businesses, and you've got to have the businesses and wages/salaries to attract the labor pool.
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Programmers in the Asheville, NC area
