Job Market Isn't Dead

News Analysis Light Reading 9/3/2001

While layoffs may have hit record highs in the optical networking industry this year, plenty of companies are still recruiting staff.

A total of 370 positions are currently listed in Light Reading’s Job Database and, no, these aren’t listings that were posted a long time ago and then forgotten about. In fact, more than half of them -- 188 to be exact -- were posted for the first time during August.

Nearly all of last month’s new recruitment listings were posted by startups. The exceptions are companies that have gone public fairly recently, such as ONI Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: ONIS) and Tellium Inc. (Nasdaq: TELM).

The startups recruiting the largest numbers of staff (possibly reflecting their confidence in the future) include Atrica Inc., Avicron Technologies, Azanda Network Devices, Calix Networks, Nexsi Corp., Optium Corp., Procket Networks Inc., Sabeus Photonics and Solinet Systems Inc.

Another surprising tidbit about the current job market was unveiled by Light Reading’s Work Poll last month (see The Job Hunt). The poll indicates that plenty of people that already have a job are hoping to find a better one within the next few months. Some 21 percent of the 847 respondents said they would consider looking for a new job straight away, while a total of 63 percent said they would be looking within the next 12 months.

Quite a high proportion of respondents -- 16 percent -- said they got their last job by responding to an Internet job posting, while 21 percent percent got their job via a recruiter. By far the biggest proportion -- 46 percent -- got their job via direct contact with the company that eventually hired them.

This month’s Work Poll takes another look at Option Plans. In particular, it reviews how their perceived value has changed in the past year and examines people’s attitudes towards taking more options in exchange for a pay-cut -- something Redback Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: RBAK) has proposed (see DeNuccio Joins Redback).

— Peter Heywood, Founding Editor, Light Reading
http://www.lightreading.com