Google and Facebook continue to dominate the news media when it comes to the ever-changing Silicon Valley job market, but most of us know that any kind of warming up of the competitive employment landscape requires the broad participation of smaller companies. I believe the greater San Francisco Bay Area's high tech sector has recently shifted in the past few weeks towards more hiring.
I haven't even been paying close attention to the most obvious indicators like job board posting volume or regional unemployment claims figures, although I do pay attention to them on occasion as part of my professional responsibilities.
The indicators I have are entirely anecdotal and rather similar.
I've heard of many Bay Area recruiters that I know to have recently changed jobs or emerged from a lengthy period of unemployment. 2008 and 2009 were devastating to the careers of many recruiters I know. But even among those who found work in 2009 or got a gig in early 2010, I seem to have heard about recent job changes as more and more recruiter gigs have opened up. It clearly a leading indicator of widespread hiring when companies begin to ramp up their usage of salaried and hourly paid recruiters.
More interestingly, at least to me, is that I have heard of at least four Bay Area based corporate recruiting leadership openings in just the past few weeks, and I'm not even trying to look for such opportunities. Three of the four were sent to me via email from various contacts in my professional network.
These are signs that bode well for the Bay Area job seeker. Hopefully, that means fewer people stuck in the drudgery of long term unemployment, as well as opportunities for the under-employed and even the fully employed to find a better job than they have now. Many people have had to compromise their career ambitions to keep a roof over their heads, food on the plate, and their bills paid (especially health care bills), during these tough past few years.
Let me know if you see other signs of a warming Bay Area job market.
