NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — With launch costs low and valuations soaring, startups are multiplying like rabbits in tech hot zones like New York and Silicon Valley.

That has sparked a talent war over the industry's scarcest resource: skilled engineers and developers.

"There are a lot of ideas, but to actually do it you need someone to build it," says Daniel Gruneberg, who co-founded Zozi in San Francisco last year. The daily-deal site sells discounted activities like bicycling tours and wine-tasting trips. As an added lure for employees, Zozi offers some of its deals up for free to its staff — and to the people who refer them.

"There is definitely a strain on engineering and developer hiring, especially mobile developers," says Gowalla founder Josh Williams, who relies on mobile coding gurus to enhance his company's location-based check-in application.

"The boom in app development has left a big need here all around," he says. "Those positions still take us the longest to fill."

Everyone is in the hunt. On any given day, Twitter is filled with tweets advertising open spots for "rockstar" developers. IPhone app developer Bump went one better, soliciting by tweet for "rockstarninja" engineers and designers.

Entrepreneur Francisco Hui even launched a business venture to cater to the constant recruiters: His Interactees shirts let those who are hiring literally wear their job ad. Need a UI designer? There's a t-shirt for that.

The startups are competing for talent not just with each other, but also against established companies with much deeper pockets. A study by consulting firm BDO found that 46% of top U.S. technology companies plan to increase their employee headcount in 2011.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), which recently gave its workers an across-the-board 10% pay raise, often starts new computer-science college grads off at salaries that top $100,000 — and it's willing to pay more if there's a competing offer from rivals like Facebook or Twitter. It's also on a hiring tear, looking to add at least 6,000 workers to its ranks this year.

At SEOmoz, a Seattle startup that sells SEO tools, engineers are so prized that the company offers a $12,000 reward for referrals that lead to a hire.

"Things have gotten harder," says CEO Rand Fishkin. "Prices are going up, competition is heating up and there's a much lower supply of engineers on the market."

With the job market so fierce, companies often find themselves covetously eying their neighbors' engineers. Poaching is a time-honored tech industry practice — one that some businesses go to extremes to fend off. A full 15% of Facebook's staff previously worked at Google.

"Good talent is always employed," says Shannon Callahan, who recruits for companies backed by venture capital firm Andreessen-Horowitz.

That can lead to some sticky situations. "As CEO, one generally doesn't have many true friends in business and raiding your friend's company is a sure way to lose one," Andreessen-Horowitz partner Ben Horowitz wrote last month in a blog post on the ethics of poaching.

As one New York entrepreneur recently put it, right after wrapping up a $1 million funding round: "Hide your designers, hide your developers, because we're recruiting everybody out there." 

While working at the Ford Design Center in Dearborn, Mich., Edgar Camez became a specialist in designing engine mounts for cars. But the 37-year-old engineer wanted to do something different after working 11 years, and he felt his small niche limited his career options.

Dennis Nishi

So he gradually eased his way into the hybrid-technology unit at Ford Motor, pursuing in-house training as well as a master's degree in automotive engineering. His efforts led to a new job as senior program manager of hybrid electric vehicles for Warrenville, Ill.-based Navistar.

"It's a much smaller company, so I do a bit of everything," says Mr. Camez, who is currently pursuing a master's in business administration at the University of Michigan.

When times are good, companies tend to hire specialists, says Tim Gardner, associate professor of management at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Specialists "perform optimally within their narrow range of expertise and are good bets when the economy is doing well," he says.

But the recession has made many companies leery about hiring employees who may not be able to adapt to volatile market changes. That's why experts say it's important to routinely re-evaluate your skill set. You want to be able to recognize when changes in your career are needed, so you can find ways to position yourself for new opportunities as they arise.

Having breadth can often be more valuable than a raft of technical skills since the former requires a more comprehensive knowledge that allows you to be plugged into different roles. It also can save you from being laid off when managers are faced with reorganizing or downsizing a department.

One of the best ways to increase your marketability is to broaden your expertise within specific disciplines, says Rick Gibbs, senior human-resources specialist at Administaff, a human-resources firm in Kingwood, Texas. If you're an IT worker who manages Oracle databases in finance, for example, it might be helpful to also learn to work on managing human-resources, operations and marketing systems or even network security.

Take advantage of any learning or mentorship opportunities within the company and acquire skills and certifications that can be put to use immediately.

The skills don't necessarily have to be complementary, but you need to be able to show a direct benefit to prospective employers who will also want proven skills. This may involve volunteering for additional duties that allow you to actually use your new skills.

In some cases, companies will post highly detailed job requirements in want ads, despite the fact that the job may actually require a generalist candidate with a broad set of skills. Learn to read between the lines so as not to overlook viable employment opportunities.

Article Source:  http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=382988451&ids=0OdzASd3wQe3cIcjkQe3wVczwPb34Td3sQcz0RcOMPej0OdPwPe3cIejsMc3wUczwP&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=yiaag-104

You’ve got to wonder how Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is handling having millions of people wanting him to step down. Must be pretty demoralizing. I’ve been fired once or twice, and you know, I didn’t very much like having one person wanting me gone, let alone half of Egypt.

Come to think of it, I’ve known dozens of CEOs who must have known they weren’t cutting it. I mean, it’s sort of hard to miss the signs of a company that’s consistently under-performing. And yet, the vast majority just stayed the course. That brings to mind a number of interesting questions:

• Why do leaders do that: refuse to step down, even when confronted with undeniable evidence of their ineffectiveness or incompetence?
• Can they change, put out a new version, like Mubarak 2.0? And what does it take for that to happen?
• What makes some leaders capable of changing while others would just as soon pass a kidney stone?

These aren’t purely academic questions, you know. Leaders must learn to adapt in a fast-changing world to avoid corporate or political disaster. Some do. Most don’t.

Mubarak’s predecessor, Anwar Sadat, was one of the few who did. He was a key member of Nasser’s administration during the Six-Day War with Israel and, after assuming power, he waged the surprise Ramadan or Yom Kippur War. But, after a change of heart, he was actually instrumental in achieving lasting peace with Israel.

In the corporate world, management consultants and academics are constantly looking for esoteric reasons why companies fail while completely missing the obvious. Most companies fail because their CEOs are no longer effective and fail to adapt to changing market conditions.

Even when their business is in the tank and the troops are rebelling, they either won’t or can’t change. And, all too often, the board of directors has its collective head too far up its CEO’s you-know-what to do its job and fire the guy. The corporate graveyards are filled with once-great companies that bit the dust as a result. Nortel, Digital Equipment, Silicon Graphics, and Lehman come to mind. We may even be witnessing a few in progress, as we speak. Think Sony CEO Howard Stringer, for example. Other companies narrowly escaped disaster when their boards finally took action, e.g. IBM, Apple, and Starbucks.

As you can see, this is a pretty big issue. So, back to the original question, Can leaders change their spots? In my experience, it really comes down to this. One of the key, identifiable aspects of a leader is his vision. That’s what drives him and it’s also what he uses to drive others. Unfortunately, too many leaders get their egos all wrapped up in that vision. It defines them, instead of the other way around. And that renders them a slave to their vision.

The only thing that can break that dysfunctional relationship is a crisis of sorts, one that threatens their ego. When their unflappable self-confidence comes into conflict with evidence of massive failure, leaders react one of two ways:

1. They behave as if they’re under siege. Denial is a powerful force and power is like a drug addiction. All too often, leaders defined by their vision see evidence of failure as an attack on their ego, their power, so they hunker down and become unreasonably stubborn, like a scared child.
2. They wake up and face reality. They open their eyes wide, look in the mirror, and say, what the hell have I done? That’s usually the first step on the road to change. But, just as with drug addiction, power addicted leaders won’t change until they’ve really bottomed out, until reality hits them right between the eyes.

I’ve also observed that some leaders reach a point when they feel they’ve proven themselves. They’ve arrived. They’ve made it. After that point, it’s very hard for them to change. Why? Simply put, change is painful and difficult. It’s a lot of hard work. Why bother when you’ve already made it? What’s the incentive?

So, bottom line, it really comes down to these five factors that define leaders who are capable of change:

• They define their vision; they’re not defined by it.
• They have self-confidence, not an overblown ego.
• They’re self image is consistent with reality.
• They’re focused and driven, but also adaptable and flexible.
• They still have skin in the game, a passion that drives them to succeed.

On the same subject:

1. Street Smart Leadership: 5 Lessons From Growing Up in New York
2. 10 Management Rules of Engagement
3. Founders Do Make Good CEOs … When They Grow Up

Article Source:  http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=360480108&ids=0NdPAMejkMdzcIcP8Te3cUd3kPb3AQcjkMe3oRcOMPcPoOc3AVdjcIe30Nc3wQc3oP&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=yiaag-104

A hundred years ago, we would have written a post about the most common work telegram mistakes you should avoid. These days, Google “telegram mistakes,” and you won’t find anything useful. No surprise there: E-mail is the lingua frana of the workplace.

Indeed, most of us rely on e-mail more than the phone and sometimes even more than face-to-face. So why do we still see so many stupid, career-limiting e-mail errors? Here are the most egregious:

1. Don’t forget that e-mail lasts forever, and it can be subpoenaed years from now. Not everything needs to be said in e-mail. If in doubt, have the conversation in person.

2. Review your message before you click send. Frequent typos and nonsensical phrases make you look like a moron.

3. Don’t bury the lede. Use the BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) strategy: Put the most important part of the message in the first paragraph, and then go nuts with context after that. But don’t bury the lede at the end of an 800-word e-mail; most folks will never see it.

4. Don’t spam your team. Avoid forwarding messages and links, or you’ll go into everyone’s spam filter. Even if you are the boss.

5. Include the attachment you claim is attached. While you’re at it, be sure to enter a subject so it doesn’t show up as blank in everyone’s inbox. You can use an automated tool to ensure both of these things happen.

6. Don’t use those “sent from my iPhone” mobile signatures. They’re obnoxious and imply you’re gloating that you have a shiny gadget. If you mean to say, “sent from my mobile, please excuse typos,” then that’s what it should say.

7. Don’t secretly add recipients to the BCC line so they can inappropriately “overhear” private conversations.

8. You shouldn’t send drunk mail, so don’t send angry mail either. Your project just got cancelled? A partner fired your vendor without talking to you? Someone dropped the ball on a big account? Wait until you’ve calmed down before clicking send, or you will certainly regret it.

9. Use Reply All appropriately. Don’t reply to everyone if you genuinely only need to talk to one person on a thread. Likewise, don’t drop specific people off a large thread without explaining your reasons to the “slighted” parties.

10. Don’t break Outlook Rules. If you’re in a thread with a large group of people, don’t move group aliases to the BCC line to get them out of the conversation. Yes, it drops them out of the mail, but not before they get one last message that Outlook can’t automatically file per the rules they’ve established for that message.

11. Don’t be rude. Give thanks in public, and deliver criticism in private.

12. Know who you’re talking to. If you get a strange request or unexpected mail out of the blue, look the sender up before you click Send. It might be a VP, a partner, or some other influential whom you should be very nice to.

Do you have anything you’d add to this list?

Article Source:  http://www.bnet.com/blog/businesstips/12-career-limiting-e-mail-mistakes-you-can-learn-to-avoid/10290

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Eric_Jacobsen

After the initial job search, resume building, and social networking is complete, you’ll inevitably get to an actual job interview.

If you’re comfortable speaking in public and already have a thousand interviews under your belt, you might be all set. But for the rest of us, every little tip can help make the difference between an interview that ends in a job offer and one that sends you back to CareerBuilder.com.

Thankfully, I’ve just found a very cool little app for your iPhone (or iPod or iPad) which dispenses all sorts of handy interview advice.

The Interview Survival Kit [iTunes link] is a free app with articles, checklists, and video to help you weather an interview.

The app begins with a checklist you can use to prepare for the interview, starting at about 72 hours prior (research the company and choose your clothes), and terminates with several day-of recommendations, such as smart choices for what to eat and drink before the interview (avoid things which could stain your clothes at the last minute). There’s even a reminder to be polite to the receptionist, who might well be polled as a part of your interview.

The meat of the app is a set of videos with graphic demonstrations of how to — and how not to — deal with typical interview scenarios. There’s also some additional reading, and advice on how to handle common interview questions.

You won’t find days’ worth of content here — you can consume the entire app in about an hour. But it has some handy interview advice, the entire program is well designed and easy to use, and it’s completely free. If you’re job hunting, be sure to download it.

Article Source:  http://www.bnet.com/blog/businesstips/an-interview-survival-kit-on-your-iphone/8070

I really enjoyed this short talk from Ted India this year.  Check it out….

Volkswagen:  "We believe that the easiest way to change people's behavior for the better is by making it fun to do. We call it The fun theory." Can we  find a way to add fun to our work?  That would increase productivity and boost morale.  Do you have any stories on how 'fun' can increase productivity?