High-Tech Jobs and Low-Tech People

Narrator: Mark Riley has a great job as a programmer at Play Inc., a Rancho Cordova high-tech firm. Thing is, Mark never got past high school.

Mark: It started off as a hobby, and, you know, it became a profession and ever since I've been programming computers.

Background: Let's just do this and keep it dramatic.

Narrator: Stressed with too many openings and not nearly enough qualified candidates, many high-tech firms are foregoing the traditional approach of recruiting strictly engineering grads.

Play Inc. Man: What we are looking for is people who are smart, creative, and driven. People who really want to do something. This isn't your normal kind of 9 to 5 job, so we want people who have an accomplishment that they want to have.

Narrator: Other high-tech firms in the Sacramento area say their hiring philosophies have also changed. Liberal arts grads who show good communication skills and the ability to learn often getting tech jobs. In employment services like Manpower Inc., the number one listing is high-tech jobs.

Manpower man: Sometimes people are moving on because there is a better job opportunity for them, but we are also seeing an increase in turnover because if employees are not happy in their current job, they are much more likely to move on to a new job than what we used to see.

Narrator: So, employers are learning to woo new employees, the job has to offer more than a place to work.

Play Inc. Man: It's not as important to Play whether or not you have a certain degree. It's more important that you want to do something cool.

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