Recruiting Technological Talent

Originally Published MX January/February 2001

In a market filled with new and emerging technologies, medical device companies face continual challenges in sourcing, attracting, and retaining skilled personnel.

Joseph Mullings

In the United States, the national unemployment rate is currently at a record low of 3.9%—the lowest it's been, in fact, since the mid-1970s. Couple this with the strength of today's economy, the stock market rising to record levels, higher per-capita income, and a higher GDP than in years past, and employers find themselves having to offer more than just a competitive wage to attract and retain employees. Such challenges are especially problematic for medical device companies, where access to specialized skills is increasingly important if a company is to keep pace with constantly changing and continually emerging new technologies. The demand for software developers, for example, has created a highly competitive market. In this area, medical device companies are facing real difficulties in gaining access to software engineers who have not made the jump to a dot-com.