Finding new employees who have science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills has become difficult because technology is growing more specialized for certain jobs, according to leaders of several Arkansas companies.
"What we have found, it depends upon the nature of the skill," said Rod Ford, chief executive officer of nGage Labs. Ford's company works with software that allows businesses to identify customers when they enter stores to offer them tailored promotions based on their shopping history.
"As you move to the most modern skills, cloud-based computing type skills ... our educational and secondary educational systems have not been producing those skills and there are not enough workers who have those skills," he said. The company has an office in Little Rock.
Almost 35 percent of the job listings in the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Conway area in the first quarter of 2013 required STEM skills -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to the report.
Despite higher salaries, these jobs are taking longer to fill than those in other fields because qualified applicants are in short supply, according to a recent Brookings Institution report: "Still Searching: Job Vacancies and STEM Skills" released July 1.
"It is a challenge," said Tim McKenna, director of human resources, talent acquisition and workforce planning for Acxiom Corp. "I would say that the more specialized the job is in the technology field, the more difficult, which is something Acxiom bumps into quite a bit."
The more "niche a job" is, the harder it is for the Little Rock company to to fill because it requires specific skills that are hard to find in the region, he said.
As a result, Acxiom often has to look out of state for recruits. The company commonly searches in Silicon Valley, the Californian tech hub, where the data mining company has set up an office.
"It's nice when you have more technology companies in one region" because of the deeper talent pool, McKenna said.
Finding candidates who have specialized skills also is a challenge for the health industry, which is always searching for more experienced recruits and has more local competition, said Tim Osterholm, senior vice president and chief people officer at CHI St. Vincent.
"For the more specialized [jobs], we also have to look outside of Arkansas because the demand and the supply may not be there," Osterholm said. "We try to make sure we're competitive with our benefits and our pay structure to be able to attract those special skills."
An increasing number of jobs requiring computer-based skills at nontraditional technology companies is driving even more competition for recruits, said Eric Bradford, managing director of the Information Technology Research Institute at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
"I don't think [students] understand the wide variety of things they can do within the field," he said. "All companies use technology in some form or fashion, so those companies have positions that are available."
That includes Wal-Mart, which employs mechanics and engineers, but also has positions that expand into e-commerce, renewable energy and suitability, said Kory Lundberg, spokesman for the Bentonville retailer.
"I don't think it's unique to Wal-Mart that there's this need for people with STEM backgrounds and the pool of people who have that educational ability is kind of smaller than what the available jobs are," he said.
In an effort to find more local talent, many companies said they work with universities in the state and offer internships where students can be trained in specific skills.
But even then, the number of students enrolling in science and technology majors has not kept pace with demand because people aren't aware of the range of opportunities, said Stephen Addison, dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Central Arkansas.
"It's a matter of realizing you can work in the field you want and live where you want," he said, along with reaching out to students in high school to generate interest in the science and technology fields. "We actually produce a lot of talented people, and the vast majority of them would really like to stay. It's just, we need to produce more of them," Addison said.
SundayMonday Business on 07/14/2014