Applicants find it's not always easy to find a tech job in Boston

By Lucia Maffei – Technology Reporter, Boston Business Journal

In wake of layoffs at Wayfair, LogMeIn, Akamai and other Boston-area tech companies, hundreds of people have found themselves unexpectedly on the job market. And many of them have probably heard the same sentiment: There’s no shortage of tech jobs in the Bay State, so it should be easy to find another one.

But job applicants who recently came together for a pop-up job fair in wake of Wayfair’s layoffs have pointed out the hurdles they’re facing in the Boston tech market. Namely, competition is harsh for tech jobs beyond an ever-growing sector such as software engineering, and employers want to see a track record of leadership qualities even in applicants for entry-level positions.

In the local tech world, positions are being added at a rapid pace, and employees tend to be open to switching jobs. Massachusetts added nearly 72,000 net tech jobs between 2010 and 2018, according to MassTLC’s latest report on the local tech economy. The Bay State also ranks third out of the 50 states for workforce volatility, meaning that it has the third-highest percentage of workers likely to engage with an unsolicited recruitment message, says a 2020 report by Orlando, Fla.-based Workforce Logiq. Barely a week passes without a local tech company announcing that it's going on a hiring spree: Last week, Quincy-based IntelyCare said it's looking to hire 40 after raising its biggest round yet.

On the other hand, recent headlines suggested that losing a tech job in Boston might be as easy as finding one. Earlier this month, public tech companies such as Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) and LogMeIn Inc. (Nasdaq: LOGM) laid off workers in Boston and elsewhere. The Internet retailer cut 350 jobs in its Copley Place headquarters; LogMeIn eliminated 64 positions in Boston. Akamai Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM) of Cambridge and Tripadvisor Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIP) of Needham also reduced their workforce by dozens each.

Larry Kahn, vice president of recruiting at New Dimensions in Technology Inc., a tech-focused staffing firm, said that the last time he’s seen layoffs of this magnitude was between 2009 and 2012, during times of recession. However, he pointed out that the recent layoffs are not part of a general economic decline, and called them “a rarity.”

“I feel strongly that those who have been laid off will find new opportunities in fairly quick fashion,” he said.

To support those who lost their jobs from Wayfair, the Boston tech community put together a pop-up job fair last week that attracted over 60 companies and more than 1,000 job seekers at the Westin Copley Place. The location was switched last minute to the hotel’s 8,200-square-feet Essex Ballroom because the number of people (and companies) who registered to participate went beyond expectations, according to lead organizer Brent Kleiman.

So did actual attendance, which was not limited to those who recently lost their jobs. “We ran out of name tags,” Kleiman, founder and CEO of recruiting services firm Argosight, said at the event.

The event attracted a crowd hoping to work for tech companies at all levels. Lydia Gamache, who arrived right when doors opened from Exeter, Rhode Island is hoping to score a job as user experience designer. She said she completed the Boston-based General Assembly’s UX Design Immersive program, and was told it would take up to six months to get a job. She's been searching for a year now.

Gamache said that finding a job in tech in Boston “is very hard, especially for entry-level applicants.” The problem? Prospective employers “expect you to have leadership qualities.”

Then there was Alissa Skavish, 20, who was in line to talk with recruiters of the restaurant management platform Toast Inc. She's hoping for an internship. Skavish said she's known people who’ve been trying to break into the industry for some time — with no luck.

Mission Hill resident Shashank Sahu, 27, was also handing out resumes at the fair. Sahu, who wants to work as a data analyst, pointed out that only two companies at the fair were looking for his particular dream role: CareDash, a platform to compare healthcare professional ratings, and ProfitWell, which analyzes metrics for subscription companies.

To keep his option open, he also made a list of companies hiring for roles as quality assurance analyst.

“Is it easy to find a job in tech in Boston? It depends,” he said. “For software engineers, it is. For other roles, there’s so much competition.”