Silicon Valley's Entry-level Skilled Workers Are In Demand

By Daniel Newell

Through my efforts, the San Jose State University Career Center released its annual job development report last month and made it public for the first time. The report analyzes job availability and job development efforts as it pertain to current and recent college students.

In regard to full-time career positions, the SJSU Career Center’s job database, SpartaJobs identified the College of Business as having the greatest share of job opportunities with 27.72% of the pie, the College of Engineering came in second with 22.46%, followed by the College of Science at 12.04%.

When analyzing part-time, internship, seasonal, and temporary opportunities, roles which are often used for on-boarding to full-time career positions, the break down was different. The College of Business still leads in being the college in greatest demand by employers by having the most job opportunities with 19.80%, in second, three colleges came very close with less than ½ a percent difference from each other, the College of Social Science at 15.98%, the College of Applied Science and Arts 15.61%, and the College of Engineering 15.26%.

The SJSU Career Center has experienced increases in almost all areas of employer connection and recruitment events. Job postings and attendance at job fairs have increased significantly. The SJSU Career Center reports that approximately 13,000 part-time, internship, seasonal, or temporary opportunities were developed with an estimated available income of approximately $140,000,000.00.

In closing, the outlook for job opportunities as it pertains to entry-level skilled workers looks bright. There are several job opportunities made available to current and recent college students. Silicon Valley’s job growth seems to be on the incline. If this momentum keeps up, we will see many of these positions become permanent full-time career positions that can result in a more stable and healthier local economy.

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California Unemployment Figures - March 2011

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after 12 months of a 12.4% or greater unemployment rate, for the first time in one year, CA has experienced a decline of .2%. The new unemployment rate in CA is 12.2%. This figure is high, but a decline after 12 solid months of being at or above 12.4% is a sign of relief.  

The only state with a higher unemployment rate than CA is Nevada, at 13.6%, the lowest is North Dakota at 3.7%, followed by Nebraska at 4.3%. 

The national unemployment rate is 8.9%.

- Daniel Newell

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Daniel Newell's Bio

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of Daniel Newell’s and do not represent the opinions of  any agency, institution, or other person.

Daniel Newell is the Job Development and Marketing Specialist for San Jose State University where he assists employers in meeting their recruitment needs; he does this through marketing and branding opportunities. Daniel is responsible for developing job opportunities for students in all seven colleges that make up SJSU, these colleges are: Applied Science & Arts, Business, Education, Engineering, Humanities & the Arts, Science, and Social Science. Daniel develops and maintains employer relationships and markets SJSU Career Center services to businesses.

Daniel has over eleven years’ experience in the employment industry. He has served in management and HR roles where he designed recruitment strategies and coordinated employment outreach/marketing plans. He was a job developer and employment specialist for TransAccess for seven years; he provided career counseling and job placement services to job seekers. Daniel is experienced in working with all populations, including individuals with disabilities and youth.

In 2004, Daniel was voted to board member to the Bay Area Coalition for Employment Development (BACED), where he served as co-chair for over four years. Under his leadership, he expanded the network of the coalition by over 50 miles and increased its membership by 600%. The coalition consists of employment professionals in job development, career counseling, job coaching, and vocational rehabilitation; its network encompasses the areas of San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and Marin.

Daniel is the founder of the Workforce Development Summit (WDS), formerly referred to as the UinI conference, an annual summit committed to sharing best practices to get people to work. The conference promotes workforce development strategies, information on employment trends, industry panels, and resources for services providers and job seekers.

In December, 2008, Daniel was appointed by City of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and the city council to commissioner. In this role, he provided expertise and resources to the city and advocated for the community in regard to disability issues, with an emphasis in employment. In July, 2010, Daniel was nominated and elected to chair of the commission where he oversees numerous information gathering committees composed of district representative commissioners whose work is aimed to influence areas such as employment, outreach, events/special projects, housing, city council relations, boards/commissions relations, therapeutic services, and emergency preparedness.

Daniel has provided presentations on job development, marketing,  employment and transition at numerous conferences for institutions such as: the California Career Resource Network (CalCRN), WorkAbility I (WAI), Job Accommodation Network (JAN), UCSF, SJSU, EmploymentAccess (Microsoft), Gavilan College, East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD), Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD), Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD), San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD), the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), JobCorps, San Jose, Gilroy, and Sunnyvale Workforce Investment Boards (WIB), and more.



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