Not Every High-Tech Job Requires A Ph.D Workers With Entry-Level Skills In Demand

While some high-tech recruiting focuses on key players with advanced degrees and experience for critical positions, in other cases there is strength in numbers.

One fast-growing example is Software Spectrum in Spokane.

The company is on a hiring binge, trying to bring in 270 entry-level technical support staffers by May 22. That would increase total employment to 460 people, mostly in jobs answering entry-level technical questions on customer service hotlines.

Software Spectrum, a leading worldwide software supplier and technical support firm, recently landed a big contract with a major software publisher. That created the need for more support staff.

The company came to Spokane in early 1996 when it bought Egghead’s corporate, government and education division.

The firm’s new jobs involve troubleshooting on software applications for customers who call an 800 service line, said Jennifer Dunham, a human resources specialist at Software Spectrum. They require a basic familiarity with DOS systems and Windows 95, and starting pay is in the low to mid-$20,000 range.

That pay scale is very low for computer science graduates with 4-year degrees, but that’s not who the company is looking for anyway.

“These are family wage jobs,” Dunham said. “Especially for people who have been unemployed or underemployed, these people can have an opportunity at a new career now.”

Software Spectrum plans to hire people with two-year community college degrees, or those who have taken six- or nine-month courses at places like New Horizons Computer Learning Center and ITT Technical Institute.

New hires then participate in four-week training courses, which will cost the company $4,500 per employee to conduct.

Familiarity with DOS-based and Windows 95 operating systems is required, but it’s not quantum physics, the company says.

“It’s not all about geniuses and gurus,” said Gary Howlett, an instructor in computer programming and systems analysis at SCC. “They need someone to just do the work.”

Dave Schoengold, general manager of New Horizons computer learning center, said demand for jobs such as those at Software Spectrum illustrates the way industry is leaning. Skills are specialized, and companies want new hires ready to work after six or nine months of prejob training, he said.

“As systems become more specialized, people need to learn more specialty skills,” Schoengold said.

Bill Williams, board chairman and CEO of Telect, said he has talked with technical schools and community colleges about the need for more education-to-work programs with two years of training or less.

“People need to realize that not all job openings require Ph.D’s,” he said.