Earlier I wrote a couple blogs about the down economy and how to survive it. Recently I have been thinking about ways to take advantage of the our current economic situation and be better prepared when it rebounds, as it always does. Now is a great time to be thinking about the employees you will need when you start ramping up again. Many of the experts say there will be a shortage of engineers, IT personnel and other technical personnel, so maybe you should start looking now while there are so many looking for jobs. The business I’m in (Digital Signage), like many others, continues to become more technical so we will need more technical employees. Even your non technical employees will need to understand your more technical products. As an example, a sales manager, account manager or anyone speaking to customers or prospects will need to understand the function and capabilities of your new products.

Another trend that adds to this need is new technologies are being developed at an exponentially quicker pace, so keeping your employees trained and up to date with these changes will be more difficult. The percentage of students graduating with technical degrees compared to non-technical are decreasing as the need in the market place is increasing. One thing that helps this situation is the new graduates are becoming much more computer literate as a result of the ever increasing use of small computing and communicating devices.