As tech firms rebound, a robust job market emerges

Kathleen Poe , who is graduating from MIT's Sloan School of Management in June, had the unexpected luxury of three job offers this winter -- more than six months before she plans to start working.

Poe, 31, narrowed her choice to two before settling on Innosight, a Watertown consulting firm that helps companies adapt their businesses to new technologies. Attracted to the variety of the Innosight job, she passed up an offer from Internet search giant Google Inc. "It's amazing to be turning down a company like that," she said.

Five years after the dot-com bust ravaged the technology industry, erasing tens of thousands of jobs in Massachusetts, the "Help Wanted" signs have been pulled out of storage. State figures released Thursday show several high-tech job categories growing at more than triple the rate of overall employment over the past 13 months.

The job market hasn't returned to the feverish state of the 1990s, and fields such as telecommunications have been slower to recover. But multiple job offers are no longer rare for managers and consultants, software developers, researchers, website designers, marketing and sales professionals -- even newly minted college graduates -- knocking on the doors of resurgent high-tech companies. Especially hot are Internet businesses riding the new wave of digital commerce.

And, on the flip side, employers are struggling for the first time in years to hire technology talent. Many are paying signing bonuses ranging from $15,000 to $40,000, often structured as tuition forgiveness, to lure masters in business administration graduates from top schools.

More junior employees are finding themselves in demand, too. Internet consulting firm Molecular Inc. offered a job to a woman who interviewed at its offices in the Arsenal on the Charles River last month. She is a software engineer relocating to Boston from Alabama.

"She flew up for a few days, interviewed with three companies, all referrals from friends, and had job offers from all three the next week," Molecular managing director Patrick Heath reported in an e-mail last month to Ralph Folz , chief executive officer of the Watertown company. Heath concluded the e-mail, which Folz shared with the Globe, by observing, "The market is crazy right now." (Late last week, the coveted software engineer accepted Molecular's offer.)

New data from the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development show the number of non-farm jobs in the state increased 1.2 percent since the start of 2006. At the same time, employment grew 3.7 percent in computer systems design, 4.5 percent in technology management and consulting, and 4.9 percent in research and development, fields encompassing many of the employees being snapped up by Internet companies. "The hiring market is tougher than it's been since 1999 or 2000," said Folz, recalling the last boom.

Peter Flint , a general partner at Polaris Venture Partners in Waltham, who recruits executives and board members for the firm's portfolio companies, recently hired two professional recruiters to assist him. "As we talk to outside search firms, it's amazing how many are so busy now that they don't have time to take on new work," Flint said.

Atlas Venture, another Waltham venture capital firm, hosted a working dinner for CEOs of its portfolio companies Thursday night at Legal Sea Foods in Park Square. The topic: attracting and retaining management talent for their startups.

Sales and marketing executives -- people who can "monetize" Internet content through advertising or other online strategies -- are in particular demand. Jeff Andrews , an Atlas Venture partner, said he knows of two executives who accepted vice president jobs at companies in the past month but, before starting, reneged for better offers.

The market for top-flight managers at high-tech and Internet companies has gotten so tight that "we have to do a gang-tackle on somebody if we really want to hire him," Andrews said.

That has meant plenty of opportunity at the Sloan School, which focuses on the management of technology businesses. In many cases, employers competing for new MBAs have had to boost salary offers and relocation payouts in addition to signing bonuses.

Graduating student Eric Dittmar , 29, rejected offers from Apple Inc. and IBM Corp. this winter in favor of a job with McKinsey & Co. in Palo Alto, Calif., advising Silicon Valley high-tech companies. "I had an exciting set of opportunities, that's for sure," Dittmar said.

Another Sloan MBA student, Carlos Araya , 28, is juggling four job offers from established companies, including Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc., effective after his June graduation. He is also interviewing with technology startups. Araya said he has been flown to the West Coast a half - dozen times since the school year began. He plans to make a decision within the next couple of weeks.

"There's definitely been some wining and dining," Araya acknowledged. "But the companies are still being pretty rigorous about the interviewing and the application process. It's a good market, but it's not close to the frenzy that was happening during the dot-com boom."

One difference today is that job candidates are more concerned about salary and conventional compensation. The allure of stock options has faded in an era where initial public offerings are less common. "There were days in the bubble where it wasn't unusual for someone to take a $200,000 pay cut in exchange for 8 or 10 percent of the company and the promise of an IPO," recalled Flint at Polaris.

Today, employers have to offer competitive benefits. GetConnected, a company that creates specialized software for retailers, is sponsoring a job fair tomorrow at its offices in the North End. The company, which is trying to hire 20 engineers to support its growth, is boosting its contribution to employee health plans. It's also offering pet insurance along with its 401(k) and flexible spending account.

And company managers are trying to entice candidates with their collaborative culture and proximity to good Italian restaurants.

"You have to offer good benefits, and you have to sell them on your vision," said Ali Riaz , president and chief executive of GetConnected. "The market for hiring is super tough."

Robert Weisman can be reached at weisman@globe.com.