In harsh jobs market, tech companies an oasis

Software engineers Bala Nair (left) and Ray Boutotte tested television applications at SeaChange International Inc. in Acton, which is filling jobs as demand grows for its products. (Michele McDonald/Globe Staff)

ACTON - Help wanted.

The nation may be teetering on the brink of recession, with payrolls shrinking and many employers casting off workers.

But out by thawing Lake Nagog in this western suburb, a steady flow of job candidates is arriving for interviews at SeaChange International Inc. In the past three months, the company has hired nearly 80 employees worldwide. And it still has about 75 openings, including 30 at its headquarters here, as it hustles to keep up with customer orders for its video-on-demand software and hardware.

"It's a very competitive job market for software engineers," said Laura Watson, the SeaChange senior director of human resources. "Most of the people who come in here have offers in a few days."

SeaChange's hiring spree is typical of a class of high-tech businesses in Massachusetts that have proved virtually immune to the economic slowdown. These companies sell into global markets that provide a cushion as the US economy struggles with everything from mounting home foreclosures to a plummeting stock market.

In many cases, they also offer products that enable them to benefit from economic downturns, when consumer spending is restrained and businesses cut costs. "This is about gaining an edge, about finding a niche and leveraging it in the global marketplace," said New England economist Don Klepper-Smith, research director at DataCore Partners in New Haven and Martha's Vineyard.

The ramp-up by technology companies is reflected in state workforce data that show Massachusetts gained about 8,400 jobs in professional, scientific, and technical services last year, a 3.4 percent increase in one of the key high-tech labor categories. The state also added 2,100 jobs in scientific research and development, and another 800 in the information sector, which includes software publishing. At the same time, Massachusetts lost 2,600 jobs in manufacturing and 3,300 in construction, many of them tied to the slumping housing and building industries, according to figures from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. A survey by the Federal Reserve, released last week, indicated the supply of skilled labor remains tight in New England, especially in such fields as technology, engineering, finance, and biopharmaceuticals.

The growing sectors have capitalized on their global reach, often gaining an edge from a decline of the dollar against foreign currencies, making exports of their products more affordable.

"Our business has revenue coming in from different markets around the world," said Steven Davi, senior vice president of software engineering at SeaChange, who said the company has been enjoying bursts of demand from South America, Europe, and Asia. "It all depends on which regions are growing. If there's a slowdown, our business is spread across so many regions that it's not really affecting us."

SeaChange is also taking advantage of belt-tightening by consumers. Increases in gas prices and adjustable-rate mortgages mean people are going out less frequently and spending more time at home watching videos on television. That helps SeaChange's customers, entertainment companies that make videos and service providers that distribute them through cable or telephone lines. They, in turn, purchase more of SeaChange's servers and software to deliver the videos, electronic games, and ads targeted to subscribers' interests.

BladeLogic Inc., a Lexington company that makes data center automation software, is hiring about 55 people in its headquarters office and 140 worldwide this year to exploit another trend.

After a recent wave of mergers and acquisitions, businesses are straining to consolidate their sprawling networks of servers and software applications. BladeLogic has been selling technology that enables those businesses to configure, patch, and update software across multiple operating systems simultaneously.

"When people feel pressure to contain costs, one of the places they look is the data center," said Dev Ittycheria, BladeLogic's president and chief executive. "That creates the need for our services."

The drive for lower costs and efficiency, intensified by the weakening economy, also has been lifting the fortunes of Fast Search & Transfer ASA, a Norwegian company that recently hired 18 employees and is looking for 40 others at its US headquarters in Needham.

Fast, which agreed in January to be acquired by Microsoft Corp. for $1.23 billion, sells search software that helps businesses and organizations mine, store, and manage their proliferating volumes of data.

While its pending affiliation with Microsoft is helping Fast recruit top candidates, Siv Farstad Olsen, its global director of human resources, said the competition for technology talent in the Boston area is stiff even in an economic downturn. "It's a lot of work with each candidate convincing them this is the place to be," Olsen conceded. "We're fortunate that search is a field that's slated to grow."

Internet commerce, another field that's grown steadily throughout the decade, is getting a fresh boost from consumers shopping at home to save money on gas as prices rise at the pump. Boston footwear e-tailer Shoebuy.com, one of the online retailers that have benefited, expects to hire 35 employees locally this year.

The jobs being filled at such companies vary, though most are in specialized technology and related fields requiring different skills from those of workers being idled in other sectors. Fast is hiring information technology and services professionals. Shoebuy is hunting for software engineers and web designers. And, SeaChange is interviewing user experience and quality assurance engineers.

"One reason the tech sector has been holding up is the demand is coming from the world market, not just locally, and from businesses, not just consumers," said Alan Clayton-Matthews, economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. "They're not making automobiles and they're not building houses. They haven't been affected by the slowdown in those sectors so far."

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