Alvin Goats <agoats@compuserve.com> Career SIG Leader

The Career SIG started off with 5 and grew to 8 this past meeting. People are still looking but are seeing positive signs of improvement.

For the graduates who are out looking, snag a low position inside a company. Even if it means doing something not really related to what your degree is in, get the job. Once inside the company, you will have access to the internal job postings and a head start over the majority of people from outside. Just make sure you do your best at the job you snag, that first impression counts!

There appears to be a slow down that may be in part due to the Labor Day holidays, but may also represent some corporate hesitation based on the presidential and congressional elections coming up in the near future.

Overall trends at the moment are varied: o Outsourcing will continue, but only portions will head offshore. o Security is high on the hiring list, and primarily to stay domestic. o Outsourcing is beginning to go deep in Strategic Partnerships.

If you have security experience or can gain it quickly, pursue this NOW. Customer dissatisfaction with offshore and governmental politics of other countries has raised the security flag to most companies. While some are still traipsing off to India and China, presure from the public has flagged the corporate heads hard. This is one area that may resist moving offshore for two reasons: the public doesn't like it and the best encryption methods are not exportable (DoC, DoE and DoD restricted).

Many companies have cut back so deep into their structure they have found holes in their structure that won't support proper growth. To fill those holes, these comanies are now looking at their outsource suppliers to fill the gap. With non-disclosures already in place, they are now pushing for strategic partnerships that go far deeper than ever before. The outsource company is being asked to provide support at earlier development cycles, even into R&D. Unease with offshore protection of Intelectual Property has added greater emphasis on the on onshore outsourcer and a greater need for strategic partnership. This is currently happening in the high tech manufacturing sector and will spread into other sectors as well.

Curiously, "onshore" has two meanings: o Inside the U.S.A. o North America, including the U.S., Mexico and Canada

It seems that the North American countries have all agreed on the strength of non-disclosure agreements such that each country is equal. This works well with manufacturing IP between the US and Mexico, and with a large percentage of software IP between the US and Canada. Sensitive information, be it the most advanced technology or personal information will remain in the USA.

Some companies I know have pulled back some work from offshore and put it in Mexico, bringing other items all the way back to the US. While they aren't really bringing the work back into the company proper, they are bringing it back to Domestic Outsource companies.

That's all for now, good luck to the job seekers!