[Vision2020] LMT article for Warren

[Gier, Nicholas]

BOISE - Since its startup in 2004, Clearwater Analytics has grown to 115 employees. In the past year alone - through the height of the recession - the Boise company has added 25 full-time employees and is looking to hire more.

"We have an immediate need for 10, and could probably hire between 12 and 24 over the next two years," CEO Courty Gates said.

Idaho's unemployment is at a record level, yet Clearwater Analytics and other local high-tech companies are having a difficult time finding people for key positions. The area's labor pool may be big, but it lacks depth - experienced or specialized high-tech workers. And that could hinder the state's ability to compete nationally and globally in the high-tech industries.

"Without a doubt the prevailing opinion on the coastal states is you probably cannot grow a tech company very big in the state of Idaho because the talent pool isn't there," said Bob Lokken at a business innovation conference last week. Lokken founded ProClarity, which was acquired by Microsoft; he recently launched WhiteCloud Analytics.

Biomark, a Boise company that makes electronic identification tags for fish and wildlife, recently had an opening for an experienced electronics technician. Given the national unemployment rate, the company expected the resumes to come pouring in. They did, but not the right ones.

"We received over 100 resumes for the position, but the experience level was not there. It's been a little bit of a shock to us in this economy," Biomark President Dean Park said.

At Clearwater, which provides daily, Web-based investment portfolio reporting, "Hiring is top of mind for us, there's no question," Gates said. The company reports on more than $500 billion in assets for more than 2,000 institutional investors, including Yahoo, Oracle and U.S. Bank.

"If you are going from five employees to six employees, you can interview a lot of people, and you just want one really great person. But when you are going from 100 to 120, it is the same 20 percent growth, but it is harder to get 20 people of the same quality," Gates said.

The company could quickly fill the positions by lowering its hiring standards, but that could jeopardize its standards and reflect poorly on Idaho's reputation, he said.

"We really believe our employees are our greatest asset and we try very, very hard to get the absolute best. It is a challenge. It really is a challenge," Gates said. "We are extremely picky."

GAP, ISOLATION AND NO CUSHION

A February report commissioned by the State Board of Education shows a significant gap between the business reality and Idaho's education system.

In 2009, the computer programming field generated an estimated 395 job openings in Idaho, yet the state produced only 24 graduates in that field. The information technology field had an estimated 929 openings with only 162 graduates.

Boise State, College of Western Idaho and other Idaho higher education institutions have been ramping up their computer sciences programming to try to close this gap.

"Boise State has improved. They have done a really good job. I have seen some really good positive results," said Gabe Halleus, human resources director for CRI Advantage.

But new graduates aren't enough.

In the past three years, CRI Advantage has more than doubled in size, going from 60 employees to 125. Currently, the company has five open senior-level positions, said Halleus, who does about 40 percent of the company's senior-level recruiting out of state.

Recruiting out-of-state workers is a hurdle because of Boise's geographic isolation and lack of a "cushion" - the availability of comparable jobs.

"For someone coming into Boise it is perceived as a risk. If I want to join a technology company in Boise, what if it doesn't work out? Am I going to have to leave? Are there other technology jobs in Boise? For someone coming in from out of state, I think it is daunting," Gates said.

"If someone is in the Seattle area or Denver, they are there because they like it there. I think there is inherent friction in terms of getting people to move," he said.

Boise companies have to get job candidates "over that hurdle."

"Once people are in Boise, they fall in love with it," Gates said.

LETTING GO OF THE PAST

Standing on the shoulders of Micron and Hewlett-Packard while touting its great quality of life, Boise was able to put itself on the map of burgeoning high-tech communities, but high-tech leaders say Boise can no longer expect to ride those coattails.

"I've found that whole discussion of quality of life as our big competitive advantage to be the wrong tactic," said Mark Rivers, Brix & Company CEO and 2009 Idaho Innovator of the Year.

The cities Boise competes with are places like Bend, Ore., Boulder, Colo., Portland and Seattle - all with great quality of life, he said.

Idaho needs to make its mark as a business-friendly state with a talented and plentiful employee pool and high-quality education system.

"It's kind of wishful thinking for our government to expect to pull in a bunch of businesses because we have a beautiful place to live. That should be the icing on the cake," Biomark's Park said.

Halleus said Idaho lawmakers and leaders have done a good job advocating for the state's mining, ranching and agricultural industries, but not its high-tech industry.

Lokken agrees. The state's political, public and private leaders need to get out of the past and into the future, he said. "You've got to stop living out of what used to work," he said.

Micron and Hewlett-Packard can no longer be expected to carry the weight in a region Lokken says may be a "victim of its own success." Boise needs to develop a cluster of small- and medium-sized high-tech businesses to complement the big names.

"This valley did so well for so long, I think people just assumed that they could do whatever they wanted and there would be economic success and high-paying jobs," he said.

Most importantly, Lokken said, Idaho's education system needs to catch up with the 21st century and then stay ahead of the curve.

"The bell has rung," he said. "I hope people are paying attention. We need to work on our education system."

Today's Idaho schools are not "going to fund the next generation's economy," he said. "It makes it hard to recruit talent from outside. They are not like, 'Hey you guys have world-class schools. We should bring our family there and then find a job.' You don't hear that a lot."


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