NEOSA recently completed its quarterly survey of Northeast Ohio’s tech sector, which measures how tech businesses are succeeding and their hiring trends and expectations, and the results are strong.

“What we’re seeing right now is not overly aggressive growth, but steady growth,” says NEOSA director Brad Nellis. “What I see are generally positive trends. When we compare results from previous surveys, we’re moving in the right direction. We’re really going on measured expansion going on two years.”

The survey showed that 67 percent of respondents said first quarter business was either good or very good; 87 percent expect their overall business to improve within the next year; and 73 percent plan to increase their staff.

Eighty-two percent of the companies surveyed reported they are currently hiring, which Nellis says is an all-time high in the seven years NEOSA has conducted the survey. The downside is companies are still struggling to find the right talent.

“I’m worried about the lack of talent," says Nellis. "The problem is we don’t have a pipeline in the colleges – they’re not graduating enough IT students.”

While the lack of IT talent graduating from college is a national problem, Nellis said Cleveland's reputation is improving. “The challenge is it can be difficult to get people to move here from outside the region,” says Nellis. “But Business Week listed Cleveland as one of the hottest tech jobs markets in the country.”

And area organizations are working diligently to attract the talent to Cleveland. For instance, Global Cleveland is planning an online career fair for tech jobs.

Source: Brad Nellis
Writer: Karin Connelly