If you happened to find yourself stuck in traffic on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway in recent weeks — i.e., traveling between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. — it was hard to miss the billboards featuring the fresh young faces of Similarweb. Who wouldn’t be smiling, what with the value of their options in the aftermath of a $1.6 billion IPO?
But what I wasn’t seeing was the real meaning of those signs. Come join us. Please. Really. We mean it. We can’t hire fast enough.
One company that I’ve been following, Gloat, just raised $57 million in a Series C round. They have 25 jobs in Israel listed on the VC-affiliated job board VentureLoop. Gloat had a content manager job listed there for at least six months, by my count.
All of this came home last week in two interactions. The first was my inaugural venture out into post-pandemic business events. The panel discussion was ostensibly indicated to be covering SPACs (which see), but it very quickly turned to talent, or the shortage observed by the three panelists — two VCs and a crossover investor.
What talent is lacking? Engineers, mostly. They didn’t get into specifics. Marketing folks, too.
Sensing a story, I made a couple of calls and confirmed with two HR types whom I respect (I know, surprising, right?).
One said that one of the main pipelines for engineers, the army and specifically one of the specialist units like 8200, has slowed to a trickle. The pandemic has convinced the kids to stay in longer, said one of the talent managers. The other said that demand is outstripping supply.
Back to the job board to get some rough numbers. Fiverr, two years after its IPO, has an $8.1 billion market cap and more than 65 job postings that are getting a bit long in the tooth, at more than 60 days. ActiveFence is looking to fill at least 30 jobs. The list goes on.
“The high number of open positions, combined with indications that companies struggled to fill the roles – 60% reported difficulties in recruiting for R&D positions – reaffirmed the assessment that Israeli high-tech faces a chronic shortage in skilled human capital,” wrote think-tank Startup Nation Central in its April Human Capital Report.
The group’s solution to the shortage in skilled human capital is already familiar from before the pandemic: integrate employees from underrepresented populations.
My HR contacts tell me that the talent shortage has created a sellers market, ultimately hurting startups that can’t afford to pay as much. They’re also seeing jobs and work flowing to Eastern Europe, which has become an integral part of the Tel Aviv startup ecosystem.
Maybe this isn’t “new” news. It’s just worse.