Even Leadnomics, the lead generation company that was named on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 500 fastest growing companies two years in a row, has a hard time recruiting talent, cofounder Stephen Gill told the Philadelphia Daily News.
Based in the Cira Centre next to 30th Street Station, the company has 31 employees. The company has been steadily growing: in February 2011, it had 11 employees and in Feburary 2012, it had 25 employees. And yet, finding “good people” is hard, Gill said.
Q: So the brain drain is still a problem?
A: Oh, yeah, for sure. I think with New York being so close, the first place [would-be hires] look is New York and find a job there and don’t even look in their own back yard here. So we try to get out there and compete, but there are probably opportunities to hire we haven’t tapped yet.
It’s hard to parse what is a local brain drain problem and what is part of the nationwide scrounging for technical talent. Indeed, one very good reason New York is drawing technology talent in the same way it has drawn artistic talent in the past is because that city, too, is actively chasing qualified STEM talent. In short, Gill and Philadelphia are not alone.
In the Q&A, Gill also notes that part of the reason Leadnomics came to the Cira Centre was because of the tax incentives it offered, thanks to being in a Keystone Opportunity Zone.
Learn more about what Leadnomics does here.
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