Hiring at venture-backed startups picked up speed in the first quarter of this year, according to figures released by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and job board StartUpHire.com. A total of 13,314 jobs were posted by startups on the web site in the first quarter — an average of 4,400 new positions each month — and a 16 percent increase since the end of 2009. The report is another indicator that the pace of hiring is starting to recover in the technology sector, after a downturn caused by the recession and other economic factors over the past two years.
There have been other recent signs that the technology job market could be turning around: Google told analysts in its earnings conference call last week that it hired 768 new employees in the first quarter, and Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said it expects to “continue hiring aggressively through the year.” Intel has also said that it plans to hire between 1,000 and 2,000 people this year, its first major hiring wave in five years, and Cisco is planning to expand its workforce by 2,000-3,000 employees. LinkedIn has also been hiring, adding 154 people already this year, and Twitter has boosted its headcount to 170 from about 45 in the past year and says it plans to continue hiring.
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http://gigaom.com/2010/04/21/hiring-picks-up-at-venture-backed-startups/
