The High-Tech Workforce Has Changed, and Employers Need to Change With It

With new fabs breaking ground and existing ones ramping across the U.S., finding the engineers, tradespeople and cleanroom staff to build and run them has become one of the industry’s quieter bottlenecks. In a Show Daily interview, Tamara Ellestad, founder and CEO of VELO, a woman- and minority-owned staffing firm specializing in advanced manufacturing, says staffing has grown significantly over the last two years, and candidates with specialized skills such as tool installation now field multiple calls a day.

Ellestad argues that a big name on the door no longer closes the deal. Candidates want competitive pay, flexibility, travel opportunities and room to grow, and many experienced professionals prefer 12- to 24-month project engagements to permanent relocation. Slow feedback and missed interview commitments carry a real cost: VELO has seen the shelf life of qualified candidates shrink by at least 60% over the past two years.

Her advice for 2027 workforce planning is to start now. Workforce planning should begin when an opportunity is being pursued, not when a project starts, and companies that build talent pipelines early and adapt their hiring models, whether contract, direct hire or both, will have the advantage.

Click here to read the full article in the SEMICON West Show Daily.

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