gone fishing for execs.

• Author: GRAHAM, SANDY

HOOKING SENIOR TECH TALENT TAKES SOME FINESSE. HERE'S SOME ADVICE ON LANDING (AND KEEPING) THAT CORNER-OFFICE CANDIDATE.

High-tech companies are casting lines far and wide to net executives: Tesser Inc., an Internet services and consulting company, searched for 10 weeks, reviewed 50 to 100 resumes and talked to 20 to 25 candidates when it hired a director of web services earlier this year, said President Ross Shell from his Boulder office.

eVALUATING COLORADO'S HIGH-TECH EXECUTIVE TALENT POOL THESE DAYS MAY DEPEND LARGELY ON WHETHER AN ANGLER IS SWIMMING IN TECH TALENT OR FISHING FOR IT.

Experienced leaders know they don't have to take the bait on every hook. Bud Michael said he fields three to four calls a week from companies that hope to lure him from his senior vice president post at Decision*ism, an Internet and software company.

"Attracting senior-level talent, whether existing in Denver or relocating, is frankly a very challenging undertaking at this point," said D. Randall Hake, executive vice president of human resources at Englewood-based Convergent Communications Inc., which specializes in business communications.

The main reason: Colorado's high-tech industry is thriving. The 1997 Rocky Mountain High Technology Directory classified more than 2,200 companies in the state as high-tech, including communications, computer systems and peripherals, microelectronics, medical equipment, research and software development companies.

In 1999, the state's high-tech exports totaled $3.6 billion, a 23% increase in just two years, according to data collected yearly by the American Electronics Association. With 84 high-tech workers per 1,000 private-sector workers, Colorado has the highest concentration of high-tech employment in the nation, the AEA found.

Venture capitalists poured $1.3 billion into the state last year, AEA said, placing Colorado fifth in the nation in such investments after California, Massachusetts, New York and Texas.

Certainly rank-and-file technology workers are desperately needed. Gov. Bill Owens, the state's educators and the business community have joined forces to boost training programs. But there's a high demand for executive talent, too. "There are way, way, way more jobs available than there are professionals to fill them," said Michael.

The executive employment picture also is more than simple supply and demand. High-tech companies, especially start-ups, can be "different" places to work, compared to "traditional"...