Chicago : Fermilab shedding workers

(Crain's) — Facing a budget crunch next year, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory plans to cut its workforce by 100 employees or about 5%, Crain’s has learned.

About 1,760 of the lab’s 1,900 employees are eligible for a new severance pay package aimed at getting 100 workers to leave their jobs willingly, but involuntary layoffs will be needed if that goal is not met, lab director Pier Oddone said at a meeting with employees on Thursday.

The national lab’s main facility — the Tevatron — is shutting down in September after nearly a 28-year run as the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, superseded recently by a new facility in Europe. But the lab, near Batavia, has embarked on a series of smaller experiments that should keep its research going for the foreseeable future.

With federal funding expected to be “more or less” flat for some time to come, “we are trying to make sure funding is there” for the new projects, Mr. Oddone said, as the lab shifts from operations to construction of new experiments. Cutting headcount frees up cash to finance those experiments.

The lab is asking for volunteers to take the severance package but will decide who gets to quit based on its workforce needs. “The lab has to be functioning when we’re all done with this,” he told employees.

Fermilab is owned by the Department of Energy and run by a consortium of universities including the University of Chicago.

Google Hiring 6,300 This Year, Including in Finance

The tech giant is in the midst of hiring 6,300 workers, a mandate that has forced the notoriously selective firm to streamline its interview process and recruit at less prestigious schools.

The roles span the gamut, from engineering to finance. For example, Google is looking for 65 finance professionals to work in its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, including a director of equity programs to orchestrate the firm's storied stock options.

Of the 1,916 people Google hired in the first quarter of 2011, more than half are working on YouTube, the Chrome web browser, mobile and enterprise technologies, said Jeff Huber, Google's senior vice president of commerce and local, in a conference call this year with investors.

Chicago : United Airlines boosting workforce by 1,300

(Crain's) — Chicago is beginning to reap the rewards of the merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines.  United said Friday it is adding another 1,300 jobs in Chicago, which is headquarters to the newly combined airline. The announcement brings downtown workers from elsewhere in the two carriers' operations.

It also adds to the number of those making the move from operations in Elk Grove Village, as the carrier has begun moving into Willis Tower. The downtown move was under way when United announced last year it planned to merge with Houston-based Continental Airlines.

The jobs are in a variety of roles, including operations, technology and human resources. The moves are expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Originally, United said it would bring 2,500 jobs downtown from Elk Grove Village.

Last fall, parent United Continental Holdings Inc. decided to increase its space at Willis to 12 floors from nine. United already is beginning to move workers into the building, which ultimately will house the airline's operations center.

The carrier is working toward federal approval to operate as a single airline, expected later this year.

“As Chicago’s hometown airline, United is pleased to announce that we are bringing an additional 1,300 jobs downtown from locations throughout our system by the end of 2012,” United Continental Holdings CEO Jeff Smisek said. “Mayor (Rahm) Emanuel recognizes the importance of keeping Chicago competitive with other cities and expanding job growth here, and we look forward to working together with him and his team.”

Said Mr. Emanuel: “I promised to foster a business climate that attracts and retains the greatest companies in the nation. I am happy to announce that United has substantially increased their commitment to the city of Chicago, by bringing these jobs to the hardest-working people in America.”

Skype and Amazon are hiring in Silicon Valley

Microsoft’s latest acquisition, Skype, is going to stick to its plans to hire hundreds of people in Palo Alto. The company’s going to maintain its own offices rather than move into Microsoft’s campus in Mountain View. Also, Skype says it will continue to invest in Silicon Valley.

 Amazon’s also looks to be hiring in California. Lab126, the subsidiary that works on Kindle and other tablets, is supposedly renting “lots” more office space in Cupertino. The company’s reportedly working on a full-blown tablet and maybe a smartphone.

A new kind of brute-force recruiting is emerging. Engineering talent is so in demand that large companies are acquiring small companies not for their products or ideas but for the warm bodies they employ. The buzzword is acqhiring. So says The New York Times. Big companies and small ones just keep saying they can’t find enough good tech people. So, they’ll give them everything from free iPads to entrepreneurship lessons to attract them. Start-ups in particular are looking for people. Total job openings at venture-backed startups in Silicon Valley have risen to 3,609 from 1,739 in April 2008. Elsewhere in the U.S., they rose 69 percent in the same period.