Age discrimination in the workplace is a cause for concern among Argentina's unemployed.

For most, turning 40 is a great milestone in one’s career. You’ve got at least fifteen years of solid work experience with multiple employers, you’ve developed a rich network of contacts in your industry, and you’re well positioned to achieve even greater success over the next twenty years. With such a wealth of real world experience and industry savvy, any employer would be lucky to have you. Unfortunately for many workers in Argentina, turning 40 isn’t a jovial rite of passage. In fact, in a society that covets the beauty and virility of youth, it’s something akin to a death sentence for those seeking employment. When he recently started looking for a new job, Buenos Aires computer programmer Roberto Matera met a wall of age discrimination. He was rejected repeatedly for being over 40 by several companies who aren’t shy about their totally archaic “No Hires Over 40″ policy. Undeterred, Matera launched E+40, an employment website for Argentine workers over 40. It turns out Roberto wasn’t alone. In less than a year almost 6,000 job seekers have joined E+40, and more than 70 employers post openings in industries ranging from IT to Finance to Design. What began as a personal protest against corporate ageism has blossomed into a thriving website and social network movement. To date, over 43,000 Argentines have joined the facebook group opposing age discrimination in the workplace. (Full Story)

Recruitment flyer for IBM Argentina; IT demand outweighs the supply of candidates in Buenos Aires.

Representatives of two of the biggest players in the Buenos Aires IT space made back-to-back appearances on the BA business radio program Efecto Mariposa (Butterfly Effect) today and shared valuable insight on the advantages and challenges to sustained sector growth in Argentina. IBM Argentina’s Director of Marketing, Communications & Community Relations, Ignacio Vaca de Osma, said the English accent spoken here and the time zone overlap with the U.S. were two local advantages of doing business in BA. In terms of challenges, he emphasized the need to re-evaluate and accelerate the traditional Argentine six-year university programs. BA students would be much more inclined to choose an IT career if they could finish in three years and start working for a first-class company like IBM immediately upon graduation. Carlos Stella, Human Resources Director for Tata Consultancy Services in Latin America, agreed with the need for curriculum tweaking, emphasizing the need for intensive English language and cultural integration training, considering many local IT employees have supervisors in foreign countries. Tata currently has 240 employees working in the new Parque Patricios Tech District and plans to have 1,400 by year-end. Argentines make up roughly 90% of Tata’s current workforce with employees from India filling out the ranks. Both representatives felt greater emphasis needs to be placed on promoting IT careers if the country is going to keep pace with the global demand. As Vaca de Osma summed it up, “this is an historic opportunity to generate value-added services for the world.”

Young Argentines working in one of the offices in the new Buenos Aires Tech District.

WiFi connectivity, generous tax breaks, grants to cover the cost of quality certification, preferred lines of credit at local banks, and a government-sponsored training program to groom future talent. It may sound like a Christmas wish list, but it’s an emerging high tech reality in the Parque Patricios neighborhood thanks to the City of Buenos Aires. And according to Cronista, the list of goodies is attracting large multinationals and small start-ups alike. Iron Mountain and Clarín Global have both reserved office space, while India’s Tata Consultancy Services announced a new Global Delivery Center back in September. Cronista says small and medium-sized businesses (in Argentina, PYMEs or Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas) make up the majority of Argentina’s 1,600 tech companies, and 70% of those companies are located in Buenos Aires. Carlos Pirovano, Subsecretary of Investment for the City, says the number of companies working in the Distrito Tecnologico will more than double in 2010 to 50 with over 10,000 employees, so the City is investing in everything from a new fiber optic network to new subway stations to accommodate the growing talent pool. Another important development will be the launch of the Metropolitan Tech Center, an initiative to connect with secondary school students and groom the next generation of IT talent here in BA. (Full Cronista article).

Kenexa's Buenos Aires office is the company's first in Latin America. The company trades under NASDAQ symbol KNXA.

From I.T. guys to creative design professionals to financial service reps, the talent pool in Buenos Aires is deep and wide. So if you are a growing company looking to hire the best people, streamline processes and control costs at the same time, Argentina’s appeal is undeniable. Yet most companies lack the know-how or local connections to make this sort of talent acquisition a reality. That’s when recruitment process outsourcing, or RPO, becomes a great alternative, and one industry leader is opening a BA office to give interested employers a link to Argentina. U.S.-based Kenexa (NASDAQ: KNXA) already has offices in 19 countries, but the Buenos Aires office will be their first in Latin America. Kenexa’s Phil Stewart explained the significance of the annoucement, “By opening a RPO Center of Excellence in a region with a highly educated talent pool, we are enhancing our ability to support our clients in multiple languages. Not only does the Argentina location expand our global footprint, but it also provides a local presence for the many large organizations headquartered in Latin America.” For more information on Kenexa and RPO solutions, visit their LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter pages.

India’s largest IT services and outsourcing firm, Tata Consultancy Services, today announced the opening of a new global delivery center in Buenos Aires. The 100,000 square foot facility, which will be Tata’s first SAP Center of Excellence in Latin America, will initially house 250 IT consulting professionals and ultimately 1,400. The announcement was a major first step toward GCBA’s (Government of the City of Buenos Aires) stated goal of transforming the Southern District of BA including the Parque Patricios neighborhood into the Buenos Aires Technology District. GCBA’s goal is the creation of 5,000 jobs in the Tech District by 2010 and 30,000 jobs by 2012. Following the groundbreaking ceremony, Clarin declared the March to the Tech District officially underway (Article) while BA Mayor Mauricio Macri shared the good news on his Facebook page.

For more information on IT expansion opportunities in the Tech District including official contacts and relocation incentives, e-mail me at info@investba.com.