Survey finds employees, bosses ready to move on

With the job market improving, more workers are heading for the exits, but they’re not alone: A survey suggests executives are equally ready to find new jobs.

More than two-thirds, or 68 percent, of executives said they weren’t satisfied with their current positions. Almost all, 94 percent, said they were scouting new employment.

The top reasons for their unhappiness were “poor company culture” (16 percent) and “limited advancement opportunities” (15 percent).

The survey was conducted by ExecuNet, an executive recruitment and career management firm in Norwalk, Conn. It involved 278 executives.

“During the course of the recent recession, many executives became unhappy with their jobs but stayed due to the lack of alternatives,” said Dave Opton, ExecuNet CEO. “Now that the employment market is bouncing back, these executives are anxious to pursue new opportunities.”

Technology

Company using dummy to test wireless reception

A plastic dummy with a liquid-filled cranium and cell phone strapped to his hand is much like millions of other mobile phone users across the country: He is trying to get better reception.

Magnolia Broadband Inc., a small company in Clinton, N.J., has been driving the life-sized dummy, “Bob,” around New York and Kansas City, Kan., to determine how its new wireless technology called “antenna diversity” fares in different environments.

The company is researching chipsets that incorporate a second, internal antenna into wireless phones. By combining two signals, users get stronger reception and faster data rates.

“With two ears, you can hear better,” said John Moon, Magnolia’s senior vice president of corporate development.

The technology — also being researched separately by wireless giant Qualcomm Inc. — already is used in network base stations. But because of space and power considerations, it is only starting to make its way into handsets.

Chipsets based on antenna diversity will perform much better than currently available phone add-on products, such as sticker-like antennas advertised to boost reception, said John Jackson, a Yankee Group wireless analyst.

Motley Fool

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