Opportunities abound at Hewlett-Packard Co. despite the company’s decision to eliminate 14,500 employees worldwide through buyouts and pink slips. H-P has 1,287 active job openings, according to its website, with most of the positions available at H-P offices overseas.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer and printer manufacturer employs 150,000 workers in more than 170 countries, but it is unknown which regions would bear the brunt of layoffs.
Displaced workers are eligible to apply for the open positions listed on the website, the company said. Some of the jobs have been open for more than six months.
India has the most job openings at 409, with the U.S. coming in second with 249. The jobs range from engineering jobs to project managers to translators. One job posting is for an “IT Infrastructure Specialist” in Englewood.
“A majority of our revenue comes from overseas, so we try to put people in locations where customers need support and where they can buy products locally,” said spokesman Ryan Donovan.
H-P president and chief executive Mark Hurd said that jobs eliminated in the United States would not be outsourced to foreign workers.
“No, I would not think you should expect that from H-P,” he said, responding to questions about increased outsourcing efforts during a conference call with analysts Tuesday. “Most of our employees are not in the U.S.; we have a very diversified workforce.”
The reality is that U.S.-based companies are competing in a global marketplace and must fill jobs in locations where demand is greatest, said Carl Claunch, research vice-president for Gartner Inc., a research and analysis firm in the information technology industry.
“We all need to be concerned about global competitiveness, (places) where there’s a highly educated workforce and low costs,” he said. “There is absolutely no place where H-P is getting rid of workers and outsourcing the jobs elsewhere. They are going to shut down the work for the people that leave.”
Cutting jobs while simultaneously adding new workers reflects forward-thinking leadership, said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas in Chicago.
“My sense is that they’re looking at where their prospects lie in a global economy in the next decade,” he said. “The largest corporations in America can’t think of themselves as U.S.-only because global growth is going to drive their fortunes in years to come.”
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-820-1088 or at kjohnson@denverpost.com.
