Add that to nonstop employee buzz about stock options and the soaring market, and an excited Solomon was hooked. No one talked about profits. Solomon regrets not asking why. Suddenly unemployed and weighing other high-tech options, Solomon swore she'd ask the right questions the next time around.
Salaries are more important.
So is the perception of stability, which some job hunters equate with big business. During the past 12 months, Dell Computer Corp. says it has rehired more than 300 people who had left the company to test the waters at startups. Other established companies such as 3M Corp. and IBM Corp. say they've noticed similar trends. The big companies try to sell themselves as entrepreneurial, and the small companies sell themselves as stable. In the fall of 1999, when Biggs and his classmates enrolled in UT's graduate program, stocks were still soaring, and startups seemed infallible.