RIM Actively Hiring

Looks like Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) is bucking the unavoidable current trend of slashing employees to cut costs. According to Financial Post, RIM is looking to fill more then 1,250 positions across the world, although the vast majority are located at the company’s headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario. Although RIM remains quiet before it releases its Q4 reports, an unnamed source said, “For the past three or four years, RIM has done the same thing companies like Nokia are doing now with a fraction of the workforce. Right now, for every engineer who is promoted, RIM is hiring two or three to replace them. Probably in a few more years RIM could do some restructuring but not now.”

RIM's aggressive hiring tactics appear to fall in line with its current growth strategy. It has released four new BlackBerry models since August -- the Bold, Storm, Pearl Flip and on Monday, the Curve 8900 -- and has sold about 5.8 million devices during the third-quarter of the year. The booming sales have positioned RIM as the second-largest smartphone maker in the world with 15.9 percent of the market, according to Gartner Inc. Still, its full-steam-ahead approach is a stark contrast to how investors view the company's stock. Since reporting its second-quarter earnings that missed consensus targets by one penny, RIM shares have fallen roughly 30 percent due to fears of incoming competitive pressures from Nokia and Apple Inc. as well as the economic impact a recession may have on the company's sales.

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