PALO ALTO, Calif. -- After eight long months, Erick Klein found what many Silicon Valley workers still desperately seek: a job.

Mr. Klein started work last month as a senior product manager at a closely held Oakland software developer, Cyanea Systems Corp.

"I was interviewing like crazy," says the high-tech employee, who lost his former position during a downsizing at Epicentric Inc. Mr. Klein says he averaged one to two interviews a week during his lengthy unemployment, scouring online job boards and working a network of business connections.

"Actually closing on a job was an extremely difficult process," he says. "I came pretty close on a number of occasions."

But cementing a deal has suddenly gotten easier. "It was the right fit," he says. Companies appear to be more willing to hire than several months ago. "I do think things are getting better."

He isn't the only one with a sense the job market is improving. Nearly 10 of Mr. Klein's acquaintances who were looking for jobs have found work, too.

Optimism is on the rise in Silicon Valley and in the high-tech industry after a long dreary period of austerity and contraction. Companies say they are moving ahead with plans for growth or increasing the pace of expansions already under way.

"We are growing [our hiring] faster than last year," says Christopher Lochhead, chief marketing officer at Mercury Interactive Corp. "We plan to continue" hiring.

In 2002, Mercury increased its work force 14%. During the first half of this year, employee rolls were up 8%, a pace that would mean 16% growth for the full year.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., software developer separately brought on 200 employees with Monday's acquisition of Kintana Inc. and plans additional hiring for this new division.

More Job Postings

Companies say they see opportunities, both to find good employees and increase sales. Their enthusiasm is reflected in online job postings. At Monster, a Web site owned by Monster Worldwide Inc., seven quarters of decreasing high-tech job postings ended in the first quarter, when listings rose 2.8%. Postings rose an additional 4.9% in the second quarter and climbed 6% from June to July.

A company spokesman said Internet and e-commerce job postings were up 12% in the month, information-technology listings rose 8% and computer and software jobs increased 3%.

Yahoo Inc.'s HotJobs employment site has seen an increase in California listings. Year-to-date, postings for jobs in the state are up 17% and MIS, or management of information systems, jobs are up 21%. Most technology jobs listed on Yahoo's Web site are MIS jobs, a category that includes engineers and software developers.

The San Francisco Internet site Craigslist also has seen a rise. Engineering and software jobs listed in the San Francisco Bay area were up 31% from January to July, while all jobs were up 27%.

"July was our best month in a long time," says Richard Gostyla, managing director at the executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart. More inquires appear to be coming in from companies interested in conducting job searches, he says.

Yet few Silicon Valley leaders are ready to say a powerful recovery is in place. The unemployment rate in Santa Clara County, at the heart of the valley, remained a stubborn 8.4% in July, down only modestly from 8.8% in January, according to California's Employment Development Department. For the nation as a whole, unemployment was 6.3% in July, and for all of California, 6.9%.

The unemployment rate in San Mateo Country on the northern edge of the valley was 5.3% in July, nosing up from 5.2% in January.

"I think we're seeing a trend upward in executive recruitment," says Silicon Valley-based David Nosal, global head of Korn/Ferry International's CEO practice. "I don't think we re seeing a big increase."

Still Some Caution

Many large companies continue to be cautious. Cisco Systems Inc. said earlier this month that its goal was to keep employment essentially unchanged and that any hiring as a result of attrition would be very selective. Agilent Technologies Inc. announced Monday that it had cut world-wide employment by 2,400 workers in the past three months, and International Business Machines Corp. said it was shedding staff in Vermont.

It is unclear, says Arnie Berman, a technology strategist at SoundView Technology Group, how much hiring is to replace workers and how much is to add new staff. Help-wanted advertising, often a good early barometer of an upswing in employment, hasn't increased for all advertisers. The San Jose Mercury News hasn't yet seen an increase in its job-listing ad revenue. Revenue was down 46% in the second quarter and 41% in June, the newspaper says.

Nevertheless, the anecdotal evidence of expanded hiring is accumulating. Among the companies that appear to be doing the most hiring are Internet firms, such as search-engine companies, smaller software makers and consumer-products firms. Online auction site eBay Inc. listed 95 North American jobs on its Web site as of Friday.

"Smaller software start-ups are starting to ramp their sales forces," says Girish Mirchandani, president of SVI Search, a recruiter. "My own gut reaction [is] things are getting better."

One such company is Decru Inc., which has been accelerating its hiring a bit. The company added 14 Silicon Valley workers in the past four months and nine in Europe and outside the valley.

"We've been selective," says Dan Avida, chief executive. "People are not going to be hiring [like] crazy."