As you may recall from Part 1, business-to-business e-commerce is expected to top $1 trillion by 2003. While this sector is still in its infancy, some key players are beginning to attract media attention and pique Wall Street’s interest. Take Chemdex, a B2B leader for life sciences research. The company has made headlines the past year in top business magazines, including Forbes, the Red Herring and Business 2.0.

Need more evidence that B2B e-commerce is hot? In late January, VerticalNet -- a new media company focused exclusively on the needs of industrial audiences -- received $100 million from Microsoft. Hey, that’s gotta mean something, right?

You’re probably wondering: What does this all mean to me? Fundamentally, it means more jobs that will require knowledge of e-commerce technologies. And it means many ground-floor opportunities with companies that are growing at an astounding pace and whole industries moving their businesses to the Net.

Blake Patton, Senior VP of iXL -- whose clients include pure play start-ups like TradeOut.com and Fortune 500 clients such as Chase, Virgin Atlantic and GE -- says that the Internet has finally gained mass acceptance in the business and consumer communities. "Technology now enables us to do things that we could not do before. The supply chain has collapsed and new business models have emerged," he says. In addition, the Internet lets companies view the supply chain in ways they've never seen before. The result? The creation of entirely new business models, like reverse auctions.

"A few companies have gone out and blazed the trails, had big wins and caught everyone's attention," says Patton. "The market is now understanding that B2B is where the big win is for corporations and commerce. So now everyone is getting in the game."

The booming B2B market is good news for tech-savvy employees and candidates willing to hone their skills and learn new technologies. But it also means stiffer competition both for employees and employers." As the market continues to grow, client needs continue to become more sophisticated. The end result in a tight job market is that recruiting needs become doubly challenging, as employers attempt to grow their workforce while continuing to raise the bar on the types of skills and value each employee offers," explains Patton.

Success in this space obviously requires skills and understanding in Web technology as well as clients' existing systems, points out Patton. In addition, expertise in interface design and branding are essential, he notes. This requires an understanding of the client's business and business processes, and the ability to think outside the you-know-what to come up with new ways of doing business -- actually transforming the way clients conduct business. "That means we not only need experts in vertical industries, but also in the special service areas like supply chain management, enterprise relationship management, online learning, workflow, and digital media solutions. With this in mind, we must also consider that the speed of the market has increased. Time to market is critical. Those individuals who add the most value in this space have the ability to fuse these skills together and be a resource for all of these areas of expertise.

No longer just the realm of the human resources department, support, training and retention have becomes everyone’s business, including the CEO’s. "Right now it's a buyers market," says Patton. Candidates with the right skills are in demand and they’re not willing to settle for just any work environment. A strong management team, bright colleagues, and good customers, and growth potential are critical. "They want to be successful, have their contribution make a difference, grow professionally, interact with other talented people and create personal wealth."

At iXL, some of the best hires come from referrals. "Bright, creative people attract other bright, creative people," notes Patton. "Finding the candidates is one challenge, the other is cutting through the noise of four other competitors and dotcom companies that also present great employment opportunities to these candidates." A lot can ride on a company’s culture and reputation among candidates, and it’s not always the highest salary that lands a top-notch employee.

Any way you look at it, B2B e-commerce is good for job seekers interested in jumping into a Web-related career. Just don’t wait until next year to look into the possibilities.