The word is BlackBerry smartphone maker Research in Motion is hiring thousands of new employees this year as they hope to gain an edge over competitors by way of taking on technology gurus laid off by rival companies.

RIM is one of the rare Canadian companies actually hiring during this economic downturn and has plans to hire in the region of 3000 new employees this year and thus increase their workforce to around 15000.

Mike Lazaridis, RIM founder and CEO states RIM is not battening down the hatches to weather the recession, but looks for ways to further grow the company.

Source — canadaeast