Companies always have a hard time hiring skilled developers, regardless of the language. I interviewed people for Java jobs at one company I worked for (writing Java). The company didn't want to pay very much, and most of the people I interviewed were the sort who were able to muddle through but had very little understanding of what they were doing. If you want people who are actually good and experienced and care about their craft, you usually have to either pay enough to attract top talent or interview a lot of people until you find a rising star. I don't think there's anything Perl-specific there.