Many companies here in the US specifically ask for X tool or Y tool experience. Robert Randolph Band. A lot of this is because either A) someone in their past had used tool X to do some automation and it either became shelfware or the person left and no one knows what to do with it or B) they already have a team doing work in tool Y and need experienced people to fill in the team that know tool Y, and sometimes C) someone said automation needs to be done here and someone else had heard the name of the company and makes tool Z. In any case a strong understanding of test automation and its principals with any automation tool will get you noticed. Many companies that have tried automation in the past or are ready to 'give it a go' really don't know what they want or what can be done. They just think, well we need to do something to help. And in more cases than not they fail. I've gone into many companies as a consultant or an employee and worked to straighten them out.