Friday, March 15, 2013


ahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's hiring practices questioned by staff


Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's hiring practices questioned by staff
Yahoo CEO Mayer was asked at a staff meeting several weeks ago whether her hiring practices had caused the company to miss out on top engineering talent.
SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer was asked at an all-staff meeting several weeks ago whether her rigorous hiring practices had caused the company to miss out on top engineering talent in Silicon Valley's hyper-competitive job market.

Mayer dismissed the complaint that she had refused good candidates because they did not have degrees from prestigious universities, and instead she challenged her staff to get better at recruiting, according to an employee who was at the meeting.

"Why can't we just be good at hiring?" Mayer said, playing off a line from what she called one of her favourite movies, 1989's "Say Anything", according to the employee. He did not want to be identified because he was not authorised to discuss Yahoo's internal matters.

The question, according to Yahoo insiders, reflects wider concerns among hiring managers and rank-and-file employees over the way Mayer has tightened hiring practices since becoming CEO last July, as part of an effort to transform Yahoo's workforce and culture.

Mayer insists on personally reviewing every new recruit, a practice that supporters say brings needed discipline to the company. Critics, however, say her high standards are hampering Yahoo's already challenged ability to fill vacancies.

Even before Mayer's now-famous ban on working from home drew controversy last month, Yahoo was struggling with the perception that its best days are behind it, according to recruiting consultants. The company also faces fierce competition for talent in Silicon Valley, where Google and Facebook hold more prestige, while start-ups offer the lure of shares in an eventual IPO.

Rick Girard at Stride Professional Search, who specializes in placing engineers with start-ups, said a Yahoo job offer was still viewed as a "back-up" option by many of his clients.

"We only had one person who ended up taking the job at Yahoo. I think it was because she wanted to be at a larger company," he said.

Yahoo declined to comment for this story or to make Mayer available for an interview. The CEO told investors in January that Yahoo was seeing a marked increased in the volume and quality of job applicants, and that attrition among "highest-performing talent" was significantly lower than in the past.

Still, Yahoo has almost 900 jobs open, representing nearly 8 percent of its workforce of 11,500, according to its website. Some of the openings are months-old. In comparison, Google has almost 1,000 open jobs, but that is just 2 percent of a workforce that is more than four times the size of Yahoo's.


Google's playbook

Mayer joined Yahoo after a 13-year stint at Google, during which she helped develop its flagship search product. She is the third CEO in about a year to lead Yahoo, whose revenue had stagnated amid competition from Google, Facebook and other web companies, an exodus of senior executives, and an internal reorganisation that eliminated thousands of jobs.

Mayer quickly nabbed two high-profile executives to join her team: chief financial officer Ken Goldman, who has three decades of experience at leading software and Internet companies, and chief operating oOfficer Henrique De Castro, a former Google colleague. She also quickly won favour with Wall Street - Yahoo's shares have risen about 47 percent since she joined.

"Stopping the hemorrhaging is job one and I think she's accomplished that almost by virtue of her presence," said Neil Sims, a managing director with executive recruiting firm Boyden.

Job two is to modernise Yahoo's dated consumer web products and services, which have an impressive audience of roughly 700 million people, but have not kept up with trends in mobile computing and social networking. Hiring new talent is critical to that success, analysts said.

"They have a lot of people who create the products that Yahoo is known for, but it's not the same products that Yahoo needs to offer if it's to have the same scale in five years that it has today," said Ken Sena, an analyst with Evercore Partners.

To make Yahoo a more attractive place to work, Mayer has borrowed from the Google playbook and provides employees with free food and the latest smartphones.

But she has also firmly stated at a staff meeting that one Google policy she will not be importing is its famous decree that employees get to spend a fifth of their time on personal projects, according to people who were at the meeting.

It's clear that Mayer wants to impose more discipline on Yahoo's workforce after years of management turmoil.

"From the time she got there, she was kind of shocked by the culture, by the fact that so many people were working from home that you couldn't even have a Friday staff meeting," said another person familiar with Mayer's thinking.

Mayer has more than a dozen ideas to make the organisation more efficient and orderly, the person said, adding, "You're going to continue to see important and sometimes controversial and tough moves made."
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Discipline needed

The controversy has caused consternation in the administrative assistant ranks as well as the professionals.

Mayer has brought Google's high recruiting standards to Yahoo, in particular its focus on academic credentials, according to current and former Yahoo employees. High grades from top-rated schools such as Stanford University, where Mayer earned her masters in computer science, are important. A computer science degree is much more valued than others, even the electrical engineering degree that Yahoo co-founder David Filo earned, these people said.

Yahoo said in January that it added 120 employees with computer science degrees in the fourth quarter. It is not known how many employees quit that quarter, but two former executives said Yahoo's attrition rate averaged at 20 percent historically.

Mayer's focus on academics extends to existing staff as well. For instance, some administrative assistants were recently informed that they had to take a modified version of the law school admissions test, for reasons not fully explained. The demand sparked consternation and Yahoo later backed off, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who said it was unclear how widespread the requirement was intended to be.

Another Google practice that Mayer has adopted at Yahoo is to personally review and sign off on every hire, which inevitably slows down recruiting.

Job applicants often go through the interview process, then "wait and wait," said one executive who recently left Yahoo. "One person we wanted waited eight weeks, then they inevitably got another offer."

While some may think Mayer's recruiting practices overly rigid, others say they are necessary.

"Adding a little more friction in a process that needs improvement can help you identify how the system is working in order to improve it," said Brad Garlinghouse, a former Yahoo executive whose famous 2006 "Peanut Butter" memo warned that the company was losing its focus and spreading itself too thin.

Hiring the right people is the foundation on which great products are built, said Garlinghouse who is now the chief executive of online file-sharing service YouSendIt. But he noted that focusing too much on academics was not the most effective way to find the right employees.

"Some of the best people I've ever worked with didn't necessarily get the best GPA or go to Stanford," he said.

Headcount constraints

Yahoo ended 2012 with 11,500 full-time employees. Facebook, whose $5 billion revenue in 2012 is level with Yahoo's, employed just 4,619 at year's end.

"Hiring is only being done to replace some of the attrition, but no hiring that would grow the headcount," said the former executive, who added that top managers were given 2013 budgets that called for headcount to remain flat versus 2012.

Mayer is taking a hard look at staffing levels in some of Yahoo's outposts, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter, particularly its more than 2,000-person operation in Bangalore, India. It is Yahoo's largest engineering center outside its Sunnyvale, California headquarters.

Mayer is weighing bringing certain jobs in India back to Sunnyvale to unite more of Yahoo's product development at the home base, said one of the sources.

Several recruiters said Yahoo's vast audience of 700 million unique visitors is appealing to engineers. But with so many attractive opportunities at startups and successful internet companies, the lure of Yahoo is not as strong as it could be.

Mayer has brought some buzz back to the company, said one former Yahoo engineer. But working at a "hot" start-up such as Dropbox or AirBnB "looks much stronger on your resume than being an employee at Yahoo," said the engineer, who turned down an offer to return to Yahoo.

"We don't typically run into Yahoo," said Alan Shapiro, the owner of San Jose-based Technology Search International which specialises in finding jobs for software engineers. "When we represent a candidate, we'll ask who else they're talking to. Yahoo is not a name that's frequently mentioned."

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Sort by:Newest|Oldest|Recommended (15)|Most Discussed|Agree|Disagree|Logged in CommentsNew!
aeidal20 (Gurgaon)
1 Follower
2 days ago
Silver: 630
Having stringent hiring policies are good for an organisation....however the focus should be on ability & talent rather than the branding and perks should also be given to the deserving....
Pooja (Mumbai) 2 days ago
Earn moneny online ! visit : get-paid-for-free-surveys .webs .com or bestptc4u .blogspot .com site online and paying since 2007 !
Ankit (NJ) 2 days ago
If your criteria for hiring talent is based upon which college they went to, it says something! Idk about her but I have known a lot of people who have a lot more talent than an average Joe from an Ivy league college. Wrong thinking on her part.
Coder (NY) 2 days ago
This b!tch will ruin Yahoo so much that it will close down soon.
Mystery Cpt (USA) replies to Coder
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Radha (Chennai) 2 days ago
It is strange that head count is considered to be the criterion to determine the success of I T companies. Mayers' attempts to slim down Yahoo, make it thin and efficient, than to enjoy leisurely life style sitting at home, does not seem to have gone well among their staff. Her determination to bring back its force to the working table for interaction in the office room is criticized more by the head hunters of H R companies. (Perhaps they are scarred that it will affect their revenue !!! ). Whatever it may be the issues, yahoo stocks has appreciated considerably after her taking over the reigns of the company and is the barometer of the popularity. Her critics must keep their mouth shut and allow her to use her skills freely to bring back the glorious days in Yahoo . I wish her all the Success.!!!
Certified Idiot (Chennai)
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She is taking the safe route. Which she believes in success. All has to respect one's opinion and success mantra. She has a good track record so few bad things will be taken into consideration for a better future of Yahoo. I personally dint find strong leadership in Yahoo, atleast in India. My interaction and proposal were delayed quoting internal management change as a reason from last 18 months. Great going - Support her. Yahoo deserves this aggressive leader. (More Good with little change)
KD (mumbai) 2 days ago
She has a plan. I believe that she is first inculcating a culture of discipline and accountability. Then she is making sure that best minds come and work and contribute. Then she will move to products and services. It is well thought thru and there is a good chance that she will turn around the company. The challenge of course is the speed and the trust she needs to build in her organisation about her leadership
srikant pv (Hyd)
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Midwestmom (USA)
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In other words, she micromanages. It's good that she knows the in's and out's of the respective positions, however she has people that are in the hiring practice---that's what they should be doing. She should also know that top grades do not equate to being ambitious, creative, or productive.
Sushant Munjal (New Delhi)
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looks more like an autocratic's way of running an organization. this will never help yahoo....
punk (somewhere) replies to Sushant Munjal 2 days ago
Say Anything! Hmmmmm, have to see this one! :)
Sushant Munjal replies to punk
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Abhinav Dubey (India)
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Read this - The total paper money in Indian Share markets,equity trading,commodity trading,gold,silver after profit and loss is more than total Indian economy. How this happens. Because the lossess are more than profit. Your loss is someone else profit. After a long time junk shares do not give positive returns. Instead of selling the stock , investors hold the stock till the stock become more negative.Because they listen to technical analyst and maintain stop loss. Even if the investor face loss in majority of stock, they will give a bigger smile and tell their friend that they had kept the stock for long time investment. Even Mr Warren Buffet is having sleepless night due to long time investment negative returns. Read this -Banks are frauding investor for more than millions of dollars.Banks are using investors' funds for investment purposes but used them instead to pay returns to the investors. Investment in below stock is money loosing scheme. Sell your shares/equity at market price as soon as possible(asap). Do not hope for future profits. SELL THIS BELOW STOCK AT MARKET PRICE. DO NOT PUT STOP LOSS. Sell them immediately even if your suffering losses to recover your hard earned money from demat A/C. Money once gone is gone forever. Investors are suffering losses due to investment had gone hayware in the below stocks. 95 % of stocks are High volality and more negative investment returns on below stock. Sell your stock and inform others as well. Inform your friend relative through emails, social networking site, facebook, twitters,cellphone. The World Econmic forum was held in US- DAVOS have loss investor trust because of bad performance of below companies. 80 % companies are selling their fixed asset to recover loss. The companies are exploiting risk by buying each other shares and share values.Sell your stocks otherwise you people will suffer heavy loss in below stocks This is not rumour. Ask your self why the finance ministry in stressful situation.1.Larsen and Toubro - Huge Financial Disaster due to World Bank BAR 42.ICICI Bank 43. SBI 44. IDBI. 55. SHRIRAM TRANSPORT. 66.LIC. 24.HCL Tech ACC 34.Wipro 35.Lupin 36. Sesa Goa 37.BHEL 38.NTPC 39.Tata Power 40.Power Grid Corp 41.PNB 2.Infosys 3.Reliance 4.DLF 5.Axis Bank 6.Jaiprakash Associates 7.Ranbaxy Labs 8.Bharti Airtel 9.HUL 10.Bank of Baroda The Oil and gas stocks below are facing 2 billion dollars loss everyday and they want to recover from common people money. Sell this immeadely. False gasing formula revival. 11.ONGC 12.BPCL 13. GAIL 14. HPCL 15 BPCL 16.OIL INDIA 17. COAL INDIA 18. Tata Steel 20.Mah and Mah 21.IDFC 22. Reliance Infra 23.Cairn India 44. Hero Motocorp 45.Ambuja Cements 46.UltraTechCement 47.Asian Paints 48.Grasim 49.Siemens25. Dr Reddys Labs 26. Sun Pharma 27. Coal India 28.Jindal Steel 29. Hindalco 30.Cipla 31.Kotak Mahindra 32.Bajaj Auto 33. The total losses attributable to his scheme were approximately seven(7) LAKH crore for all the above stocks. -----
PS! (Bharat)
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Yahoo needs Innovation, it needs new products, services, it needs to take the waste out of its organization. And it certainly does not need Grade I style disciplining. Yahoo is headed the wrong direction and Marissa is going to be without a job soon. Perhaps Google hoped she would join Yahoo and help it finish off a competitor...
jags (India)
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Personally reviewing each recruit, a CEO, she might be having Mallya's tendencies recruiting Air Hostesses
Rakesh (Bangalore) 2 days ago
If she is personally reviewing each candidates before hiring Just like our king fisher MD vijay mallya..Yahoo will be like king fisher airlines. CEO has better job to do,No wonder why yahoo is showcasing poorly.
Indian Engineer (Pune) 2 days ago
One more HR "Prostitude" reaching the top and spoiling our industry....These HR dont understand how code can make a change not discipline...THIS IS AN END OF YAHOO....
Another Indian Engineer (us) replies to Indian Engineer 2 days ago
May we know what qualifies yourself to be called a Techie? your Engineering Degree .... LOL
d (dt) replies to Indian Engineer 2 days ago
Think and investigate before you write. Marissa Mayer is one of the few engineers (she started at google as a software engineer) who has climbed up to become a CEO. She's not a HR and was never a HR!
sagar (pune) replies to Indian Engineer 2 days ago
she was not HR . she is a hard core technical person. Cross verify your facts before posting
Abbu kha ki bakri (Mumbai) 2 days ago
I personally saw all news flourishing about yahoo and its CEO as tactics to get into limlight in print media. The are into ad business and indirect ad has bigger potential than direct ads. I personally sees these news as paid news and was only done to draw attension of common person. Every ad is good ad. " JO hai naam wala, wahi to badnam hai " -- new ad policy
Facto (USA) 2 days ago
This lady's style of working and her focus speaks volumes about where she is taking the company. I totally agree that many of the current Yahoo employees many came base don acquaintance. I say the recruiting should be purely on the abilities of a person rather then acquaintance and doctored resumes. I am impressed with this new CEO at Yahoo. Meanwhile guys I am not employee of Yahoo nor would like to be this is just my view point so no Hard feelings.
Alexander (Macedonia) 2 days ago
Iske sochne ka tarika Bill Gates ke thik opposite hai ............ Yahoo aab doobega ................. Main sochta tha lalu sirf india mein hai ................laken ..........???
Umakanth (Hyderabad) 2 days ago
In the above pic, Marissa Mayers looks like she is getting transformed slowly into a really life Zombie.
INDIAN READ THIS (INDIAN READ THIS) 2 days ago
Read this - The total paper money in Indian Share markets,equity trading,commodity trading,gold,silver after profit and loss is more than total Indian economy. How this happens. Because the lossess are more than profit. Your loss is someone else profit. After a long time junk shares do not give positive returns. Instead of selling the stock , investors hold the stock till the stock become more negative.Because they listen to technical analyst and maintain stop loss. Even if the investor face loss in majority of stock, they will give a bigger smile and tell their friend that they had kept the stock for long time investment. Even Mr Warren Buffet is having sleepless night due to long time investment negative returns. Read this -Banks are frauding investor for more than millions of dollars.Banks are using investors' funds for investment purposes but used them instead to pay returns to the investors. Investment in below stock is money loosing scheme. Sell your shares/equity at market price as soon as possible(asap). Do not hope for future profits. SELL THIS BELOW STOCK AT MARKET PRICE. DO NOT PUT STOP LOSS. Sell them immediately even if your suffering losses to recover your hard earned money from demat A/C. Money once gone is gone forever. Investors are suffering losses due to investment had gone hayware in the below stocks. 95 % of stocks are High volality and more negative investment returns on below stock. Sell your stock and inform others as well. Inform your friend relative through emails, social networking site, facebook, twitters,cellphone. The World Econmic forum was held in US- DAVOS have loss investor trust because of bad performance of below companies. 80 % companies are selling their fixed asset to recover loss. The companies are exploiting risk by buying each other shares and share values.Sell your stocks otherwise you people will suffer heavy loss in below stocks This is not rumour. Ask your self why the finance ministry in stressful situation.1.Larsen and Toubro - Huge Financial Disaster due to World Bank BAR 42.ICICI Bank 43. SBI 44. IDBI. 55. SHRIRAM TRANSPORT. 66.LIC. 24.HCL Tech ACC 34.Wipro 35.Lupin 36. Sesa Goa 37.BHEL 38.NTPC 39.Tata Power 40.Power Grid Corp 41.PNB 2.Infosys 3.Reliance 4.DLF 5.Axis Bank 6.Jaiprakash Associates 7.Ranbaxy Labs 8.Bharti Airtel 9.HUL 10.Bank of Baroda The Oil and gas stocks below are facing 2 billion dollars loss everyday and they want to recover from common people money. Sell this immeadely. False gasing formula revival. 11.ONGC 12.BPCL 13. GAIL 14. HPCL 15 BPCL 16.OIL INDIA 17. COAL INDIA 18. Tata Steel 20.Mah and Mah 21.IDFC 22. Reliance Infra 23.Cairn India 44. Hero Motocorp 45.Ambuja Cements 46.UltraTechCement 47.Asian Paints 48.Grasim 49.Siemens25. Dr Reddys Labs 26. Sun Pharma 27. Coal India 28.Jindal Steel 29. Hindalco 30.Cipla 31.Kotak Mahindra 32.Bajaj Auto 33. The total losses attributable to his scheme were approximately seven(7) LAKH crore for all the above stocks. -----
Sid Pune (Pune)
99 Followers
2 days ago
Gold: 22.6K
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She should improve the interview process to get the right talent.
KD (Manila) 2 days ago
I believe a lax work atmosphere which prevailed in Yahoo prior to her arrival has made, at least, few of them whiners. I do not see anything wrong with what she is doing. Change is a part of any organization, especially a tech company which is not doing well. That is why she was broght on in the first place. Cooks who can not stand the heat in the kitchen should get out !
Jagadeesh Uppalappa (Bangalore, India)
2 days ago
Silver: 525
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Change is always deplored but is the only constant. Marissa may make Yahoo a sought after employer by being painful!
Kyon (India)
28 Followers
2 days ago
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she can come to india and hire the IIT and NIT engg. for lesser price and ultimate service!
Pi (Us) replies to Kyon 2 days ago
Why can't India Crete it's own yahoo, spacex, Facebook, Microsoft etc. why 1.3 billion nation depend upon 300 million nation, go technology, for jobs, for ideas, for infrastructure, for almost everything. I do no understand.
Vinod Gandjale (Pune) replies to Kyon 2 days ago
Indians are not cheap now. Indian offices are more expensive than their US counterparts.
joshua (chennai) 2 days ago
she believes like a school teacher that innovative and creative people are ones who always get good grades.. she should work on interview process such that only the best can clear rather than people from best colleges

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