Jeff Clavier ponders about startups’ hiring difficulties in the face of competition from the “Big 3”: Talent grabbing war at the GYM
“Did you also have this feeling that the “Big 3” (Google, Yahoo and Microsoft – let’s refer to them as the GYM) were not only deploying new features on an accelerated “tit for tat” basis, but they are also on a wide ranging talent grab ? I bet you did…”
Well, it would appear there’s one talent in even shorter supply then engineering, and this one is not even high-tech. Google is having trouble filling two Executive Chef positions. It must be a VIP position, a Google VP heads up the Selection Committee.
“It’s been a challenge to get someone who has the scale and quality (to live up to the company’s expectations),” said Susan Wojcicki, a Google vice president on the hiring committee. “
(LA Times via SFGate)
Google plans to invite the top applicants for a cook-off, preparing meals for several dozen members of a tasting committee that probably will include co- founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
I’ll be happy to volunteer my services on the Tasting Committee 
Update (8/5): I thought it might be appropriate to link to a Google Lunch Menu. (Baileys Irish Cream Cheesecake.. ahh). Notice where it is posted: on Google’s Job Opportunities! 🙂
Update (8/15): (G)oops, now they can’t even throw a party! 🙂
Technorati Tags: Google, Hiring, Perks, Chef, Corporate Benefits
In fact we often take such conveniences for granted, assuming they are “industry standard” … not quite.
Fast forward to last year, when I flew to Boston for an interview – the company’s standard agency was Avis, so they booked me there … fine .. or so I thought.
After a horribly delayed flight I arrived at the Avis lot around 4am, trying to get directions to my hotel in Suburbia, a good 30 miles away. Wow, no Kiosk!!! (???). Well, you’d think the clerk can help you (like they do at Hertz). Apparently they are not supposed to, for liability reasons (???) – or so they say.
Oh, well, GPS will help – except the system I reserved was not in the car; the crew at the station had trouble first finding the key to the locker where they keep the GPS units ( a lousy Motorola phone), then they had no clue how to operate it. We ended up reading the user manual together, and I was faster in deciphering it than they were.
After this it should have come as no surprise when I was caught at the gate – apparently the paperwork and the car did not match, they parked the wrong car in the assigned lot. (Need I say this was the car the station manager and I spent 30 minutes in, trying to get the GPS installed?) Well, back to the office, station manager trying to call the gate, they don’t answer… he ended up running to the gate and order the guard to let me (finally) leave, saying he’ll fix the paperwork afterwards…
All in all, I spent 50 minutes at the Avis lot, despite being the only customer there.