In the last week, no less than 1 million persons have sent Zoë and me the link to the CNET article “Google recruits eggheads with mystery billboard.” By now, I;m sure most of you have read about or even seen the famous Google billboard, but I figured I should at least comment on it since it appears my counterparts at Google are one-upping me.
First, I should say that while Google is getting all the glory, they are not the first software company to employ this tactic. I;m sure there are others,
Microsoft Office 2010 Standard, but 1 I know about for sure is Electronic Arts, who last winter placed this billboard across the street from a competitor;s headquarters. Now that;s gutsy.
I like Google;s tactic but not because they decided to do cute advertising on a billboard. Given our own results from past marketing campaigns, I don;t believe the billboard ad itself would attract a higher number of qualified applicants to their careers page. I would imagine most qualified applicants driving down Hwy 101 in Silicon Valley 1) are already aware Google is hiring and 2) if interested in working for Google, have already applied for a job there. That;s obviously a big assumption and broad statement on my part, but I just think that the Silicon Valley developer demographic is keenly aware of Google and its appeal.
The brilliant part is the self-promotion that went along with the ad. If you are like me, you probably thought, “Google, why pay for a billboard near your own headquarters when you could spend the money advertising in a broader and more diverse geographical market?” (Ok, maybe you aren;t like me.) And then the media stories, blog entries, and water cooler talk just kept growing and growing and growing. Google could probably stop all job postings and advertising campaigns right now and still keep floating on the influx of resumes they have and will continue to receive from this effort.
Here at Microsoft, we;ve always been more grass-roots in our hiring campaigns ... partly because of our shrimp and weenies culture and partly because we expect that anyone who hasn;t already applied to a job at Microsoft isn;t going to be swayed by some grand yet impersonal gesture. Besides attendance at an obligatory job fair or two and the occasional Monster.com posting, our outreach is targeted, small-scale, and (here;s the key) economically sound. Maybe that;s wrong, but that;s how we are. John Connors would be proud.
As we march into fiscal year 05, my team will be focused on searching our in-house Applicant Tracking System with a fine tooth comb (so if you are ever interested in a career with Microsoft – even if you are not so sure now - get your resume in there … and spread the word,
Microsoft Office Home And Student 2010!) We also plan to implement some processes which will gather additional information on qualified applicants and assist us in matching the right consumers to the right jobs. With the remainder of our budget,
Office Standard 2010 32 Bit, we want to do as much outreach as possible: attend conferences to expand our networks and knowledge of the industry, conduct smaller career informational session (either in-person at local user group meetings and via web casts),
Microsoft Office 2010 64 Bit, and provide as significantly personalized direction to potential applicants as we can (while keeping in mind that not many of us exist right now,
Office 2010 Professional 64bit!)
So consider this our billboard. We don;t want to give you any puzzles to solve; we figure we do enough of that during the actual interview process!!
gretchen
P.S. If you are still reading, you are probably wondering, “Why did she call this post ‘Google this, Google?;” Here;s why. You don;t know how a great number of men and women have gotten to our blog via that search. Ta ha!
Office 2010 Professional 64bit blog google-this-go
Linear Mode
