Yes, hiring. While Yahoo is shedding employees left and right, Google has announced that this will be its biggest hiring year in company history. That could help innovation too. Increasing the number of people who can take advantage of 20% time is in some sense increasing 20% time as a whole. 

Last year, Google added over 4,500 employees, mostly in engineering and sales. That was the second most in company history, behind 2007 when they added over 6,000 people. Now, they are looking to outdo both years. 

"We’re looking for top talent—across the board and around the globe—and we’ll hire as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science: like building a web-based operating system from scratch, instantly searching an index of more than 100 million gigabytes and even developing cars that drive themselves," says Google SVP Engineering and Research, Alan Eustace. "There’s something at Google for everyone—from geo, to enterprise, to video—with most of the work done in small teams, effectively working as start-ups. (The average number of software engineers on a project at Google is 3.5.) That’s why the vast majority of our people stay with us, building their careers and taking on new challenges within the company."

"I joined Google more than eight years ago—when we had barely 500 employees and still used Outlook for email and AIM for chat—and while there have been many changes, Google is still the same entrepreneurial company it was when I started, encouraging Googlers to take on big ideas and high-risk, high-reward opportunities," adds Eustace.

Google just made two new acquisitions in SayNow and fflick. Earlier this month, Google acquired eBook Technologies. They’ve also got a Groupon clone on the way already (after failing to acquire that company), and they’ve announced some upcoming managerial changes.  It’s only 25 days into January, and Google is certainly not sitting still. 

If you think things have cooled down at Google, while the company has lost some engineers to Facebook, you’re going to be in for quite a ride as the year progresses, it seems.

For more than a month, Alexa Robinson – Pizza Hut’s former summer "Twintern" who was hired as an intern to keep up with Pizza Hut fans through @pizzahut on Twitter – has been working without a job title. After extending a full-time job offer to Alexa, Pizza Hut turned to its Twitter fan base for creative suggestions for her new title. Now, thanks to the help of the loyal followers of @pizzahut, Alexa is finally ready to order her new business cards.

"As the new Tweetologist, I want to thank everyone who I have met through Twitter," said Alexa. "It was a lot of fun to see our fans and followers think outside the box, and I can’t wait to display my new title on my business card, loud and proud."

Original Article: Pizza and social media seem to have a relationship destined for headlines lately. You’ve probably read about the Domino’s YouTube video fiasco. Now on a more positive note, it’s Pizza Hut and Twitter.

Pizza Hut is looking to hire an intern specifically for Twittering. This is news because – how many mainstream companies have you heard of hiring someone specifically for Twittering – not even social media in general – just Twittering.

Stephanie Clifford at the New York Times describes the purpose of the "Twintern" (intern using Twitter…I don’t claim responsibility for the term) job:

To attend advertising shoots, product meetings and other corporate events. “They’ll be our social media journalist, chronicling in 140 characters or less what’s going on at Pizza Hut,” said Bob Kraut, the vice president for marketing communications at the company. The Twintern must also play social-media defense, monitoring Twitter for any mentions of the brand and alerting superiors whenever anything negative about the Hut is being said.

There is a full description on Yum’s (Pizza Hut’s parent company) site. According to that, the twinternship allows for many hands-on opportunities like:

- Collect and share insights and experiences while working for Pizza Hut through social and interactive media:  Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, New and emerging media

- Assist with execution of national PR programs

It is unclear whether or not Yum has similar intentions for brands like Long John Silver’s, A&W, Taco Bell, etc. The fact that pizza is commonly ordered online (and the Domino’s incident no doubt) probably plays a direct role in why Pizza Hut is doing this.

"The major pizza chains now do 20% to 30% of their business online, but they want that figure to climb a lot higher, to 50%," says Emily Bryson York with AdAge. "Getting there will take some doing, but the journey offers lessons for other marketers also seeking to build their business online: Know your customers, make it easy and offer incentives."

Very true. Twitter can prove to be a remarkable tool for online reputation management. And as we’ve discussed at WebProNews repeatedly, there are tons of opportunities for marketers. Though keeping on the ethical side of online marketing is likely to be in the best interest of your business and your online reputation.

The custom company profile displays content that company’s can easily tailor and update, and the content dynamically adapts to the viewers, based on their industry, job function, location, and seniority. This is good for targeting.

 "Customers can target multiple groups with differing content, and refresh the content periodically (up to 12 times a year), says LinkedIn’s Prasad Gune. "The product offering also provides ways to drive users to the company profile. Companies can also receive monthly usage reports indicating ‘demographic’ information on visitors to the profile."

Here’s an example of what a custom company profile could look like:

The custom profile creates increased visibility for a company’s employment brand. A second tab appears on the company page for "careers," a Career Center module takes prominence, and it links to the company’s custom content on the Career Tab.

Company’s can include items like recruitment messaging that appeals to prospects on a personal level, employee spotlights, a polling feature, video clips, who to get in touch with, and links to the career site to help a candidate take action.

According to the WSJ, Yahoo could be close to choosing a CEO that’s a safe bet, rather than a gamble.

Among candidates still under consideration is Carol Bartz, the former chief executive officer of Autodesk Inc., a publicly traded company that builds design software used in engineering. She’s “on the list,” said a person familiar with the matter…[and] would indicate that Yahoo is looking for a steady hand who has run a public company over someone with Internet and online advertising experience.

As the search continues, I can’t help compare it to the annual football coaching shuffle, which happens this time of year. Will the AD/manager pick someone on the rise? Someone with proven experience? Or, pick the offense coordinator in-situ–which rarely gets anyone excited.

What type of CEO do you think Yahoo needs right now?

PS. Carol Bartz should be grateful she wasn’t fire just for interviewing!

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If you’re a startup founder about to hire an executive (particularly if you’re using an executive recruiter), you should really take 15 minutes out of your busy day and read Zoli’s article. You’ll thank me (though you should thank him).

I’m going to lead with a comment I put on Zoli’s blog:

A startup should not hire Seth Godin for its VP of Marketing. It should hire the next Seth Godin.

Before I go on, if you don’t know who Seth Godin is, feel free to replace with someone else you know who is really successful.

Here’s why you shouldn’t hire Seth:

1. Though past success is often a predictor of future success, it assumes similar circumstances. If you’re hiring some hot-shot executive from Oracel to be your VP of Sales and that executive sold $300MM (or managed people that did), that does not mean they’re going to be able to make a single sale for your startup. Or even find people that are going to sell for you. They may just not have it in them.

2. Even if they would be successful at a startup (because their prior success was a startup too), if they’ve been that successful, they’re not going to be particularly hungry and aggressive. Yes, there’s a certain floor of passion that some successful people are going to have (they’re constitutionally incapable of working 40 hour weeks), but the fire is not going to be the same. They don’t have a point to prove. They’ve already proven it. This is somewhat paradoxical. If they’re really as successful and good as they look on paper, they’re probably not going to be hungry.

3. Startups are an arbitrage game on many levels — particularly recruiting. Any chump can pay $250,000 a year plus options and go hire a VP of Marketing with a pedigree. Show me a startup that can recruit world-class people at below fair market value (at least temporarily) and I’ll show you a startup that has their head on straight. In the world of startup recruiting, you’re playing a passion arbitrage game.

4. Beware the resource needs of executives from big firms. Though they may be great at turning a $20MM marketing budget into $2 billion, it doen’t matter much if you don’t have $20MM. They be a world-class player, but you may not have what they need to succeed.

Summary: Use your passion and instincts to help find the next Seth Godin, and then help them kick-butt.C

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As just about everyone knows by now, Microsoft’s $240 million put Facebook’s value at $15 billion.  This drew varying levels of admiration and outrage from onlookers, but most relevant to this article is the fact that the price of Facebook’s stock options should rise as a result, making them considerably less of an enticement to any prospective employees.

Don’t expect the company to release details on the matter – corporations generally don’t discuss stock options.  Still, Facebook is trying to downplay any negative effect.  According to the Wall Street Journal, “Facebook board member Jim Breyer says that while ‘the valuation on stock options will absolutely rise’ at the company, others — such as Microsoft, Google Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. — were able to hire talent even ‘after they had public valuations in the billions.’”

But if one of the biggest financial incentives to work for Facebook has been taken away, hiring people will become a lot harder.  Unemployed jobseekers might once again fixate on the Googleplex, and Googlers who are already within its walls will be especially hard to budge.

Oh, well.  In terms of companies to draw from, at least there’s always Yahoo.

“That’s an average of about 35 people showing up for their first day of work each business day during the past three months,” computed CNET’s Elinor Mills.  And that’s despite earlier assurances that Google would stop bringing so many people onboard.

So should investors be uneasy?  Probably not.  The story of Google’s hiring binge is less important than that of its fantastic third-quarter earnings; such successes give the company license to do more or less whatever it sees fit.  Still, Eric Schmidt tried to assure onlookers that excessive hiring won’t be a problem in the future.

“The number you’re seeing is essentially an overhang from hiring that had been agreed to many months earlier,” Schmidt said, according to MarketWatch.  “I don’t know that that will be repeated.  Going forward we’re paying a lot of attention to the head count.”

In the meantime, have pity on Google’s many employees.  Sure, they get to have free food, dogs at work, and all other sorts of incredible benefits.  But as they interact with each other, I’ll bet a lot of embarrassing what’s-your-name-again situations come up.

One approach is to settle.  I know, “settling” sounds like losing, but as Caulfield writes, “The company targets graduates of top schools who have top grades: that all but rules out, say, Microsoft Founder Bill Gates or Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, neither of whom have a college degree.”

There’s also the possibility of hiring someone that Mountain View deemed not “Google-y” enough – given how different Google’s corporate culture is from that of most places, this could even be a benefit, not a drawback.

But enough of this “settling” stuff; a company can also beat Google by being quicker to the draw.  “While a Google hire might have to endure round after round of interviews, a savvy company can pluck off a candidate at the manager level and below by hitting him with an offer – and giving him or her just a few days to respond,” notes Caulfield.  I suppose it’s the same sort of limited-time-offer push that causes people to snatch up Disney DVDs and “As Seen On TV” doodads.

One final note from the Forbes article involves money: Google’s growth can only go on for so long, and not every employee will become a billionaire.  An especially robust salary offer may be all that’s needed to draw someone away from the Googleplex.

Hat tip to SearchEngineWatch’s Kevin Newcomb.

That doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? Haven’t all of us said or done something at least a little untoward? Is the googler calling the googlee a sinner? What of the googler’s past? Spotless?

Yes, the job market is competitive. Yes, I’m heavy on the throw the first stone philosophy. Yes, a candidate should shine their shoes and practice their handshaking and eye contact. But is it too presumptive, too hasty to toss out a candidate based on their googlability?

(Google’s going to love me for using their brand name with such license, but lets get real – it is a word now.)

I wonder this because I’m starting to see a trend, at least as I am perceiving it from the piecemeal coverage I see. We already know quite well that Bill Gates didn’t finish his degree – and that would have hurt him in the job market if he hadn’t made brilliant strides of his own.

Alarm:clock reports that Craig Newmark, the founder of the wildly successful Craigslist, was "too odd" to land an engineering job. "Too odd" meant the head engineer didn’t like his "anti-capitalist ideas."

The raging success of Craigslist has to have Newmark sitting back in his chair and chuckling at a statement like that.

Just before that little nugget, Valleywag asks "Is 30 too old to start a company?" The question arises because, according to Valleywag, venture capitalists assume tech entrepreneurs "peak" at about 26.

As a 30-year-old, I think that just plain sucks. Admittedly, rounding that corner hasn’t been exactly fun – spicy foods are quickly becoming the enemy and my knees and back just aren’t what they used to be – but my mind is sharper than ever.

What was I saying?

Oh yeah, it seems employers (and investors) would be wise to take a second look at the talent they’re throwing off the table for some rather arbitrary reasons. And to borrow from an overused corporate buzz phrase, that’s not exactly "thinking outside the box."

Genius rarely comes in conventional packages. Just ask Einstein, who I hear had trouble just tying his shoes (but that could be an urban legend).  

Recently, a few prospects had been weighing our services against the services of a vertical vendor and asked me to explain why they shouldn’t go with a Web design and Internet marketing company that focuses specifically–in these cases–plastic surgeons or law firms.

It’s a great question. I think there are times when it makes sense to go with a vendor who specializes in your industry. An accountant whose clients are all service providers, or a business coach who works exclusively with small business owner would be the type of vertical vendors who I’d be interested in doing business with.

Similarly, if you’re an innkeeper, you might want to work with a laundry service that has a lot of inns as customers, and if you’re a restaurant owner, you might want to choose a vendor with a proven track record of increasing online takeout orders.

I think these examples help you with behind-the-scenes issues. No one’s going to compare you to your competition and make a buying decision on what laundry service you use. (They may not return if they find blood stains on the underside of their pillow, but that’s a different story.)

However, when it comes to design or marketing you need to differentiate yourself.

If you want a new logo for your business, going to someone who has designed logos for most of your competition is just plain boneheaded unless you’re a third-world counterfeiter. Not only that, your logo designer will probably feel that you want something similar, since that’s why you called her in the first place.

People looking for services, be they plastic surgery or law firms, will often visit several sites before making a decision. If your site looks like everyone else’s, it won’t stand out. However, if yours has a different approach, different colors, a visibly different style, you will be remembered.

For Internet marketing, the case is even more clear cut. If a vertical Internet marketer has already created a search engine optimization plan for your competition, how will you rank higher they they do, given the same advice and information? When everyone in your industry zigs, you need to zag.

However, a vertical marketer can’t zag. Their competitive advantage is that they know your industry. That they have institutional knowledge. That they know or have even created the conventional wisdom. However, that’s a competitive advantage for them, but not for you.

If they’ve created Web sites and Internet marketing campaigns for a large enough percentage of your industry, that part of the market is over-saturated. You need to discover your own niche within your industry and compete against the homogenized majority. That’s the benefit of working with a horizontal vendor.

They won’t know your industry as well as you do, or even as much as the vertical vendor. However, they bring proven ideas from other industries that will be new ideas in your industry. They are the cross-pollinators.

Am I biased? Well, duh! The reason we don’t go after one market is that I find it to be intellectually unstimulating. Just thinking about focusing on one industry or business type makes my synapses fire slower. I love taking an idea I discovered while working on a jewelry Web site and reworking it for a biotech provider…and vice versa.

If you’re an entrepreneur, if you’re a risk-taker, if you want long term sustainability for your business, the last thing you want to do is position yourself as a me-too company.

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