It must be an exciting – and confusing – time at Groupon. Even as the company’s launching sites in foreign countries, preparing for an IPO, and watching its president and COO step down, a fresh report’s indicated it’s also looking to hire a lot of new workers, including at least 100 in Palo Alto.
Interestingly, Groupon didn’t choose some high-tech and/or quirky method of advertising its hiring spree. Instead, it took out a billboard, which just suggests to passersby, “Do something massive.”
Then there’s a line about “tech jobs in Palo Alto” and the address groupon.com/techjobs, with a silver letter “G” set against a bright green background.
As for who Groupon’s looking to hire, Alexia Tsotsis reported after speaking with a Groupon representative that developers and technologists are in the company’s sights (especially those who deal in “data, analytics, networking, mathematics and Ruby on Rails”).
Then the representative added, “We’re investing in Palo Alto as a tech hub. We’re still hiring here [in Chicago] for devs, but Andrew’s always said publicly that the talent pool here is shallow, so it makes sense to invest out there.”
The move could be a sign that Groupon is planning something altogether new. Hiring 100 people to keep things exactly the same seems like overkill, after all.
Or the hiring spree could relate to Groupon’s plans for massive growth. Remember that CEO Andrew Mason wants to earn over $1 billion in revenue this year, and rumors suggest Groupon’s aiming for an IPO worth $25 billion.
We’ll be sure to report any significant updates.
