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Once Bitten, Twice Not Shy: A Yahoo Fishes for Xooglers

You don’t get if you don’t ask, amirite?

After unsuccessfully trying to poach my staff for talent, another Yahoo employee is going for the big fish by trolling for Xooglers on a Google alumni group run by the search giant itself.

While it’s not an official effort by Yahoo — which likes to do its pot-kettle corporate sniping on Twitter — it is still an interesting glimpse into Silicon Valley’s unceasing recruiting wars.

And it’s saucy too, since it comes in the wake of the hiring and subsequent firing of Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro by CEO Marissa Mayer, both of whom came from the search giant.

Now, De Castro is not an engineer — the kingpins of the tech ecosystem. And most Googlers who have moved to Yahoo following Mayer have not been those kind of coveted employees. In fact, many of Yahoo’s hires from Google have been apparatchik types — with the rare exception of someone like the stellar engineer Enrique Torres, who is a bona fide tech star.

Still, you don’t get if you don’t ask, amirite?

Here’s the spunky plea (catch-up to Google? One can dream!):

Former Googlers — like a challenge?

If so, help Yahoo compete/catch-up to Google!

* This January at CES, Marissa (an ex-Googler) announced several new initiatives and products for Yahoo. Yahoo is now looking for top talent to deliver, grow and scale them!

* Specifically, within Yahoo Ads & Data, Yahoo is looking for dozens (hundreds?) of:
– Java FE
– Java BE
– or high-performance C++ experts

* Yahoo is pulling all the stops via concerted hiring effort and for great, local candidates, the process from initial contact, to phone interview to onsite interview and a feeling about mutual interest (or not) could be as short as a week.

But why should you talk to Yahoo?

* Yahoo’s perks are similar to Google’s and, IMHO, the free food is better.

* Compensation is competitive and responsibilities may be better-defined and higher.

* Yahoo has the benefits of hindsight, but is not afraid to scrap what is not working. Same may apply to code.

* Marissa has unmatched ambitions for Yahoo and prudent former investments provide breathing room and opportunity for them. We want world class solutions using the latest technology and need world class people to shape them! Sounds cliche, but come interview and find out more!

Disclaimer: Current Googlers should ignore this post. Views expressed here are mine, not necessarily those of Yahoo Inc.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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