Yahoo’s Corporate Technique

What actions might Yahoo take to strengthen its internal recruiting? How might these efforts support Yahoo’s corporate technique? One individual who contributes to an option is Susan Burnett, Yahoo’s senior vice president of skill and company development. Burnett intends to develop an environment in which employees discover the skills they require to handle higher duties. Burnett initially developed an advancement program for 2,000 highpotential employees. The program, called Leading Yahoos, teaches management, objective setting, and measurement of outcomes. By assisting these new leaders align their work with the business’s general method, it supports Yahoo’s effort to make objectives more visible to staff members at all levels.

More directly, Yahoo is seeking to discover highly knowledgeable software application experts by hiring away from Silicon Valley, where the competitors for talent is extreme.

For instance, it worked with the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation to reveal that it wished to hire software application developers to work at the University of Illinois Research Park.

Shifting from unprofitable, low-growth activities to activities with more potential could lead to significant staff cuts in some areas even as a hiring push continues in others. Still, one former employee sees hope.

Geoff Ralston, who worked on Yahoo Mail, notes that EBay and Apple both survived periods when they seemed to be fading away. Ralston believes the solution is to buy or build “consumer experiences that are unbelievably great.” That’s a mission a tech worker would choose to accept.