Apple reportedly winding down recruiting efforts, lays off all contract recruiters

Posted:
in General Discussion edited April 2016
Ahead of Apple's earnings call, a report on Monday claims the company is reevaluating its recruiting program, a move that could potentially affect more than 100 current employees.




In the past, Apple has relied in part on recruiters to bring in the best and brightest Silicon Valley talent, but that might soon change, according to a report from VentureBeat. Citing an unnamed source, the publication said Apple's "recruiting engine" has slowed down drastically over the past few weeks.

"You always need to have something new coming out to justify hiring," the person said, suggesting Apple is no longer viewed as a catalyst for innovation.

Aside from culling all contract recruiters, Apple is supposedly paring down the number of full-time recruiters on staff. In addition, those who remain onboard will likely see their pay structures shift, as the source said bonuses that gave recruiters 40 percent of a newly hired employee's salary have been shaved to between 10 and 15 percent. That incentive plan might disappear completely, the source said.

Finally, the publication points to the Jobs at Apple webpage, noting a distinct lack of advertisements for recruiting positions.

A fast-paced industry led by cash-rich firms like Apple, Google and Facebook, tech is a highly competitive, and lucrative, sector for new hires. Even Apple, the world's most valuable company, finds recruiting efforts difficult, most recently seen in troubles surrounding an initiative to build out Siri's artificial intelligence team last year.

Apple's hiring and employee retention tactics have also come under fire. Specifically, cofounder Steve Jobs allegedly struck illegal anti-poaching agreements with fellow tech industry heavyweights in a bid to keep top workers in Cupertino, a strategy that plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit claim suppressed base wages. Apple and Google last year paid out $415 million to settle the suit.

It seems that in scaling back recruiting efforts, Apple is moving to a staffing model fueled by so-called "acqui-hires," or purchases of smaller companies for talent. In fiscal 2015, for example, Apple purchased 15 companies, including Israeli imaging firm LinX, augmented reality company Metaio, speech technology firm VocalIQ and machine learning startup Perceptio. Employees from those acquired companies, including founders, now work at Apple on various projects.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    Doom, I say doomed to heck... Apple will change the new building into an indoor race track and go out of business. They've already downgraded the iPhone to an SE model and put the Mac up for sale. Tomorrow's call will be the last gasp of a dying whale... Doom I tell you...doom!!
    cornchippscooter63[Deleted User]
  • Reply 2 of 20
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Doom dee doo doom!
    cornchipnolamacguy
  • Reply 3 of 20
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    "Apple is no longer viewed as a catalyst for innovation."

    Haha haha!
    cornchip[Deleted User]nolamacguycali
  • Reply 4 of 20
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Time to shut down the company and return all the money to the shareholders. /s
    cornchipnolamacguycali
  • Reply 5 of 20
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,950member
    Lullzz u guys… never freakin gets old!
  • Reply 6 of 20
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member
    If Steve were here this would have never happened....

    /s
    [Deleted User]cali
  • Reply 7 of 20
    jason98jason98 Posts: 768member
    Hiring freeze is next.  /s
  • Reply 8 of 20
    roakeroake Posts: 811member
    While there are signs that Apples rapid growth is slowing down, there are no signs at all the Apple is in any kind of financial trouble.  And even if there is a slowdown in growth, It doesn't mean that they won't resume tremendous growth when they release another new project.
  • Reply 9 of 20
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    roake said:
    While there are signs that Apples rapid growth is slowing down, there are no signs at all the Apple is in any kind of financial trouble.  And even if there is a slowdown in growth, It doesn't mean that they won't resume tremendous growth when they release another new project.
    Or it could simply mean that they are restructuring the way they hire. There isn't a hiring freeze in place so it's not like they aren't recruiting at all. They have been on a tear hiring folks and at a certain point you need to step back a bit. 
    cornchippalominecali
  • Reply 10 of 20


    Finally, the publication points to the Jobs at Apple webpage, noting a distinct lack of advertisements for recruiting positions.

    It seriously took me a while to process "Jobs at Apple". I was wondering what Jobs' tenure at Apple had to do with recruiting.
    edited April 2016 king editor the grateSpamSandwichktappecali
  • Reply 11 of 20
    redefilerredefiler Posts: 323member
    foad said:
    roake said:
    While there are signs that Apples rapid growth is slowing down, there are no signs at all the Apple is in any kind of financial trouble.  And even if there is a slowdown in growth, It doesn't mean that they won't resume tremendous growth when they release another new project.
    Or it could simply mean that they are restructuring the way they hire. There isn't a hiring freeze in place so it's not like they aren't recruiting at all. They have been on a tear hiring folks and at a certain point you need to step back a bit. 
    Exactly.  Kinda like the Apple Store going down before a refresh.

    Apple is not winding down recruiting efforts, and this headline/post is just retarded.
    cornchipcali
  • Reply 12 of 20
    dachardachar Posts: 330member
    This might be about lack of space. Once the new HQ opens there is likely to be spare capacity for more staff and an increase in hiring to fill the space.
  • Reply 13 of 20
    palominepalomine Posts: 362member
    I'd bet money that somebody's not the recruiting companies really screwed up. Apple did a review and decided they don't really need that kind of nonsense.
  • Reply 14 of 20
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    Hmm...somehow I get the feeling this is bogus information or we don't have the whole story. It seems we go through phases where the media is bound and determined to start digging Apple's grave. Just in the past week I've seen 3 or 4 ridiculous hyperbolic Watch stories treating it as the worst product in the history of technology. And of course we have these "research" claiming the iPhone 7 is going to disappoint and now this story. All right before earnings release too. I don't believe in conspiracy theories but something stinks to high heaven. 
    cali
  • Reply 15 of 20
    Journalism is a dying profession. Today, we have Parrots (not the lovely birds) that simply look for 'content' that evokes emotion.  The 'content' doesn't have to have any basis in fact, rather, it only has to meet the emotional objective of the Parrot.  AI has become a Parrots publication (aside from the occasional Editorial from DED).  I'm done here.


  • Reply 16 of 20
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    I have been saying for quite a while.... Apple has ALL these people, ALL these offices and growing like gang busters, but where is the product? Other than miniscule updates, nothing new out of Apple in a long time. What are they doing? No major software of anything. New GarageBand? No. New iMovie? No, New FCP? No. Again, what are they doing......????
    What did Apple do between 2001 and 2007?
    nolamacguy
  • Reply 17 of 20
    Apple needs recruiters?
  • Reply 18 of 20
    The writing has been on the wall for quite some time: Apple’s cash cow (the iPhone and all its iterations, such as iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air - basically just different sizes of the iPhone) will soon be obsolete. Why do you think FaceBook bought Oculus Rift? Why do you think Google pulled their geeky Google Glasses and renamed it “Project Aura”? Why do you think Microsoft finally admitted to its “Holo-Lens” project? It is all about what I coin TIAR - Total Immersion Augmented Reality (pronounced “T.R.”); which brings “MInority Report” or “Johnny Pneumonic” style 2-D information into your own personal 3-D reality. Seriously, the tech is already available. And if you don’t believe me, check Sixth Sense Technology on TED Talks. Rumor has it that Apple is at least six years behind on this next gen tech and has been slapped on the wrist for trying to filch engineers from everyone else, including the one company who supplies proprietary chips to the other tech behemoths mentioned above. So. Really? Seriously? Regards, JC
  • Reply 19 of 20
    jeffj2hjeffj2h Posts: 10member
    Apple should triple its hiring and put them all on bug fixing. 
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