The sluggish U.S. economy has made job hunting hard for most people, but high tech talent is in such demand that one startup is recruiting at bus stops where Silicon Valley workers congregate.
Software startup Bigcommerce is sending recruiters to bus stops that shuttle computer workers to the corporate campuses of Google, Facebook, Adobe, and LinkedIn in the hopes of wooing them away.
“Every day, I would just see all this top talent hanging out on the sidewalks, Bigcommerce chief product officer West Stringfellow told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I thought, if I ever have to build a team really fast, I’ll just go hit those folks right where they’re standing.”
The unorthodox headhunting strategy appears to be working. Bigcommerce, which is opening a San Francisco office, says so far they have talked to 1,000 workers, made six offers, and hired two employees.
The company has expanded the campaign, complete with its own #poached hashtag and coffee kiosks handing out 400 poached egg sandwiches, 500 cups of coffee, live music, and a chance to win Google Glass.
Not everyone, however, embraces techies waiting for buses to their high paid jobs. As Breitbart California editor Joel Pollak has reported, the so-called “Google buses” have become a class warfare flashpoint in San Francisco where Occupy-style protests have erupted by left-wing activists who say the influx of Silicon Valley workers has skyrocketed housing prices and spawned unwelcome gentrification.
Image: Mitch’s Blog
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