Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Google Slashes Recruiters, Engineering Offices

Search engine giant Google made two dramatic announcements Wednesday afternoon, saying that it will lay off around 100 recruiters at the firm, as it slows its hiring, and will cut three of its remote engineering offices. The firm said that the 100 positions in recruiting were cut due to the state of the economy, and because it decided that it needed less people focused on hiring. The move comes after it had already cut contracts with external vendors and recruiters to save costs. Separately, Google said it has cut its Austin, Texas; Trondheim, Norway; and Lulea, Sweden engineering offices, as it looks to reduce the difficulty of coordinating its efforts across different geographies. About 70 engineers are affected by the move, however, the firm said that it is looking to move those engineers to other offices. Google still maintains offices in Santa Monica and Irvine, and has not announced any plans for those locations.

---