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March 26, 2008 12:20 PM PDT

Why are people leaving Yahoo?

Posted by Elinor Mills

Yahoo defections aren't news. But people trying to get hired there? Stop the presses!

That's the gist of this blog entry at headhunter firm BINC.

BINC Chief Executive Boris Epstein writes:

"So it's obviously no surprise that Yahoo is in trouble right now and people are leaving in droves. That's why I was so surprised to hear one of my candidates tell me that he's currently interviewing with Yahoo right now. WHAT!! Why is he interviewing with Yahoo? It's like somebody jumping on board Titanic mid sink."

The candidate's reasoning is that Yahoo is investing its resources into making a last-stand effort to avoid a takeover by Microsoft. Epstein doesn't buy it though, and then he goes on to provide a list of the top 9 reasons people give for leaving Yahoo:

1. Want to escape before Yahoo gets acquired by Microsoft

2. Lack of innovation at Yahoo

3. Excessive bureaucracy

4. Seeking job stability and expect more layoffs

5. Want to be bigger fish in smaller pond elsewhere

6. Yahoo has lost its focus

7. Volatility of stock price after Microsoft offer

8. Poor management

9. Long hours and on-call nights and weekends

And I'll offer one to round out the list:

10. Google is hiring

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 23 comments (Page 1 of 2)
Yahoo is a great company
by basraw March 26, 2008 12:44 PM PDT
i'd work for them.
Reply to this comment View all 4 replies
Talk is cheap.
by gerrrg March 26, 2008 1:24 PM PDT
If you've never noticed, there are cycles of criticism that follow all companies. A1. They need to diversify to withstand business downturns. B1. They need to refocus and get back to their core business. A2. Their CEO earns too much; that's why profit is down. B2. Their CEO position earns too little; that's why they can't attract talented leadership. A3. They expanded too fast and now they've overextended themselves. B3. They need to get out into the marketplace now, before the competition catches up. A4. Profits are down; they need to shrink their costs and cut their workforce. B4. Profits are down; they need to expand their global reach and expand their workforce. Yahoo is no different than IBM, Kraft Foods, GE, Boeing or Citigroup.
Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
Rumor ≠ Reality
by im3ngs March 26, 2008 2:55 PM PDT
Elinor Mills' article is sensational, biased and pathetic to be considered c|net NEWS... taking a unsubstantiated, unverified comment from a blogger "people leaving in droves" and then sensationalizing it to make it appear as if Yahoo is a company in worse turmoil that it is... Completely unfounded and adding to the general paranoia of our "really bad" economy.... STOP this nonsense, please. Don't waste my time and bandwidth.
Reply to this comment
Ironic
by flickrz March 26, 2008 7:10 PM PDT
See the irony. Today CNET announced reduction of 10% staff. And, nobody commented on that. The fact is, Yahoo! is hiring hundreds of more engineers to replace those 1000 souls who were let go in February.
Reply to this comment
Save your soul
by Rick Cavaretti March 27, 2008 8:05 AM PDT
Leave Yahoo before the devil takes control and possesses your virtual soul! I can already smell the toxic fumes from a Vista disk smoldering on the 7th level.
Reply to this comment
If you think Yahoo was bad now..... Wait til Microsoft
by JCPayne March 27, 2008 8:13 AM PDT
tries to take it over. If that goes through that is an instant boom for Google because plenty of people will avoid anything Microsoft....
Reply to this comment
Microsoft's buyout offer of Yahoo is driving me towards Google.
by JCPayne March 27, 2008 8:19 AM PDT
All this buyout talk of Yahoo is only driving me closer to Google. Since Microsoft made this bid, I've switched to Ubunto Linux... The version of Linux that Google uses.... I've since joined the Google (Android) Mobile Phone alliance as a developer. I'm planning to create a small company that will hopefully create more technologies around Google's products and I'm starting to switch some of my Yahoo services to Google so I can eventually shut down my Yahoo accounts in the event of a Microsoft buyout.... I would like to THANK Microsoft for making me far more closer to Google than I was before... I only used them for search before but NOW I'm starting to use them more for Search and Email and in future add to that Mobile, Browser Homepage, Instant messaging, etc...
Reply to this comment
People are leaving Google too!
by fireweed08 March 27, 2008 9:12 AM PDT
I have numerous friends who work at Google and some of the reasons for leaving yahoo are the reasons people are leaving google... 2. Lack of innovation at Yahoo -what new products has Google come up with lately? 3. Excessive bureaucracy -Google has a bureaucracy as well, not excessive, but it is there. 5. Want to be bigger fish in smaller pond elsewhere -Google has more employees than Yahoo. 7. Volatility of stock price after Microsoft offer -Google's has gone down $300.00 per share 8. Poor management -Google doesn't have many managers, but most are still in puberty 9. Long hours and on-call nights and weekends -I have never met a Googler who only works 40 hrs a week. And I'll offer one to round out the list: 10. Google is hiring -they always have been.
Reply to this comment
common sense where?
by themajicbringer March 27, 2008 10:53 AM PDT
They take away the chat rooms, so that made droves of people migrate elsewhere. And customer service? Fuggedaboudit.. Had my account hacked. I can prove who I was 'til I am blue in the face, and Yahoo made me jump through a dozen hoops, but after all that I did Yahoo technoidiots can't put 2 and 2 together and realize that if someone hacked my account they probably also changed my security questions. And that's just one example of their shining bunch of monkeys throwing poo in their offices. Erg!
Reply to this comment
Yahoo is hip
by BALTHOR1 March 27, 2008 1:37 PM PDT
It's an ISP that is reliable and can be used every day.
Reply to this comment
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