hiring

Yahoo has frozen new hiring and may be forced to lay off existing employees, according to AllThingsD.

Word has reportedly come down not to fill the hundreds of job openings currently available as a first step toward cutting costs. As second step, layoffs of current support staff are expected to be "small and selective," though details are still being worked out.

After a year marked by weak quarterly revenue, takeover talk, and the ouster of former CEO Carol Bartz, Yahoo managed to deliver third-quarter results higher than forecast.

But Wall Street is once again anticipating shaky results when … Read more

I was once introduced to a chef who believes that bacon is a fine ingredient in a dessert.

Such chefs I would describe as beyond cognitive salvation. However, Microsoft appears to suddenly believe that bacon can play an even higher social role: as the commercial equivalent of an aphrodisiac.

For, as the Seattle Times reports, the company has decided that the best way to hire engineers to its Kinect for Windows team is to offer them bacon.

Yes, free bacon.

Engineers, you see, aren't moved by vast package full of stock options, housing allowances, or multiple-hand massages. No, no. … Read more

See that guy pictured above? The one with the beard grooming oil, the fancy tux and the spear gun? He's the best engineer in the world--and he has the toys to prove it.

Oh, the lengths startups are going to these days to get engineering talent.

Technology is evolving rapidly and engineers who know the latest and greatest coding languages and techniques are hard to come by, even in Silicon Valley. Undergrads are being wined (if they're, um, over 21) and dined by technology companies offering never-before-seen perks (cars! free apartments!) and impressive salaries.

Google currently pays recent … Read more

Apple's former retail chief may be looking to get some of his old gang back together at his new gig.

J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson, who officially left his post as Apple's senior vice president of retail operations this month, is now said to be in the process of trying to hire a former Apple executive he worked with while at the technology company.

Citing sources, The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that Johnson in trying to hire Michael Kramer, who was the chief financial officer of Apple's retail operations between 2000 and 2005. The … Read more

Editor's note: This is the first story in an ongoing series profiling college graduates throughout the United States as they hunt for technology jobs. Check out CNET's special report, "Wanted: A job in tech," for a story tomorrow on MBAs making their way in tech world.

TROY, N.Y.--The rain is coming down heavily this spring morning at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, one of the nation's top technical universities. But as seniors prepare to enter the work world, there's far less gloom here than in recent years.

"A lot of seniors I've talked with have something lined up," said William Jones, a mechanical-engineering major, who will graduate May 28. Jones, too, has something lined up: a position with the Engineering Leadership Program at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Pittsfield, Mass. It's a three-year opportunity during which Jones will rotate through three or four different technical posts.

If you need more signs that the economy is turning, albeit slowly, Jones and his fellow engineering majors offer some hope. Without question, many are still looking. But unlike the last few years, when the global recession kept many employers away from college campuses, jobs, particularly technical ones, are there to be had.

Just look at the data. A recent survey of 4,600 employers by the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University found that hiring of new graduates with bachelor's degrees will climb 10 percent this year, the first increase in two years. Given that 1.7 million students will receive bachelor's degrees this year, according to the Education Department, a double-digit boost is significant.… Read more

Apple is said to have hired audio pioneer Tomlinson Holman to head up the company's efforts in sound.

The news, which has not been confirmed by Apple or Holman, comes from TWiT Network owner Leo Laporte who posted it in a Twitter update citing an anonymous source with "good authority" on the matter.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation on Holman's hiring.

Holman is currently a professor at the University of Southern California, and is the inventor of Lucasfilm's THX sound system. He also created the 10.2 sound system, and … Read more

Adding to the list of recent departures, Microsoft has lost the principal development manager of its Bing search engine to commerce giant eBay.

According to All Things Digital, Scott Prevost who joined Microsoft as part of the Powerset acquisition in 2008, has left to become the VP of product management for eBay's search tool. He's joined by now former Facebook research scientist Dennis DeCoste, who will be eBay's director of research. Together, the pair are said to be working on improving the relevancy of eBay's built-in search tool.

A Microsoft representative confirmed Prevost's departure and … Read more

Google's going to do its part to reduce the unemployment rate in 2011, declaring plans to hire more people this year than it ever has before.

Worrying about the economy is so 2008, said Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering and research, in a blog post today outlining plans for "our biggest hiring year in company history." Like most companies, Google scaled back its hiring after hitting a high-water mark in 2007 with slightly more than 6,000 new employees, but after adding 4,500 people in 2010 it vowed to get back to those pre-bust … Read more

After a high-profile search that began over six months ago, New York City has hired new media entrepreneur Rachel Sterne as its first "chief digital officer."

It's the latest major move made by the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, himself a billionaire entrepreneur, to shove the establishment-heavy Gotham into the 21st century.

Sterne's job won't involve wrangling the scores of small tech start-ups that have popped up like mushrooms in the city over the past few years. Rather, her focus will be to help the city government use digital technology to better communicate with residents, … Read more