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November 4, 2008 2:30 PM PST

Google: Hiring slowdown, but no freeze

by Stephen Shankland
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CNBC reported Tuesday that Google has an unofficial hiring freeze, but the search giant denies it.

"Several executives I have spoken with who have hiring responsibility said it was made clear to them one month ago they were to make no new hires, including at the secretarial level, and they were directed to fill all vacancies with internal candidates. In effect, they term it an unofficial hiring freeze," CNBC's David Faber reported.

Not so, countered Google: "We extended offers last week to 30 people," said spokeswoman Jane Penner. "We're hiring at a slower rate. We are continuing to hire carefully and strategically."

While reporting third-quarter earnings last month, Google said it has slowed hiring; in the third quarter, 519 new employees came aboard to raise the total full-time employee tally to 20,123.

Penner wouldn't comment on whether freezing is curtailed in particular areas such as administrative positions. The company said during its earnings call that the biggest hiring category was engineering.

Nearly the same thing happened several weeks ago with Microsoft. IDG News Service had reported that the software giant had instituted a hiring freeze, citing a source who had seen a company memo, but Microsoft said the report was not correct.

Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank.
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by Manhattan2 November 5, 2008 7:27 AM PST
Google needs to look beyond search.
Now it is time, time for Solar Transfer, and 4Dlogic to be revealed. Well maybe January but we are getting close. If Barack Obama wants to make a difference he should get in touch with us at SolarTransfer. The solution exists to improve our approach to renewable energy systems. The answer will be revealed shortly. Email us to get on the waiting list.
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