Google Inc., the world’s biggest Internet-search service, received more than 75,000 job applications worldwide last week, setting a record for the company as it embarks on a hiring spree.
The flood of resumes topped a previous high set in May 2007 by 15 percent, said Aaron Zamost, a spokesman for the Mountain View, California-based company. Google, which had 24,400 workers at the end of 2010, announced last week that it would add more than 6,000 employees this year.
The company is stepping up hiring as it pushes deeper into mobile services, display advertising and Internet applications. Google also faces steeper competition from Silicon Valley rivals Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. for users and engineering talent. The company aims to hire more workers in 2011 than any year in its history, exceeding its 2007 record.
“We’re looking for top talent,” Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering and research,” said last week in a blog posting. “We’ll hire as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science: like building a Web-based operating system from scratch, instantly searching an index of more than 100 million gigabytes and even developing cars that drive themselves.”
While Google remains one of the most desirable places to work in Silicon Valley, it lost some luster in the past three years. It was ranked as America's best workplace by Fortune magazine in 2007 and 2008. Since then, it has ranked fourth.
Facebook, Apple
Facebook and Apple, meanwhile, have emerged as a bigger threat to Google’s prime source of revenue: ad dollars. Facebook’s 500 million-plus users have provided an alluring target for advertisers, which will spend $4.05 billion on the site this year, according to EMarketer Inc. The closely held company, based in Palo Alto, California, surpassed Google in U.S. Internet visitors in 2010, according to Experian Hitwise.
Apple, located in Cupertino, California, is challenging Google on the mobile front. It introduced an advertising service called iAd that works with its iPhone and iPad. Google leads the market for mobile-based ads in the U.S.
Google dropped $1.85 to $610.15 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares declined 4.2 percent last year, compared with a 53 percent gain for Apple.
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