Google Makes DoubleClick Employees Apply To Keep Their Jobs

Henry Blodget | March 17, 2008 9:01 AM

aNothing like a short honeymoon. A secondhand source reports that Google has devised a new way to welcome employees of acquired companies into the fold: Make them apply to keep their jobs.

Last week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned DoubleClickers that Google still hadn't decided how many (and which) of them to fire. Now, Google has reportedly ordered DoubleClickers to submit their resumes to a committee so Google can determine if they're actually Google material. Our source describes the situation as follows:

[P]eople within DoubleClick are being forced to interview for jobs at the new (GOOG) /DCLK. Most employees have to submit their "profiles" (aka resumes) for review by a committee to determine if they're Google material. The committees are by department, i.e. Sales Engineers, Consultants, Engineering are just some of the departments where people are being forced to interview for their jobs.

We've asked for confirmation / clarification. More if/when we get it.

See Also: Schmidt: Google Still Deciding How Many DoubleClickers To Fire

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26 Comments

jenkins said:
It's good to see them practicing fiscal discipline after missing their quarter so badly.
Raja Khurram Shehzad (URL) said:
What a shame! They are acting as if they have conquered a city and treating the ppl of that city like slaves! For any professional, its an ultimate shame to be re-examined whether he is suitable for the company or not ...

Microsoft is better in this regard ... at least, they havent fired ppl after acquiring their companies ....

I really wonder why ppl (including Google) are making so much noise over Microsoft's Yahoo bit and keeping their mouths shut over Google's actions...

Lastly, IMHO, Google has passed its peak ... now the next 4-5 years will be more like a plateau as they try to maintain their position ... On the other hand ... Microsoft has the firepower and the base to launch itself to next level ...


Sebastian said:
This was forseeable. Google has very, very, VERY high employing-standards, which DoubleClick very likely doesn't reach.
At least we now know why Google didn't provide detailed numbers of how many people they'd fire.
Skott Klebe (URL) said:
I'm struck by the statement that this is a new thing in M&A. Isn't it pretty close to SOP?

SK
augustus said:
I am beginning to hate google by the day.

who would want to work for this company?
Steve Brown said:
Its a shame that Google is doing this to their employees. It’s a lesson for those who are day dreaming of opportunities @ poo-gleplex. It's just a drama what they publish in youtube/google video media, the actual face comes out at a time like this.

You are just another object for them :(

Tyrants never last long..time will tell :o)
Nelson said:
Your absolutely right Steve!
Henry Blodget said:
I assume there's some review process in any M&A deal, but I've never heard of employees actually having to submit profiles.
ex googler (URL) said:
actually, google has followed this practice for previous aquisitions -- they did this when they aquired Sprinks and other larger deals that were primarily non-engineers. So this really isn't a surprise and quite frankly, why should one company be expected to just take on every employee from an aquired company? They should of course offer decent severance packages...but that's another question.
Henry Blodget said:
Obviously they shouldn't be required to keep everyone, especially with redundancies. But, again, one would think you could just assess senior management and say "please put your strongest 50% of direct reports on this list and your weakest on this one." It's the employees themselves submitting profiles that feels odd to me.
Pedro said:
Sounds kind of evil doesn't it..
TipOfTheSpear said:
Do No Evil? I guess they're too big for that now.
dan (URL) said:
I absolutely wouldn't want to be a Doubleclick employee these days, yet, given that I myself as a publisher of Google-adsense and other programs, am very delightful of the fact that Google has such high standards for its employees technical level.
MIke said:
I don't get why people are surprised and am ticked off by the naive position some are taking... this is the norm in most industries and it isn't clear to me why software industry or Google is going to behave any different than people in other industries. I've had to reapply for my own job several times simply due to downsizing of the company and in this case there is a merger that makes it even more likely.

I think this says something about our society, not Google, and is rooted in cultural and economic issues much deeper than any one merger or company.

Corrado (URL) said:
As harsh as it may seem for Google to be doing this, I think it's necessary to be done.

DoubleClick may have hired inadequate people, or may have made some hiring mistakes - why should Google acquire those people? If Google were to just take everyone with open arms, they would essentially be hiring "blind".

I don't know anyone who would just give a job to the first 50 people they see without looking at their resume/profile.

A lot of people (myself included) rely on Google for their high quality service and products, I would not want someone who is not fit for the job working on making something that I may rely on one day - and nether does Google.

Now, that being said, of course it depends on how Google handles this "re-hiring". If they are being overly picky and not taking back people for invalid reasons, then there is a problem.
Janice said:
Well it would be interesting on American productivity if employees worked each day as if their performance depended on their future employment! I do not think it is "bad" for people to be responsible for their own success - if you are doing your job with diligence and integrity you will never fear being reviewed for your performance!
Raja Khurram Shehzad (URL) said:
The point is: when Google bought Doubleclick, it bought everything Doubleclick comprised of .. including its ppl. Now they are part of Google. Any policy must be consistant across the whole company. The bad employees should be elimintated through a process of performance monitoring and issuing warnings .. not the other way round i.e. re-hiring only the 'good' ones and shedding the rest.

The trend I have observed here in USA is really mind boggling ... hiring thousands on sunny day and laying off tens of thousands without any warning ... and nobody seems to mind that!
Raja Khurram Shehzad (URL) said:
The point is: when Google bought Doubleclick, it bought everything Doubleclick comprised of .. including its ppl. Now they are part of Google. Any policy must be consistant across the whole company. The bad employees should be elimintated through a process of performance monitoring and issuing warnings .. not the other way round i.e. re-hiring only the 'good' ones and shedding the rest.

The trend I have observed here in USA is really mind boggling ... hiring thousands on sunny day and laying off tens of thousands without any warning ... and nobody seems to mind that!
James Peters said:
I don't get the comments here. It's Google's asset now....if they don't want the people so be it.

Entitlement crap and unions are why America gets kicked in the face every business day.

If you don't like this policy, hire some DCLK rejects at your shop....and good luck taking on companies that want the best and brightest.
anon said:
I have little doubt that there are some very low performers in the Doubleclick ranks. This makes good sense despite how it looks on the surface.
Mehul said:
do you think this logic should be applied to those who joined Google initially

why not put the founders and initial exec team to give in their resumes and interview.

it would be funny if the 2 founders failed their own new process, but quite possible....

all the above is my opinion
Anuj said:
This is right thing to test and keep only quality people. Every organisation should follow this approach. They must take a test to all employee in a time span say in 3 years
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