Whenever a high-profile executive is poached from a big-name company, the tech community usually notices it, but Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and others poach lesser-known employees from each other as well. Data indicates that Google is the biggest offender when it comes to tech names poaching talent from other tech firms.
Microsoft looks to be the underdog here, whether it’s out of respect for the other companies or simply because employees are drawn by the glamor of working at Apple or Google but not by an offer from a legacy tech name in a transition period.
Google poached almost 13,000 workers
Using LinkedIn profile information, recruitment experts at Talentful conducted a study recently on how the top 15 tech firms poach talent from their competitors. Talent is a hot commodity in Silicon Valley, and it’s one that’s in short supply despite continuing efforts to boost STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education.
According to Talentful, Google poached 12,798 employees from other big tech firms, including 4,151 from Microsoft. However, Microsoft has only managed to steal 896 of Google’s employees. Apple also feeds off Microsoft in terms of talent, as it took 1,334 workers, the most of any firm it poached from. The iPhone maker also favors Intel and IBM as its hunting grounds. Interestingly, Uber poached almost 600 workers from Google, according to the firm. Apparently the biggest “poach” in the industry is the influx of employees moving from IBM to Microsoft.
Facebook steals from Twitter, LinkedIn
Talentful also found that IBM and Dell have been going head to head as well when it comes to talent, with IBM losing 2,302 employees to Dell but only poaching 1,753 workers from the company. Facebook was the biggest poacher among social media companies, with most of the “stolen” workers coming from Twitter and LinkedIn.
“There’s a huge amount of staff trading between companies,” explains Lara Camorra, Head of Growth at Talentful. “And every time one company hires a staff member from another, they’re not just bringing in that person – they’re bringing in their whole network. People like to work with familiar teams who know the way they work, and they end up bringing their colleagues with them.”
Talentful put together the following infographic to illustrate where tech employees are going to and from.
View full infographic
(via Talentful).
