Back in October 2011, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey announced that the social media company was opening its first official New York office. Twitter is among a number of Silicon Valley giants to open satellite offices in New York, as Google, Facebook and Uber have also set up shop around the city.
However, between the East and West coasts markets, hiring for top tech talent is approached very differently.
A long-time tech capital, San Francisco has a much larger talent pool, as there are simply many more engineers in the Bay Area than there are in other tech hubs. However, New York City — an established startup hub in its own right — has an eclectic professional ecosystem not found in the Valley, and talent is often drawn to the allure of the city itself.
For Twitter, recruiting in New York has meant playing into this climate. According to Twitter Director of Human Resources Lynee Luque and Senior Recruiter Sonny Yuen, the company attracts top tech talent in New York by allowing engineerings to take ownership of projects, maintaining access to the world's top agencies and brands, and running a lean, entrepreneurial team.
Why did Twitter originally expand to NYC from Silicon Valley?
Yuen: Once we started to include advertising on Twitter, it only made sense to increase our presence on Madison Avenue. We started as a small sales office with four to five sales people and quickly grew from there. Then in 2011, Twitter acquired Julpan, which essentially placed the flag in the ground for Twitter Engineering in New York. Now, there is a strong sales, engineering, marketing and communications presence in the New York headquarters.
What are some of the successful ways Twitter has recruited top tech talent in NYC?
Yuen: There are a few things that distinguish Twitter from other companies. The first is the work itself. In engineering, we have projects that can be fully and exclusively owned by teams in New York, as opposed to just being an extension of what’s happening in San Francisco. On the sales team, we work with some of the top brands and agencies in the world that are innovating and creatively advertising on Twitter, and that draws a lot of talent to our New York office.
What has been a challenge when it comes to recruiting tech talent in NYC and how did Twitter overcome that challenge?
Yuen: Unlike many tech companies with larger offices and recruiting teams, Twitter is actually quite small. Being smaller and more agile makes working at Twitter special because you know your work has impact. When speaking to potential hires, we emphasize that our influence as a brand brings opportunity, so we always find qualified candidates.
One example of how this translates is seen when we talk to engineers. For the most part, engineers do what they do because they want their work to see the light of day, and to be seen by the world. Coming to Twitter and working in small teams ensures their work is impactful, and that they have ownership. They see a project through the entire assembly line process, and it is theirs.
What are some of Twitter's best practices for retaining talent?
Luque: From their very first day at Twitter, we want to make sure employees feel welcome and are excited to come to work. They start their new job with Flight School (new hire orientation), a week-long program that acclimates and integrates new hires to the ‘Twitter Way.’ Throughout their time here, we want to make sure there is clear goal setting, and open lines of feedback and support to ensure our talent can continue to grow. In the medium- to long-term, we also want our employees to grow as Twitter continues to evolve, and through programs like #BranchOut, we give employees the chance to seek opportunities within the company.
Our mantra is #LoveWhereYouWork, and we want to make sure that is not just rhetoric. Our people create and contribute to the culture, and it is important that they always feel empowered to do so. One example of this is reflected in our Employee Resource Groups, which are run by and for our team members. These include Twitter Women, Twitter Open (our LGBTQIA-focused group), Blackbirds, Twitter Asians and Twitter Alas (our hispanic-focused group).
We also provide competitive benefits, including generous parental leave, free meals, ESPP, 401(k), bonus program, gym reimbursement and flexible time off.
What advice would you give to NYC job candidates who want to work at Twitter?
Yuen: Don’t be afraid to reach out. Whether its via email, on Twitter or elsewhere, tell us what you're interested in, and then we can better assess if there’s a fit with open opportunities or keep you in mind for the future.
As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest reasons candidates are drawn to us is because we are smaller. Because of that, Twitter is very lean and selective on purpose. We do not operate with thousands and thousands of employees, so we are going to look at everyone with much more of a magnifying glass to make sure there is a match. And, of course, we want to ensure that candidates love the product, and are driven by the mission and values of Twitter.
It is also important that candidates be entrepreneurial, scrappy, and can thrive in this environment. If you’re looking for a structured space where the rules are unshakeable, then maybe Twitter isn’t the best fit. However, if you’re ready to work smart and work creatively, the possibilities are endless.
Image via Twitter
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