Apple 'Reevaluating' Recruiting Efforts, Reportedly Lays Off All Contract Recruiters

[MacRumors]

Apple has been cutting down on its recruiting team over the last few months, reports VentureBeat. According to a source that spoke to the site, Apple has laid off all of its contract recruiters and has started to lay off some of its full-time recruiters. Up to 100 employees could be affected by Apple's decision to prune its recruiting team if the rumors are true.

Essentially the recruiting engine inside Apple has slowed down and the company is reevaluating its activities in that area, the source said.

"You always need to have something new coming out to justify hiring," the source said.

Apple has also implemented a new incentive structure for recruiters, dropping bonuses from 40 percent of a newly recruited employee's base salary to 10 to 15 percent. In the future, the inside source believes bonuses could be eliminated entirely. Apple is also not hiring recruiters through its jobs website at this time.

The reason behind Apple's potential recruiting scale back is not known, but VentureBeat points towards ongoing cutbacks in smartphone production and an imminent Q2 2016 earnings report that's expected to see a year-over-year decline in iPhone sales and overall revenue.

Despite the reports of recruiting cuts, Apple has, in recent months, been hiring aggressively for its rumored car project, taking on employees from companies like Ford, Tesla, GM, MIT Motorsports, General Dynamics, Samsung, and more.

Article Link: Apple 'Reevaluating' Recruiting Efforts, Reportedly Lays Off All Contract Recruiters

 

[Doctor Q]

This must be good news because they are improving efficiency, they are reducing costs, and/or they have unusually low staff turnover.

OR...

This must be bad news because their product pipeline is shrinking and/or they're forced to reduce staff for financial reasons.

 

[Canyonero]

Very good news. Apple has been expanding rapidly which is never good as people who are not passionate about excellence will slip through the cracks.

 

[Red Oak]

Leave it to the MR non-journalists to throw speculative crap over the fence as potential reasons

"The reason behind Apple's potential recruiting scale back is not known, but VentureBeatpoints towards ongoing cutbacks in smartphone production..."

 

[Junior117]

There is absolutely, NO way that the reason is because iPhones are slowing down or something else. If that's true, then Apple must be losing money, but we all know it's not. Apple's profit in the iPhone business, while contracting at the moment, still makes more than many tech company's revenue individually (or even combined in many cases).

Now get Apple to start losing money for every iPhone sold and then we'll talk. It's too early; just wait and see.

 

[DaveTheRave]

Not a shock, a company of this size can't grow at the same pace forever.

 

[CrystalPepsi]

Who are they going to put in the spaceship?

 

[Crosscreek]

Happens to all bloated companies.

 

[applesith]

This must be bad news because their product pipeline is shrinking and/or they're forced to reduce staff for financial reasons.

Oh stop. That is so ridiculous. Anyone who thinks that is a moron. So dramatic like Apple is going through financial issues. This is just more negative press for the sake of it.

 

[Dilster3k]

They should reevaluate that lighting port under the Magic Mouse.

They should reevaluate the charging method of the Apple Pencil and its price.

They should reevaluate that bump on the battery case.

They should reevaluate the ugly antenna bands on the iPhone.

They should reevaluate still releasing 16 GB devices at such high prices.

They should reevaluate their confusing naming schemes.

They should reevaluate re-releasing a 2012-design iPhone.

They should reevaluate Apple Music in its entirety.

They should reevaluate ditching Aperture for Photos.

They should reevaluate their entire incredibly disappointing Mac line-up & specs.

They should reevaluate their focus on making iOS and OS X stable again, and making watchOS and tvOS actually worthy of the Apple brand, instead of making a car.

Am I missing anything?

 

[justywusty]

It's probably to put that saved money into paying those new employees more.

 

[GreyOS]

Apple's profit in the iPhone business, while contracting at the moment

It's not even contracting is it? Just didn't grow as much as it did in the previous year.

 

[firewood]

Who are they going to put in the spaceship?

There are already far more Apple employees in random rented office space around Silicon Valley than will fit in the new spaceship.

 

[Naaaaak]

Are these recruiters posting "WANTED: 5 YEARS OF SWIFT EXPERIENCE" and setting up interviews with dumbass CS questions and trick questions that show how clever you are?

 

[Moonlight]

Are these recruiters posting "WANTED: 5 YEARS OF SWIFT EXPERIENCE" and setting up interviews with dumbass CS questions and trick questions that show how clever you are?

Thats how they nabbed Angela

 

[Junior117]

It's not even contracting is it? Just didn't grow as much as it did in the previous year.

No, you're right, it isn't contracting. But I'm only going by Apple's guidance, which they're warning investors that they might not make as much this quarter as the same quarter last year.

I apologize for not being clear on that.

 

[GreyOS]

No, you're right, it isn't contracting. But I'm only going by Apple's guidance, which they're warning investors that they might not make as much this quarter as the same quarter last year.

I apologize for not being clear on that.

No need to apologise, I wasn't sure. it only strengthens your point

 

[Moonlight]

Am I missing anything?

Yes:

They should reevaluate that lighting port under the Magic Mouse - ok, but it still is better than the rechargeable batteries.

They should reevaluate the charging method of the Apple Pencil and its price - no, ever price a wacom pen?

They should reevaluate that bump on the battery case - eh, I guess

They should reevaluate the ugly antenna bands on the iPhone - yes and I think they are

They should reevaluate still releasing 16 GB devices at such high prices - Yes

They should reevaluate their confusing naming schemes - Are you confused? Because I am not.

They should reevaluate re-releasing a 2012-design iPhone - no

They should reevaluate Apple Music in its entirety - uh, no way! If you don't like it, get spotify

They should reevaluate ditching Aperture for Photos - Yes

They should reevaluate their entire incredibly disappointing Mac line-up & specs - yes and no, The specs are disappointing, but they still are great computers.

They should reevaluate their focus on making iOS and OS X stable again, and making watchOS and tvOS actually worthy of the Apple brand, instead of making a car - "Wut?" None of that made sense. They ARE focusing the OS's for stability, tvOS is fine. Ok ok, WatchOS could use some work. But, none of the people they hired to work on the car are stopping any other division of Apple from their work.

 

[DakotaGuy]

They are making so much money and the iPhone is so successful they can afford to cut in areas like this because at this point it doesn't make a big difference. I think Apple is starting to realize when it comes to the iPhone it'll sell because it's an iPhone. Now some of their other product lines are hurting, but when the iPhone is 60% of their revenue and iPad is 20% why worry about that last 20%? Might as well just focus on what keeps them in business.

At this point Apple could dump everything except iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch and would probably be even more profitable. If they no longer had to develop and market Macs, OSX, and everything else expenses would be reduced and only the most profitable lines would remain.

 

[bruinsrme]

I have been contracting for a couple years. I have been underutilized during this time.
It seems I have been stuck in a corner and required to show modest contribution.
In essence my contribution is about 30-40% of what my last full time employee job was.
Personally unless you are manufacturing products, which we know Apple doesn't, I can't see how it is beneficial to have a large contingent staff.
It seems most of what the contingent staff is working on gets pushed aside or so watered down just to say it's completed that in the end it's a waste of money and resources

 

[nooaah]

Leave it to the MR non-journalists to throw speculative crap over the fence as potential reasons

"The reason behind Apple's potential recruiting scale back is not known, but VentureBeatpoints towards ongoing cutbacks in smartphone production..."

Ban all accounts involved in speculating about rumors on MacRumors!

 

[trifid]

They should reevaluate that lighting port under the Magic Mouse.

They should reevaluate the charging method of the Apple Pencil and its price.

They should reevaluate that bump on the battery case.

They should reevaluate the ugly antenna bands on the iPhone.

They should reevaluate still releasing 16 GB devices at such high prices.

They should reevaluate their confusing naming schemes.

They should reevaluate re-releasing a 2012-design iPhone.

They should reevaluate Apple Music in its entirety.

They should reevaluate ditching Aperture for Photos.

They should reevaluate their entire incredibly disappointing Mac line-up & specs.

They should reevaluate their focus on making iOS and OS X stable again, and making watchOS and tvOS actually worthy of the Apple brand, instead of making a car.

Am I missing anything?

Yes:

5400rpm drives on 4k iMacs
Soldered RAM on desktop Macs
Soldering SSD cable on iMacs
RAM pricing on soldered Macs ($300 for 16GB on mac mini when it actually costs $60 on amazon)
Thinness over battery life on iPhones
iPad Pro 9.7" price hike
Lack of focus of iOS optimization/design for larger screens
Lack of focus of iOS for education
Replacing 3.5mm universal headphone jack with proprietary lightning connector which will fragment the world
1 port on Macbook 12"
480p low definition video camera on Macbook 12"
Thinness over function in general

 

[AliMacs]

Definitely need to keep that 16 GB iPhone 7 in order to make enough money to hire more contractors!

 

[mlody]

Yes:

5400rpm drives on 4k iMacs
Soldered RAM on desktop Macs
Soldering SSD cable on iMacs
RAM pricing on soldered Macs ($300 for 16GB on mac mini when it actually costs $60 on amazon)
Thinness over battery life on iPhones
iPad Pro 9.7" price hike
Lack of focus of iOS optimization/design for larger screens
Lack of focus of iOS for education
Replacing 3.5mm universal headphone jack with proprietary lightning connector which will fragment the world
1 port on Macbook 12"
480p low definition video camera on Macbook 12"
Thinness over function in general

got two more

camera bump on iphone 6/6s and now ipad pro 9.7
no OIS on 4.7" iphones

 

[MikeyMike01]

Not a shock, a company of this size can't grow at the same pace forever.

Yup. It's called an S-curve and it's inevitable.