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Cash wrapped in bacon helps startup recruit talent

Written by Regina Sinsky Tuesday, 15 November 2011 08:41

scopely Work with the cool kids! Culture is a weapon in 2011's hiring battle

Many technology startups that can't afford salaries equal to those offered by Google and other established companies are trying to gain a recruiting edge by emphasizing their hip, worker-friendly culture, writes Regina Sinsky. Tech firm Scopely dubbed a new hire "the most interesting engineer in the world" and provided a year's supply of Dos Equis beer, $11,000 wrapped in bacon and an oil painting of the hire

Oh, the lengths startups are going to these days to get engineering talent.

Technology is evolving rapidly and engineers who know the latest and greatest coding languages and techniques are hard to come by, even in Silicon Valley. Undergrads are being wined (if they're, um, over 21) and dined by technology companies offering never-before-seen perks (cars! free apartments!) and impressive salaries.

Google currently pays recent computer science grads $90,000 to $105,000. That may not sound like much to some, especially with the cost of living in the Bay Area so high, but if your company has only raised $1 million in funding and you need a team of engineers, that salary is pretty substantial competition.

Most startups can't compete financially, so they're competing culturally. By finding ways to signal that they're less bureaucratic, more flexible, and more open to creativity, small companies are looking to boost their chances at hiring top notch engineers.

Where's the pork?
A briefcase filled with $11,000 in bacon-wrapped cash. A year's supply of Dos Equis. An oil painting of yourself. Those are just a few of the hiring lures Los Angeles-based Scopely has bestowed upon "the most interesting engineer in the world." His name is Mike Thomas, pictured at the top of this story. Apparently he also gets to be featured in a CNET article.

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