Report: Facebook Has Struggled to Hire Talent Following Data Scandals

A recent report claims that tech giant Facebook has struggled to hire new talent to the firm following its recent series of user data scandals.

CNBC reports that Silicon Valley tech giant Facebook is still suffering significant fallout from the March 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal as recruiters for the company claim that job candidates are now regularly turning down employment offers at the firm. Over half a dozen recruiters have now left Facebook in recent months, telling CNBC that the tech firm saw a significant decrease in job offer acceptance rates following the Cambridge Analytica scandal which saw the personal data of 87 million Facebook users left vulnerable.

Facebook reportedly saw a significant increase in students from top universities declining Mark Zuckerberg’s job offers. These include individuals from Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and other Ivy League universities. Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook’s job offer acceptance rate has fallen from an average of 85 percent o for the 2017-2018 school year to between 35 percent and 55 percent since December. The acceptance rate from candidates from Carnegie Mellon University fell to 35 percent.

Software engineer candidates for the company’s product teams have also seen a significant drop in acceptance rates from nearly 90 percent in late 2016 to nearly 50 percent in early 2019. Facebook spokesperson Anthony Harrison pushed back hard against these claims from recruiters, stating that the company’s headcount grew 36 percent year over year from the first quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019.

Harrison contacted CNBC stating that “these numbers are totally wrong.” He continued to say: “Facebook regularly ranks high on industry lists of most attractive employers. For example, in the last year we were rated as #1 on Indeed’s Top Rated Workplaces, #2 on LinkedIn’s Top Companies, and #7 on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work. Our annual intern survey showed exceptionally strong sentiment and intent to return and we continue to see strong acceptance rates across University Recruiting.”

Candidates are reportedly asking recruiters tougher questions about Facebook in general following the company’s recent data breaches. “Usually half of the close is done for recruiters with the brand Facebook has,” one recruiter who left this year said. “This is the first time a lot of our folks have had to be on top of their game to make sure top candidates don’t slip through the cracks.”

One recruiter who left the firm recently stated: “The biggest thing that impacted people at Facebook is that we found out information at the same time as the general public did. It was like, ‘Wait, shouldn’t one of our leaders have told us about this first versus our parents or friends reaching out?’ It was a shock.” A former Facebook university recruiter said: “The privacy scandals, the Cambridge Analytica stuff — students aren’t as interested in going to Facebook anymore.”