Yahoo! is making moves in the new year already. Today, it announced that it has hired Disney/ABC’s Sandy Gould to lead talent acquisition and development. His official title is “senior vice president of global talent acquisition and development.”
To attract talent, Yahoo! must continue on its path of rebuilding with its new leader, CEO Marissa Mayer. Having a sense of revival makes a company attractive to others again, specifically talent and smaller startups and companies. I would not be surprised to see Yahoo! be very agressive this year in picking up small teams, much like Facebook has done over the years with Karma and Gowalla.
Here’s what the company had to say on its corporate blog today:
As we work to transform the world’s daily habits, it’s critical that we have the best, brightest and most talented teams in the world. That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome Sandy Gould, who is joining Yahoo! as senior vice president of global talent acquisition and development.
Sandy has more than 20 years of experience leading global recruitment and talent for well-known brands across technology, media, and financial services. He comes to Yahoo! from Disney/ABC Television Group, where he was responsible for global recruitment, executive coaching, organizational and talent development initiatives. He has held leadership positions in recruiting, talent strategy and development for companies including Linden Labs/Second Life, RealNetworks Inc., and Washington Mutual Bank.
Sandy will lead all of our recruiting, learning and development efforts for Yahoo!. And if you haven’t heard, we’re hiring! For more information about how you can help build experiences that make the world’s daily habits inspiring and entertaining, please visit Yahoo! Careers.
Clearly, Yahoo! has a few media properties at its fingertips, which it can turn into powerhouses again. One of them being its homepage, which pushes out fresh and original content to its daily visitors. Those visitors then perform searches and watch video, giving Yahoo! that old-school portal feel.
It’s not a bad thing.
Is it “cool” to work at Yahoo! again? My sources within the company tell me that the spirits are higher than they have been under previous regimes for sure, and all of the change that has happened internally lately has been for the best.
At Disney/ABC, Gould led recruiting for over two years, and before that he was VP of HR for Linden Lab/Second Life for three.