Software maker Adobe Systems celebrated its announcement of a 2-for-1 stock split a few weeks ago with a banana-split party in its corporate cafeteria. Top executives at the company's San Jose (Calif.) headquarters scooped ice cream for 1,850 staffers, many of whom were no doubt toting up their new shareholdings.
Indeed, it's a good time to be at Adobe, creator of such popular products as Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat. The company posted third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations -- revenues topped $328 million, a 26% rise from a year ago -- and it estimates 25% revenue growth for the fourth quarter. Adobe employs more than 2,800 people worldwide and currently has about 250 open positions. Recently, Business Week Online reporter Jennifer Gill caught up with Adobe's director of employment, Diane Schlageter, to talk about hiring trends at the company. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation:
Q: Diane, what positions are most in demand at Adobe?
A: Software engineers, computer scientists, and business development people, as well as product marketing professionals.
Q: Sound likes the shopping list for many companies in Silicon Valley.
A: There's nothing too shocking about that, is there? We have a very active advertising campaign, radio and Web-based, in all of our domestic and international locations. We also have an aggressive employee referral program: We pay $5,000 to an employee who refers someone who gets hired. And within a given period of time, which is usually a six-month window, if an employee refers three or more people who get hired, we also give them a $5,000 voucher at our travel agency.
Last month, we had an employee referral job fair. All of our managers came down and set up booths in our cafeteria, just like they would in a regular job fair. We asked our employees to bring their friends and colleagues to see the place and to meet hiring managers.
Q: What qualities are you looking for in managers?
A: We want people who really know their craft. If I'm looking for a finance manager, for example, I want somebody who is good at numbers. But the manager who succeeds at Adobe is somebody who can combine that craftsmanship with an ability to work with great people, keep them motivated, and keep them happy about what they're doing. A pure task orientation would be tough here.
Q: Do you hire [new] college grads?
A: We have a real active college recruiting program, and we're going to hire a number that's to be determined, but that will be significantly higher than last year. We participate in 8 to 10 on-site interview opportunities with campuses across the country. We have an intern program, too, both for technical and MBA students. We like to bring people in and give them the opportunity to know Adobe before they finish with school and then come to us when they're done.
Q: What are some common mistakes applicants make?
A: Given the fierceness of the competition for candidates right now, I occasionally see applicants who have not done any research on the company at all. [They feel like they] don't have to anymore. They just feel because they're in the driver's seat, so to speak, all they need to know is that we're a software company. Adobe's an easy company to find out a lot about. We're not a secret. But they'll come in and not take the interview seriously.
Q: Would that weigh heavily in your decision as to whether to consider them for the position?
A: It would be a factor.
Q: Should they show up in a suit and tie?
A: No. We're a pretty casual company. We'd worry if anybody showed up in a suit and tie.
Q: Describe the recruiting process.
A: Generally we identify a candidate and review their resume with the manager, and the manager will get really excited about the candidate. It saves everybody a lot of time if the manager calls the candidate and has a phone conversation first, just to calibrate the job with the candidate. If that goes well from both sides, then we will invite them in to meet with a small number people. We don't generally do more than five or six on-site interviews.
We also try to make the interview experience really great for people. We know how busy everybody is, and when someone comes in and takes the time to meet with us, we want to make sure they feel very well taken care of during that process. We work hard at making sure that the people in the lobby know who to expect and that there's information waiting for the candidates when they come in. The managers also have a full picture of what the schedule is going to be like.
Q: How quickly do you like to see the whole recruiting process take?
A: In my dreams, maybe three days to make a decision [on a candidate]. Often we can do that in a day. We like to know who we're hiring, so we do some reference checking and a background check as well.
Q: What's the gender breakdown at the company?
A: Just about half-and-half, female to male.
Q: How's turnover?
A: We're beating the average out here, which is somewhere between 18% and 25%, depending on the company. We're pretty significantly below that.
Q: What's it like to work there?
A: Adobe has rightfully earned a reputation as being one of the great places to work in Silicon Valley. I think that's true because of the success the company has enjoyed and the caliber of people you get to work with every day.
Our product development teams are generally working on defined schedules. Each person on the team has a fairly clearly defined role, but things change. You may come in knowing what your day is going to look like, but it's always open to other suggestions.
Q: Is it a 9-to-5 office?
A: It isn't a 9-to-5 operation. People do what they need to in order to meet some pretty aggressive schedules. When people are on deadlines and on shift schedules that are real tight, the hours get much longer. That being said, we're not a company that believes in 24/7. People work very hard here, but we aren't interested in burning people out.
Q: Are there learning opportunities?
A: Plenty. And we're putting even more focus on it this year. We understand that employees are interested in continuing to add to their tool kit. We do a lot of in-house technical training of additional computer languages that people want to pick up. We also have a tuition reimbursement program under which we reimburse up to 100% of expenses for classes and books -- up to $10,000 a year.
Q: Tell me more about compensation and benefits.
A: We offer very competitive compensation, and that's an interesting challenge these days. We're monitoring that all the time. Stock has been a very attractive part of our compensation package. Adobe has always believed in sharing the wealth, so we have a good profit-sharing program that has paid out a lot of money over the last couple years. We have a good time-off policy -- each person accrues two days a month, which means that, from the time you start, you accrue nearly five weeks a year.
We have a sabbatical program, too. After someone has been here five years, they get three additional weeks to their vacation time. People really look forward to [the sabbatical]. It's well used.
Q: Have you been able to take five weeks off this year?
A: It doesn't turn out to be five weeks at a time, but you get a lot of long weekends, I'll say that.
Want to learn more about Adobe Systems? Look them up with our Company Search tool.
Copyright 2000, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
Printer-Friendly Version
