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This is where Google and Apple scout for talent

Early this year, technology majors Google, Apple, Adobe, and Intel settled a lawsuit worth US$415 million, with employees who had charged them with actually refusing to poach each others' staff, as a way to keep salaries under control.

With that out of the way, Quartz mined through thousands of employee profiles on LinkedIn to find out which other notable companies their employees have worked in, and where these top technology companies are hiring their employees from.

Google: Google has a big population of ex-Microsoft (3,066) and ex-Yahoo (1,006) employees, given that it "began to surge just as Yahoo was waning," noted the Quartz study. There were also more 1,500 empoyees who used to work at IBM.

Apple: With Apple's "huge network" of retail stores, most of its employees found on LinkedIn came over from Best Buy (1,242), as well as from Genius Bar. For the hardware and chip focus, the study found hires with experience coming over from Cisco, HP, and Intel.

Facebook: The social network seems to have hired the most number of veterans from Microsoft and Google, at more than 900 from each firm, per the Quartz data. Ex-Googlers at the company include COO Sheryl Sandberg, CMO Gary Briggs, and head of mobile products Erick Tseng.

ALSO READ: Mark Zuckerberg’s secret to hiring top talent

Twitter: With more than 400 employees coming from Google, Twitter has a strong Google legacy. "That’s where founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams spent their formative years," noted the study. Employees hopping from Microsoft and Yahoo stood at more than 200 each.

Amazon: "Proximity matters, so there’s plenty of back and forth between Seattle-based Amazon and Microsoft, which is based in nearby Redmond, Washington," wrote Quartz researcher, Max Nisen, upon finding about 2,700 ex-Microsoft staffers at the online major. The retail focus was evident as well, with close to 700 ex-Target employees.

In a recent column for Human Resources, Dr John Sullivan, often called "the Michael Jordan of hiring," wrote about "hire to hurt" (H2H) as the boldest recruiting strategy of them all.

"The name is clearly indicative of its chief goal, which is to identify key talent and then hire them away to the point where your H2H hiring actually hurts the competitor’s business results." 

What are the best sources of talent for your industry? Share your experience with us in the comments below. 

Image: Shutterstock

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