(Photo credit @cookiethepom)
** Update: Since I published this note in my newsletter on Fri 12/18, Google has been sued two more times with private lawsuits. Given the sheer length of time (years) that it will take for these lawsuits to play out in court, it likely won't have short-term impact on recruiting. And the stock market agrees --- GOOG and GOOGL are both up 200+ points since the first lawsuit dropped in mid-October.
As a job seeker, you might be concerned with all of these big tech suits and unsure how to evaluate your career options amid all this chaos. Here are 4 different perspectives to consider in evaluating the potential impact of these lawsuits on your job search and career trajectory.
Ethical standpoint: Ethical companies often share the following characteristics: explicit values, cultural norms, incentives, and priming thoughts during judgment.
Does the company you’re looking at display explicit values and strong cultural norms?
Take a moment to evaluate what the company is accused of doing and whether you believe the accusations, based on your research.
Company Growth standpoint: Bank of America analysts predict that Google will still be a better stock buy than Facebook in early 2021.
This tells us that the markets still believe in the growth potential of both companies, either because breakups will invite more competition and growth or because they don’t believe the government will win. Many would argue that just like the 1998 Microsoft antitrust case allowed for other nascent tech companies to flourish, the ultimate result from these current lawsuits is lots of tech company growth.
Employee Morale standpoint: It’s not easy to be working for a company that is under investigation.
Employees are not immune to feeling the pressure from the press and outside individuals. As part of your networking conversations, you could ask a question about general employee sentiment and reactions to gauge how tough a work environment you’d be entering.
Career Trajectory standpoint: Related to the Company Growth point above, if Facebook or Google are broken up, there will be a lot of career growth opportunities to help lead the organizations through these changes. Microsoft is still a large, thriving tech company decades after it lost its antitrust case.
Do you see a path for growth in your area if you join the company?
