November 5, 2008

"Several executives I have spoken with who have hiring responsibility said it was made clear to them one month ago they were to make no new hires, including at the secretarial level, and they were directed to fill all vacancies with internal candidates. In effect, they term it an unofficial hiring freeze," CNBC's David Faber reported.

Not so, countered Google: "We extended offers last week to 30 people," said spokeswoman Jane Penner. "We're hiring at a slower rate. We are continuing to hire carefully and strategically."

While reporting third-quarter earnings last month, Google said it has slowed hiring; in the third quarter, 519 new employees came aboard to raise the total full-time employee tally to 20,123.

Penner wouldn't comment on whether freezing is curtailed in particular areas such as administrative positions. The company said during its earnings call that the biggest hiring category was engineering.

Nearly the same thing happened several weeks ago with Microsoft. IDG News Service had reported that the software giant had instituted a hiring freeze, citing a source who had seen a company memo, but Microsoft said the report was not correct.