Facebook’s Secret Crypto Project Faces a Treacherous Self-Inflicted Problem
Facebook has an fundamental privacy problem. That can't be good for its crypto project. | Source: Shutterstock
By CCN.com: The myriad privacy issues Facebook has been mired in are turning off the very people it wants to hire to help it improve its platform.
These are the findings of former recruiters who shared the details with CNBC . You’d think that Facebook would have to beat off people wanting to work at the company.
Those leaks, especially the Cambridge Analytica, are not sitting well with job prospects. If this keeps up, it will likely become more challenging for the company to enter the world of cryptos – codename ‘Project Libra’ – with the many projects it has in line.
Work For Facebook? No Thanks
Today’s college grads are frowning on working at the social media giant that many of them grew up spending hours on.
The number of them hitting the thumbs down to Facebook is staggering. According to CNBC, the percentage of software engineer candidates fell from about 90% in late 2016 to almost 50% in early 2019.
The decliners aren’t just sending thank you, but no thank you notes, but they are also being very clear in explaining their whys. They are asking much tougher questions about the company’s approach to privacy, the recruiters told CNBC.
Facebook Can’t Un-Ring Cambridge Analytica Bells
Facebook execs have all but screamed from the rafters that they have made the fix to keep another Cambridge Analytica scandal from happening. Their excuses have been enough to not run off subscribers in droves.
However, they aren’t going over well with job prospects who remain skeptical. For example, the recruiters who spilled the numbers to CNBC found that Facebook saw an eye-popping decrease in job offer acceptance rates after the Cambridge Analytica scandal was revealed in March 2018.
Interestingly, Facebook may not have gotten its self together since. CNN reports that Facebook filed a lawsuit against a South Korean company for allegedly benefiting from using its subscriber to “create and sell advertising and marketing analytics and models.”
In the lawsuit, Facebook admitted that doesn’t know what personal user information may have been misused. This begs the question, “how could this happen if you had fixed it?”
We’ll Take Em’
Facebook’s losses are turning out as gains for rivals. This includes Google, Microsoft and Amazon, which can offer salaries and signing bonuses as good as Facebook’s with much less scandal, the recruiters said.
They’ve got privacy issues with bugs, breaches, etc., but they pale in comparison to Facebook’s nearly monthly reveals. What’s more, they are dazzling prospects with nice signing bonuses.
When The Recruiters Complain, There’s A Problem
A former recruiter told CNBC:
“The biggest thing that impacted people at Facebook is that we found out information at the same time as the general public did. It was like, ‘Wait, shouldn’t one of our leaders have told us about this first versus our parents or friends reaching out?’ It was a shock.”
Recruiters are dang near breaking out the whips to sway prospects to Facebook. They report being under difficult pressures never seen now. One beans spiller who left this year said:
“Usually half of the close is done for recruiters with the brand Facebook has. This is the first time a lot of our folks have had to be on top of their game to make sure top candidates don’t slip through the cracks.”
