As a person who used to run a business (and hire people) here in Palo Alto, I was intrigued to see a small office space across the street from Whole Foods covered in signs, begging for job applicants. What first caught my eye was a large “FREE MONEY” sign, and next to it was this:
And then this one……
And, finally, this one. And, I’ve got to say, in this valley of utterly spoiled 20 year olds, a pledge of free coffee isn’t going to get a lot of pulses racing.
I thank my lucky stars that the talent working for me is nowhere near this crazy place. Things are already turning south here (the economy, real estate, etc.) but I know from experience that office space rents, salaries, and demand for talent are sort of like a 500-day moving average. They will all turn lower, but really slowly, and they’ll just grind down for many years to come.
For the moment, small outfits are still forced to put up pleading signs like the ones shown above.
