The Reason Apple Is Laying Off All of Its Contract Recruiters

The news that Apple suffered a decline for the first time in 13 years was unsettling. But business cycles come and go. The more worrisome news may be that Apple is reducing hiring, suggesting its confidence in the future is uncertain.

If you're not growing, you not hiring. And if you're not hiring, you're not paying people to recruit new employees.

Which raises some interesting questions about where the future is going to come from for Apple. JL

Jordan Novet reports in Venture Beat:

The recruiting engine inside Apple has slowed down, and the company is reevaluating its activities in that area, the source said. In addition, Apple has changed the incentive structure for its recruiters. A bonus that gives recruiters 40 percent of a new employee’s base salary has been dropped to 10-15 percent, and may even go away entirely. "You always need to have something new coming out to justify hiring."
Apple has been cutting all of its contract recruiters in the past few weeks, VentureBeat has learned.
The hardware and software giant is additionally beginning to let go of some full-time recruiters as well, a source familiar with the matter told VentureBeat. In all, more than 100 people could be affected by the moves, the source said. The company currently has no public job postings for recruiters.
Essentially, the recruiting engine inside Apple has slowed down, and the company is reevaluating its activities in that area, the source said.
You always need to have something new coming out to justify hiring,” the source explained.
Apple is expected to report sales and profit declines in its quarterly earnings statement tomorrow. The company is also reported to be curtailing smartphone production for a second consecutive quarter.
In addition, Apple has changed the incentive structure for its recruiters. A bonus that gives recruiters 40 percent of a new employee’s base salary has been dropped to 10-15 percent, and the bonus may even go away entirely, the source said.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the past year, Apple has brought on talent through several acquisitions, including Emotient, Faceshift, Flyby Media, Mapsense, Metaio, Perceptio, and VocalIQ.