ANN ARBOR – The IT Zone was pleased to sponsor the October 12th Ann Arbor Ad Club presentation by Grady Burnett, head of online sales and operations for Google’s Ann Arbor office.
Burnett addressed an audience of 150 IT Zone and Ad Club members. He briefly reviewed the history of the eight-year-old Internet search giant, described the company?s product development philosophy and pointed out some soon-to-be announced products.
Google?s Ann Arbor office, temporarily located at 112 S. Main Street, is staffing up and currently has 20 people on board. They?re on the path to build a 1,000-person team over the next five years. Their permanent location has not yet been decided.
Burnett introduced six Google employees that accompanied him to the presentation. The introduction included the first hire of an Ann Arbor native, John Kelley, manager of online sales and operations for the Ann Arbor office. Kelley is well-known in Ann Arbor as an experienced IT executive and by the IT Zone as a mentor at the Entrepreneur Boot Camp.
There?s no typical day at Google. Burnett is spending his time recruiting new employees, talking to various school groups and universities, training new workers on Google products and getting to know the Ann Arbor community.
Although there is no specific goal on how many people Google is planning to hire each year, Burnett reports there are opportunities for people from various backgrounds. You don?t have to be an engineer or IT professional ? they are also hiring for human resources, facilities and customer services positions.
People interested in applying with Google should go to Google.Com/Jobs which is the company?s preferred method of receiving resumes.
Burnett thanked the Ann Arbor community for the warm welcome Google has received. He noted that people regularly drop by their office, bearing gifts of flowers, pizza and cookies. Returning the favor, Google staff members went door-to-door on Friday, October 13, to meet business owners and managers throughout downtown Ann Arbor ? including a stop at SPARK Central, home to Ann Arbor SPARK, MichBio, and the IT Zone. As part of their introduction, Google staffers offered to include each company?s information in its Google Maps product, a free service that allows users to type in a business name and get basic information such as addresses and phone numbers, along with a map. For companies already included in Google Maps, they added information such as hours of operation, a Web site address and whether credit cards can be used.
