Yahoo! keen to add 400 recruits by 2009

India – Yahoo! India is set to hire around 400 employees over the next 12 months and the majority of the new hires will be placed in its Centre of Excellence in Bangalore.

Keen to expand its centre, which caters to emerging markets like India, Singapore, South East Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, Yahoo! is looking to hire architects, user experience designers (UEDs) and programme managers, among others.

This is a different stance from a few months ago when the takeover threat by Microsoft loomed over the internet service provider. According to Business Standard India (BTI), Yahoo! India had gone slow on recruitment, keeping a low profile when the takeover was impending.

However, now that the threat has passed, the centre has been taking up more and more end-to-end product developments. “The personnel in India now have the power to influence products,” Pranesh Anthapur, COO of Yahoo! India Research and Development, told BTI. “Yahoo! has been able to rollout its public Beta for Glue, which is an alternative search. India is now a favoured market for rolling out products for many firms today.”

The centre currently employs around 1,500 people.