The call-based advertising business must be doing pretty well these days. After all, Seattle-based Marchex just opened positions for another 100 employees, most in software development and engineering. That’s a serious commitment for the publicly-traded company.
After all, Marchex currently employs 390 people, so 100 new employees would mark a nearly 25 percent boost in staff. Roughly 80 percent of the new hires are expected to be added in Seattle, with the remainder at the company’s offices in New York City.
Of course, especially in this climate, there’s no guarantee that Marchex will be able to find 100 qualified candidates. But Marchex spokesman Jim Cullinan said they’ve had some success recruiting out of Microsoft and Amazon in the past.
“Clearly we will need to expand our recruiting channels to find this many quality recruits,” said Cullinan, adding that the company has already tapped five recruiters to help with the hiring push.
“We want to add these folks ASAP, but realistically, it may take 3-4 months,” he said.
Cullinan said the company is searching for candidates with specific talents such as Java developers with telecom infrastructure experience; advertising optimization capabilities; and mobile technology experience. It plans to double the engineering staff as part of the new hiring push.
As we reported in May, Marchex posted net income of $513,000 on revenue of $29.1 million. The company also boosted its revenue projections for the year to $137 million to $141 million, largely on the strength of call-based advertising.
Google also recognizes the opportunity, and just this week unveiled its own system to incorporate phone numbers to online ads.
