IMUG - The International Multilingual User Group

Inside the Mind of the I18N/L10N Recruiter

September 27, 2011 · 7:00 PM
Yahoo! Campus - Building C, 2nd Floor, Classroom 5

The job description fit you like a glove. But the company didn't even acknowledge that they received your resume.

Several people interviewed you and the discussions all seemed promising, but you didn't get the job or an explanation.

Several questions had nothing to do with the job requirements; tricky puzzles and questions based on pop psychology.

You interviewed for a linguist role where an engineer inexplicably asked you to write pseudocode.

A product manager asserted that an i18n programmer should know how to use translation memory tools.

What is their hiring process? Join us at Yahoo! for an evening with a panel of hiring managers and recruiters from key high technology companies in the Bay Area, who will explain how they cull resumes and the rationale behind their interview processes. There will be plenty of time for questions, and this is your chance to learn how to make your job search more effective.

There will be hiring managers on hand and you will be able to discretely provide your resume and learn about career opportunities in the Bay Area.

Moderator:

Tex Texin, Chief Globalization Architect, Rearden Commerce. Many thanks to Tex for initiating the idea for this panel and doing so much to organize this!

Panelists:

Lotfi Herzi, VP of Global Product Development, Yahoo!

Petrina Ferguson, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, Yahoo!

Teresa Marshall, Senior Manager, Localization, Salesforce.com

Lily Wen, International Engineering Manager, Adobe Systems

Darryl Bozeman, Staff Recruiter, Rearden Commerce

Speaker bios:

Tex Texin is the Chief Globalization Architect for Rearden Commerce. Tex provides the strategic overview for globalization practices and technologies. Tex is a recognized industry thought leader with more than 2 decades of experience specific to globalization. He is the co-chair for a localization tools user group, on the steering committees of open source projects and a contributor to several industry standards. Tex has designed architecture, processes and organization, for some of the most prominent Web and e-Commerce companies and has created a number of successful global products. Over the course of his career, Tex has recruited and coached numerous staff in i18n and L10n roles. Tex is also a core member of the IMUG volunteer advisory committee.

Lotfi Herzi is Vice President in the Global Product Development (GPD) group at Yahoo! He is originally from Toulouse, France; his wife and his three children are settled in California and he works at Yahoo!'s Sunnyvale headquarters. Lotfi joined Yahoo! in March 2011 and is responsible for Yahoo!'s globalization team, which covers internationalization architecture, international product management, product planning and strategy, as well as business planning and communications for GPD overall. During Lotfi's 20+ years as a software industry veteran, he has held many roles in the areas of internationalization, localization, product development, product planning, enterprise sales & marketing. In his past experiences, he has led large teams & released many global products. In his previous role as a General Manager in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, Lotfi's responsibilities included leadership of the international teams for Microsoft Xbox & Kinect (platform, games, and Xbox Live Services).

Petrina Ferguson, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager at Yahoo!, is a staffing professional with a proven ability to manage teams, recruit, source and hire qualified candidates in the areas of: Quality Engineering, Mobile, Product Management, Business Development, Engineering, Program/Project Management, Database Administration, eServices, Localization, Internationalization, Customer Support, MIS, Marketing, Finance and Administration. She has 15 years of experience in the Staffing industry and has been a Staffing Manager for the past 10 years. She has worked for Charles Schwab, Visa International, Core Media Connections, Actuate Corporation and has been employed with Yahoo since 2004. She received her Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco and her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Southern California.

Teresa Marshall, Senior Manager of Localization at Salesforce.com, started her localization career in localization as Lead Linguist and Translation Manager at eTranslate Inc, where she was quickly chosen to establish a new team to focus on language quality. In 2003, she joined Google as one of the first project managers in localization. During her tenure at Google, she went on to lead Google's localization team as Manager for Localization and Global Content, and later the newly formed Localization Operations team, focusing on process and tool design as well as vendor and quality management. In 2009, Teresa joined salesforce.com as the Sr. Localization Manager, leading the R&D Localization team, responsible for all localization efforts of salesforce.com's product offerings. Teresa is an adjunct member of the faculty at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and teaches in the Translation and Localization Management program of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation and Language Education. She earned her Bachelor in Technical Translation for the Fremdspacheninstitut Munich and holds a Masters in Translation and Interpretation and a Certificate in Translation Teaching from the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Lily Wen is an international engineering manager in Adobe's Globalization department. Her 13-year professional career at Adobe includes software development, internationalization and localization. She currently manages the internationalization and localization of traditional desktop products such as Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, and Flex; mobile products such as Photoshop and Adobe Ideas; and SaaS products such as Photoshop.com, and Scene7. The Adobe Globalization team is actively working on product internationalization to ensure WorldReadiness, community translation, machine translation, agile localization and cloud based localization.

Darryl Bozeman is a Staff Recruiter at Rearden Commerce, which has averaged 30+ hires per month for the last seven months. Darryl has over 25 years' experience and expertise in technical and executive recruiting, management consulting, business development, organizational and leadership performance, as well as a teacher of meditation. Darryl is also Chief Coach and founder of Communication Network, a life and career performance acceleration firm which provides leaders & entrepreneurs with tools and practices that allow their ventures to flourish with speed, grace, fun, and ease. He has delivered services in the U.S. and internationally in India, Brazil, Ghana, Singapore, Canada and France as an Activation Speaker, Group Facilitator, Coach and Business Performance Accelerator.

How to attend:

Yahoo! sign

Yahoo! will be hosting IMUG for the first time this month. Many thanks to Salvo Giammarresi, Localization Director at Yahoo!, for arranging this location. Maps and detailed directions are here: http://www.imug.org/yahoo/

For remote attendees, Yahoo will provide an audio dial-in line. To request access, just put a note in your Meetup RSVP and we'll send you the instructions.

Admission is free for IMUG members and host staff, and $5 for non-members. IMUG membership is only $20 for the first year, $15 for annual renewal, or $100 for lifetime membership. Click here to join, renew or pay a single non-member event fee via PayPal. Cash and checks also accepted at our events. http://www.imug.org/imug-membership-and-event-fees.htm

Please RSVP via Meetup to help IMUG and our hosts plan for this event. Our hosts will preprint as many badges as possible a few days in advance, but please RSVP right up to the last minute to help us ensure enough seats for everyone. http://events.imug.org/

The hashtag for IMUG events is #IMUG408
Follow @i18n_mug: http://twitter.com/i18n_mug

Join or login to comment.

Cloe Azevedo

Well planned and well presented. Friendly and highly talented professionals shared their insightful recruiting observations and preferences.

0 · October 1, 2011
A former member

Very insightful meetup! I will definitely be back!

0 · September 29, 2011
mauro giansiracusa

I really appreciated the effort of the Yahoo's team in making sure that everybody was helped and let feel "at home", introducing themselves, introducing people to one another. It was definitely the most social event I have been to.

0 · September 29, 2011
tex

Lively discussion, great panelists, useful tips!

0 · September 28, 2011
Jay Tong

Great meeting. Very open, collaborative and candid discussions. Tex has a lot of energy and passion in the topic that really engaged well with the audience.

0 · September 28, 2011
Kevin Rong

Great event ever!!! Thanks, Joe & Roger for organizing; Tex for idea and as moderator; All the panelists: Lotfi, Petrina, Teresa, Lily & Darryl; Yahoo staff for holding the event, especially: Salvo, Jessica, Marina, Jay, Boib, Rose and Mark......

0 · September 28, 2011
Orso

well organized and conducted, thanks to Salvo and Text !

0 · September 28, 2011
Manuel Stoeckl

I joined via audio and my impression was excellent. I know quite a few of the attendees in the audience and I could recognize their voices. I wish I could have been there in person. Right amount of matter of fact info, tips/ideas and humor! Well done! PS: Don't forget to hang up the audio/conference call once the Meetup is over. You guys broadcasted the happy gathering after. Best wishes, Manuel

0 · September 28, 2011
IMUG

70 attendees in room, +5 via teleconference, +6 panelists. Thanks again to Tex, Darryl, Teresa, Lotfi, Petrina and Lily. And many thanks to Salvo, Jessica and all our purple-shirted hosts at Yahoo! Great event!

0 · September 28, 2011
Dominique

An excellent idea and outcome but people on the phone could not be as much involved. Fascinating to 'observe' the meeting from only an audio standpoint, its dynamic, and the flow of questions.
However, i was disappointing that it evolved toward a too general 'resume/interview' presentation, instead of focusing on I18n/L10n needs, as described on the agenda.
Finally, the paradox in the hiring process is that most companies are now oriented toward the Internet and yet.. few understand the value of having remote workers; they often restrict their hiring to only Bay Area residents (a discrimination) and don't consider remote help. It's a pity, for it can be cheaper for the hiring company, has less footprint for the environment (no use of cars), and is more productive for the employee/consultant. That's said, Kudos for having setup this stimulating social network meeting last night!

0 · September 28, 2011