Traffic snarls, but job leads abound on commute recruit
Gimmick generated website visits
By Nathan R. Huff
Miradi Inc., a Santa Cruz-based Internet startup, greeted Highway 17 commuters with free coffee on their way to work on April 19, hoping to woo potential high-tech employees.
The recruiting scheme had mixed results. Company founder and president David Dennis said a number of potential employees stopped and many others visited the company website later that day. But traffic slowed to a near crawl at the summit, angering a number of motorists.
"We got a number of job leads and a record number of visits to our site," Dennis, a Saratoga native, said. "We also got some thumbs up, some waves, and a few one-finger waves."
Miradi Inc. received additional free advertising from local radio stations. The stations warned commuters coming from the Santa Cruz side of the hill that traffic was snarled at the summit as drivers slowed to read "free coffee" signs leading up to Miradi's recruiting booth.
The promotion was scheduled to last from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., but Dennis said the company packed up and left around 8 a.m. because of traffic concerns.
"We had a little bit of a traffic snarl," Dennis explained. "We felt if we were doing anything to exacerbate the problem we should close it down early."
Photograph courtesy of Miradi Inc.
Miradi Inc. specializes in project management and collaboration technology and services. The company was started in a Santa Cruz garage last June, and now employs nine people in its Santa Cruz office. Dennis said the company, like so many Internet startups, is expanding rapidly. The company is in need of project managers, marketers, designers, graphic artists, public relations experts and a number of other technologically skilled employees.
The roadside recruiting idea came from another startup founder, who told Dennis that he found employees by "plucking them right out of their cars."
"He was speaking figuratively," Dennis said, "and I figured I'd try it literally."
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
