Case 6-2 Not Getting Face Time at Facebook—and Getting the Last Laugh! In August 2009, Facebook turned down job applicant Brian Acton, an experienced engineer who had previously worked at Yahoo and Apple. More than 4 years later, Facebook paid him $3 billion to acquire his 20% stake of WhatsApp, a start-up he had cofounded immediately after Facebook rejected his job application.(1) WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform, instant-messaging subscription service for smartphones and selected feature phones that use the Internet for communication. In addition to text messaging, users can send each other images, video, and audio media messages, as well as their location using integrated mapping features.(2) How could Facebook, a highly successful firm, have made such a drastic mistake? Back in 2009, Brian Acton was a software engineer who was out of work for what seemed like a very long time. He believed he had what it took to make a difference in the industry, but his career did not work out as planned. Even though he spent years at Apple and Yahoo, he got rejected many times by Twitter and Facebook.(3) Acton described the details of the interview process that he failed to do well in as follows: First of all, interviewing a person for a job that requires technical skills is difficult for both the interviewer and the interviewee. Facebook is a highly desirable firm to work for and requires the best skills and talents from all of their potential employees. It is therefore not surprising that the selection process rivals, if not tops, any company in the industry. The process starts with an email or a phone call from a recruiter in response to an online application or [to] a recommendation from a friend who may work for Facebook. Sometimes, in the initial chat online, timed software coding challenges are set to find the best performers. If this chat goes well, an applicant will go on to the next level—an initial in-person interview or phone screening.(4) In this next hurdle, the applicant will have a 45-minute chat with a fellow engineer/potential coworker, [with] whom he or she shares the same area of expertise. They will tell you about their job and what their role is in Facebook; then they ask about the applicant’s résumé, motivation, and interests. Additionally, the applicant will be tested about his or her technical skills, coding exercises, and programming abilities.(5) If successful, the applicant will be invited for back-to-back interviews. This part of the process is very grueling and stressful since all the interviews take place throughout a single day. The candidate will also be asked to manually write a program on a whiteboard to make sure that the applicant is knowledgeable about program writing. The goal in this final step is to see how one approaches a problem and comes up with a solution [that] is simple enough to solve in 10–30 minutes and can be easily explained.(6) As a potential coworker, the applicant will be te.

1. Case 6-2 Not Getting Face Time at Facebook—and Getting the
Last Laugh!
In August 2009, Facebook turned down job applicant Brian
Acton, an experienced engineer who had previously worked at
Yahoo and Apple. More than 4 years later, Facebook paid him
$3 billion to acquire his 20% stake of WhatsApp, a start-up he
had cofounded immediately after Facebook rejected his job
application.(1) WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-
platform, instant-messaging subscription service for
smartphones and selected feature phones that use the Internet
for communication. In addition to text messaging, users can
send each other images, video, and audio media messages, as
well as their location using integrated mapping features.(2) How
could Facebook, a highly successful firm, have made such a
drastic mistake?
Back in 2009, Brian Acton was a software engineer who was out
of work for what seemed like a very long time. He believed he
had what it took to make a difference in the industry, but his
career did not work out as planned. Even though he spent years
at Apple and Yahoo, he got rejected many times by Twitter and
Facebook.(3) Acton described the details of the interview
process that he failed to do well in as follows:
First of all, interviewing a person for a job that requires
technical skills is difficult for both the interviewer and the
interviewee. Facebook is a highly desirable firm to work for and
requires the best skills and talents from all of their potential
employees. It is therefore not surprising that the selection
process rivals, if not tops, any company in the industry. The
process starts with an email or a phone call from a recruiter in
response to an online application or [to] a recommendation from
a friend who may work for Facebook. Sometimes, in the initial
chat online, timed software coding challenges are set to find the
best performers. If this chat goes well, an applicant will go on
to the next level—an initial in-person interview or phone

2. screening.(4)
In this next hurdle, the applicant will have a 45-minute chat
with a fellow engineer/potential coworker, [with] whom he or
she shares the same area of expertise. They will tell you about
their job and what their role is in Facebook; then they ask about
the applicant’s résumé, motivation, and interests. Additionally,
the applicant will be tested about his or her technical skills,
coding exercises, and programming abilities.(5)
If successful, the applicant will be invited for back-to-back
interviews. This part of the process is very grueling and
stressful since all the interviews take place throughout a single
day. The candidate will also be asked to manually write a
program on a whiteboard to make sure that the applicant is
knowledgeable about program writing. The goal in this final
step is to see how one approaches a problem and comes up with
a solution [that] is simple enough to solve in 10–30 minutes and
can be easily explained.(6)
As a potential coworker, the applicant will be tested in terms of
understanding and explaining complex ideas, with most tasks
project related and constantly changing. This requires
employees to possess a diversified set of skills. That is the
reason why the applicant is not only tested in coding skills . . .
but also to gauge enthusiasm and motivation. The applicant’s
leadership and decision-making skills are also evaluated as the
company seeks to find someone who can make a large impact on
the industry and make quick decisions.(7)
After going through this arduous process, Brian Acton was one
of the engineers who received an email that “regretted to
inform” him that he didn’t get the position. Yet he stayed
positive and took a different path, which led him to start his
own company, WhatsApp. Teaming up with Yahoo alumni, he
developed the most popular text-messaging application, and the
company was sold to Facebook for a total of $19 billion in
2014.(8) This epic comeback proves how persistence and
ambition play a huge role in job hunting; but it also proves how
difficult it is to hire the right employee, even when that person

3. has the best skill set.(9)
References
(1) The World’s Billionaires: #596 Brian Anton. (n.d.). Forbes.
Retrieved July 17, 2014, from
http://www.forbes.com/profile/brian-acton/
(2) WhatsApp. (2014). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 17, 2014,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
(3) Anders, G. (2014, February 19). He wanted a job; Facebook
said “no”—in a $3 billion mistake. Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/.georgeanders/2014/02/19/he-
wanted-a-job-facebook-said-no-in-a-3-billion-mistake/
(4) Gordon, C. (2012, October 5). Getting a job at Facebook:
Inside the “Meritocratic” hiring process. Retrieved from the
AOL website: http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/10/05/want-to-
get-a-job-at-facebook-weve-demystified-the-hiring-proc/
(5) Bueno, C. (2012, July 20). Get that job at Facebook.
Retrieved from the Facebook Engineering page:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/get-that-
job-at-facebook/10150964382448920/
(6) Ibid.
(7) Ibid.
(8) The World’s Billionaires: #596 Brian Anton. (n.d.). Forbes.
Retrieved July 17, 2014, from
http://www.forbes.com/profile/brian-acton/
(9) WhatsApp. (2014). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 17, 2014,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
Case 3-1 You Can’t Get There From Here: Uber Slow on
Diversity Established in 2009, Uber provides an alternative to
taxi cab service in 460 cities and nearly 60 countries worldwide.
The trick? Their mobile application for smartphones allows
riders to arrange for transportation with drivers who operate
their personal vehicles. A dual rating system (drivers and
customers rate each other) serves as a quality control device
keeping Uber standards high.(1)
As an international technology firm, Uber has been challenged,

4. along with other tech giants like Google and Twitter, to
demonstrate that they are attuned to the specific needs of their
employees, more specifically people of color and women. In
Uber’s own words: At Uber, we want to create a workplace that
is inclusive and reflects the diversity of the cities we serve:
where everyone can be their authentic self, and where that
authenticity is celebrated as a strength. By creating an
environment where people from every background can thrive,
we’ll make Uber a better company—not just for our employees
but for our customers, too.(2)
Yet actions speak louder than words. Uber employees describe
the firm’s work environment amid some managers as
Machiavellian and merciless. Many blame Travis Kalanick,
Uber’s founder and former chief executive, for establishing
such a negative culture. Uber’s fast growth approach to the
market has rewarded employees and managers who have
aggressively pushed for greater revenues and fatter profits at the
seeming cost of human dignity.
For example, Uber has had its share of troubles addressing
issues of sexual misconduct and workforce diversity. These
issues came to light when a former employee, Susan Fowler,
reported in her personal blog that she was being sexually
harassed by her manager and that human resources had been
informed of these infractions.(3) Susan Fowler said in her blog:
On my first official day rotating on the team, my new manager
sent me a string of messages over company chat. He was in an
open relationship, he said, and his girlfriend was having an easy
time finding new partners but he wasn’t. He was trying to stay
out of trouble at work, he said, but he couldn’t help getting in
trouble, because he was looking for women to have sex with. It
was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and
it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots
of these chat messages and reported him to HR.(4)
Uber’s first reaction was to call Ms. Fowler’s accusations as
“abhorrent and against everything Uber stands for and believes
in.”(5) Ms. Fowler purported that her manager was not punished

5. because he “was a high performer”; yet other female employees
reported similar incidents with the same manager, leading Ms.
Fowler to believe that HR was covering up for her manager.
Uber was in trouble as more and more scandals emerged and
they quickly took the following actions: (a) apologized for some
of their managers’ actions, (b) had a board member and several
female executives provide testimonials on the firm’s positive
work environment, and (c) began to probe workplace policies
and procedures.
Arianna Huffington, a board member, repeatedly labeled new
employees as “brilliant jerks.”(6) Huffington said that this
investigation would be different when Eric H. Holder Jr., the
former United States Attorney General (as well as some others),
were hired to conduct their investigation.
Uber released its first diversity report on March 28, 2017, one
month after these allegations. This report indicated that women
and nonwhite employees are underrepresented at the firm, not
overly dissimilar from other technology-based firms. Some of
the most egregious statistics include: (a) racial
configuration―6% Hispanic, 9% black, 50% white, and (b) 85%
of all technology jobs are held by men, with a mere 36% of the
total workforce comprised of women.(7)
Liane Hornsey, Uber’s chief human resource officer,
acknowledged, “We need to do better and have much more work
to do.”(8) Here are Uber’s next steps:
We’re dedicating $3 million over the next three years to support
organizations working to bring more women and
underrepresented people into tech. This year, our recruiting
team is also embarking on a college tour to recruit talented
students at colleges across the country, including a number of
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and
Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Our employee resource
groups play a huge role in all our recruiting events that are
focused on hiring women and people of color at Uber.
In recruiting, we’ve updated our job descriptions to remove
potentially exclusionary language, and we are running interview

6. training to make our hiring processes more inclusive for women
in tech. We’re also rolling out training to educate and empower
employees, covering topics like “why diversity and inclusion
matters,” “how to be an ally,” and “building inclusive teams.”
Training is not a panacea, but educating employees on the right
behaviors is an important step in the right direction.
This is just the beginning of our efforts. Whether you’re a
veteran returning from service or a person with a disability and
regardless of your religious beliefs, your sexual orientation,
your gender identity, or the country you call home, at Uber, we
want to create an environment where you can be yourself. By
deepening our commitment to diversity, we will strengthen our
business and better serve our customers in over 450 cities in
more than 70 countries.(9)
Only time will tell if this fast growth firm can manage its
aggressive culture and diversity as it continues to expand into
new marketplaces and those with differing cultures.
References
(1) Anderson, A. (n.d.). Uber International C.V. Hoovers.
Retrieved April 4, 2017, from http://0-
subscriber.hoovers.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/H/company360/fulldes
cription.html?companyId=163401000000000 (2) Uber. (n.d.).
How do we want Uber to look and feel? Retrieved April 4,
2017, from https://www.uber.com/diversity/
(3) Fowler, S. (2017, February 19). Reflecting on one very, very
strange year at Uber. Retrieved April 12, 2017, from
https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-
one-very-strange-year-at-uber
(4) Ibid.
(5) Patnaik, S. (2017, February 21). Uber hires ex-US Attorney
General Holder to probe sexual harassment. Reuters. Retrieved
April 4, 2017, from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-
tech-sexual-harassment-idUSKBN160041
(6) Isaac, M. (2017, March 28). Uber releases diversity report
and repudiates its “hard-charging attitude.” The New York
Times. Retrieved April 4, 2017, from

7. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/uber-releases-diversity-report-
and-repudiates-its-hard-charging-attitude.html
(7) Ibid.
(8) Uber slow on diversity. (2017, March 29). AM New York,
p. A2.
(9) Uber. (n.d.). How do we want Uber to look and feel?
Retrieved April 4, 2017, from https://www.uber.com/diversity/
Case written by Herbert Sherman, Long Island University