'They're going to find jobs': Several CEOs looking to hire laid off Google employees

In the wake of several Google employees being laid off in Waterloo region, a national business council for tech firms says they’ve already had a number of CEOs in the tech sector ready to connect with those who lost their job.

On Monday, the tech giant, which has Canada’s biggest research and development office in Kitchener, laid off an undisclosed number of employees.

Shortly after the layoffs, Benjamin Bergen, president of the Canadian Council of Innovators, said he started receiving calls from CEOs looking to connect with the former Google employees.

“These folks that are being laid off from Google - I’m pretty confident they’re going to find jobs in the community,” said Bergen.

Adding: "I’ve now had a total of seven CEOs reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, do you know if there's a list that we can look at in terms of staff, is there a way for us to connect with folks.’ So, we've actually done some preliminary outreach,” said Bergen.

The Canadian Council of Innovators said this week's layoffs underscores the need for governments at the local, provincial and federal level to invest in locally based, domestic firms to ensure the successful building blocks of the sector remain intact.

“I think the one thing that really needs to be underscored, is that you don’t continue the cycle of building a successful technology innovation ecosystem by supporting foreign firms entering into your market,” he said.

Bergen’s comments on the ex-Google employees' job prospects echo that of technology analyst Carmi Levy, who told CTV News Kitchener in his opinion those who were laid off are well positioned for a wide array of opportunities locally.

“Clearly, if a layoff hits you on a day like today, this is not a good day for you, but there is no better place in the country to be if you are laid off because this is Silicon Valley North, this is Canada’s epicentre of technology and innovation and investment so from the wreckage of today there will be other companies that are looking for talent, and now suddenly a lot of talent is on the market, and there will be a lot of new seeds planted for start-up companies in the wake of this,” Levy said on Monday.

Google declined to provide CTV News Kitchener with the exact number of layoffs, but several people took to LinkedIn to announce they had been a part of the layoffs.

“I’m one of the many affected by the Google Canada layoffs this week. Despite the sour exit, I’ll look back fondly on my four years at Google. The people I worked and interacted with there were incredible, and I’m sure our paths will cross again in the future. The products I worked on were pretty cool too,” reads a LinkedIn post from Nathan Schnar, a former software engineer for Google Waterloo.

The post from Schnarr received around a dozen comments, with one coming from someone saying they would like to connect as they are hiring senior and lead engineers.