Link building can be a tough role to fill, especially if you don’t quite understand the position.  Last week Rae Hoffman provided us with her guide to Interviewing a Potential Link Developer.  Rae gives some great direction for looking for entry level marketing specialists who will be handling link development.  Included in her guide are the qualities she look for in a candidate, the 18 questions she asks every time, as well explanations as to assessing the answers to the questions.  Her questions range from basic (What is your favorite search engine and why?) to on-the-spot assessments (Can you find me a Canon Powershot SD850 digital camera I can BUY?).  If you are looking to improve your link building and you are unsure of what to look for in a candidate, take a look at Rae’s guide.
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Yahoo! is planning on some big growth in India.  Business Standard reported last week that Yahoo! will hire 400 employees over the next year, the majority of which will work for its Centre for Excellence in Bangalore.  The Centre, which supports Yahoo!’s emerging markets in India, Singapore, South East Asia, Eastern Eurpore, and Latin America, is targeting architects, user experience designers, and programme managers to fill the new openings.  To combat the large percentage of young talent that typically leaves to pursue higher education, Yahoo! is also developing a curriculum with BITS-Pilani for an MS programme. These moves will help establish a greater presence for Yahoo! in India, which is currently dominated by Google.
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Last week the focus around the web seemed to be centered on improving skill sets and refining your methods.  Alex Iskold started this trend over at ReadWriteWeb with the post, Top 10 Concepts That Every Software Developer Should Know.  Alex gives his list of concepts that will support developers who wish to become more well-rounded and able to contribute to every aspect of a project.  Alex’s list includes:

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Yesterday Google updated their "What's an SEO?" page, and integrated new content that focuses on the benefits website owners can get from employing an SEO.  In previous versions of the page, the messaging was more focused on how to identify "bad SEO" practitioners than talking about how to identify "good SEO" practitioners.

As part of the update they provided a list of questions companies can ask to qualify an SEO.  I decided to take a look at each question individually and assess how each question can help you find the right SEO. More...

As everyone probably knows by now, Google and Yahoo have signed a 10 year paid search partnership.  As part of the deal Yahoo will benefit by displaying Google’s ads for long tail terms they don’t have an inventory for.  In order to hedge anti-trust accusations, the two companies voluntarily delayed the implementation of the deal three months to allow the Department of Justice to review the agreement.  Prior to the announcement of this agreement, Yahoo saw three executives announce they would be leaving the company, Jeff Weiner, Usama Fayyad, and Jeremy Zawodny.  Although none of these departures have been related to the ongoing merger talks, they are leaving big holes for Yahoo to fill in post(hopefully) Microhoo days.

Web Analytics Books opened new light on How to Hire a Web Analyst.  They suggest setting up potential hires with the basics, Omniture and a Google analytics accounts, and letting them know they are expected to know “all the browsers and operating systems that hit the website.”  Once they start to get comfortable, wind up, and throw them a knuckleball by browsing the site on the Samsung RH2777AT.  If the analyst is able to pick up that you surfed the web from your refrigerator, Web Analytics Books suggests they are a “thumbs up” candidate.

Last week SearchForecast announced they would begin to Offer Their SEO Education Portal Free to Everyone.  Searchforecast’s portal gives its visitors access to a number of diagnostic tools as well as over 40 SEO learning briefs.  They have opened a unique set of resources that they previously reserved for their customers.  Searchforecast’s hopes to help in-house SEOs determine the needs of their website while giving themselves a nice boost of traffic.

Over at Search Engine Land, Brian D. Gulledge wrote a great article about maintaining Smooth Sailing Through the Rough Waters Of A Down Economy.  Brian gives some simple advice about how to continue to develop your company during harder than average times.  He points out that during a recession, people are spending a little less and are generally more purchase leery.  This just means you need to be more conscious of your consumers and make the most out of every dollar spent.  Search marketing, especially paid search, is more easily tracked than any other form of advertising.  Before cutting your marketing budget make sure you are analyzing the value of the dollars you spent, so you aren’t cutting out valuable revenue sources.

That it for this week in search marketing staffing news, check back next week for another update.