Looking at Classmates' Proposed Move

John Cook tells us today that Classmates is moving from Renton to Seattle, and specifically to 333 Elliott Avenue West.

Oh my, where to go with this!

How about recognizing Classmates for having the smarts to move their Internet-focused company out Renton? Finally.

As a recruiter, I know there's no doubt that Classmates looses a fair number of people to the competition. Second, some percentage of the people who leave do so because of the location, and bigger percentage say they are leaving because of the location, but it's really something else (their boss, going to work on a sexier product, etc).

What puzzles me is the location of their move. 333 Elliott is a very nice place to work. Especially if you  live on Queen Anne, or in Belltown, or Ballard, or even up on Capitol Hill. But if you're commuting in from the suburbs, wow, it's a pain. And that's only going to get worse.

Now, look at this quote from the article, "...its (Classmates) audience is typically made up of people over the age of 35.  That audience has different needs...". Yup, I'll agree with that.

Here's the thing. If you agree with the notion that you should have people creating a product that is made up of the target audience, wouldn't you want to locate your firm in the suburbs of Seattle? Where the 35+ yos are (with their families & kids in the public schools)? How about Bellevue, or Kirkland, or Issaquah, or even North Bend? Think of all the disgruntled ex-Expedia folks they could land!

On the upside, I'll be working with some folks who are about to be ex-employees of Classmates! ;-)

Comments

[John]

There are plenty of 34+ folks in the technology business who live in Seattle and would be happy to work for a Seattle-based company :) Many of us already do - I have plenty of friends and colleagues who won't work on the Eastside due to the commute.

[Dave]

John:

First, thanks for the comment.

I agree with you that Seattle has a fair number of 35+ yos working in the Software/Internet space, and very happily I might add. That's not my point. My point is that I doubt that those people are their target audience. When was the last time you used Classmates? Additionally, 'plenty' is not actually true. If there were 'plenty' firms wouldn't have key Development roles go wanting for months at a time - on both sides of the lake.

In the coming 5 - 10 years, what does a company do to differentiate itself from their talent competitors? Moving to a location where you're within 5 miles of most of the other Seattle-based technology companies isn't differentiation.

I think we can clearly agree on one thing: The commute is a big, hairy deal for employees. Just as your friends won't commute to the Eastside, there are also plenty of people who won't commute into Seattle. And the commute to Elliott avenue is almost the worst from the Eastside.

Were it me, I'd locate my biz on the Eastside, and then take out billboard ads up and down the main drags in downtown Seattle telling all those commuters to Elliott Ave, or N. 34th Street, or 1st Ave S. that they could stop wasting 200+ hours a year commuting by working closer to their home on the Eastside.

[sue]

I'm in the over 35 age group and I don't use classmates. 1) it costs to join, 2) the user is tricked into using it only to find limited access if you're not a member, 3) the interface is too busy, riddled with ads, and just plain un-useable, 4) it costs to join, 5) it costs to join and use all the features

I'd rather use other free services to find former classmates.

p.s. but I'm glad they're moving to downtown seattle - I won't commute to the eastside anymore from n. seattle to work because of the d*&$% 520 bridge that microsoft could fix out of pocket change, if they cared to. I'll be applying for work at classmates - maybe they'll get a clue on how to improve their service!

[Just a Classmates employee]

Well I'm one of those that will be commuting from the South into the city. I honestly think the move is a bad idea, had it been in downtown (in between Madison and Stewart) then it'd be a lot better for everyone trying to bus in from the south.

The executives did a complete mediocre subpar job on keeping their staff in the loop. I know of at least 15 people looking for different jobs and some of them are in the true downtown area. Also the executives plan on using the same salary demographics used in Renton instead of the salary demographics from Seattle.

Good job Classmates executives at keeping turnover low and morality high. (sarcasm)