What it does: An online shopping site that facilitates business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer sales through its website.
Best known for: Online auctions and user-friendly consumer-to-consumer sales. eBay is one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms in terms of market capitalization and merchant sales volumes. The e-commerce giant is used by 182 million people worldwide scattered across 190 various markets as of 2019 and shares the top 3 space with fellow e-commerce platforms Amazon and Shopify.
Staff stats: 14,000
The good bits: More than anything else, eBay prides itself on the diverse and inclusive workplace that it claims is the driver of its culture and business success. Recruits mostly come from various cultures, races, and interests. eBay is often praised for its work-life balance, great benefits and training, and family-like atmosphere.
The not-so-good bits: Slow decision making and a variety of complaints about upper management that include being disconnected, lacking communication, and offering inadequate direction.
Hiring grads with top marks in: A variety of roles are open to graduates from all fields, but more specialized positions require applicants with a Bachelor’s degree in engineering, maths, Information Technology, computer science, finance, accounting, economics, marketing & business administration, humanities, or arts & social sciences among others.
American entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar launched eBay, a global online auction and trading company, in 1995. It was one of the very first companies to develop and market a web site that matches sellers of goods and services with interested buyers.
To participate, customers sign up for web sites assigned to their country or use any of the international eBay web sites in Asia, European countries, U.S., and Canada. eBay’s Latin American web sites function in collaboration with Mercado Libre, an e-commerce provider that runs similar operations. Auctions constitute most of eBay sales, but a big chunk of the transactions also come from fixed-price sales.
eBay’s growth is mostly attributed to its safe and transparent trading that is accessible anywhere and to anyone. Paypal, an online payment system that supports online money transfers, played such a big part in eBay’s growth that the e-commerce giant purchased the company until it was spun off as an independent company in 2015. Other eBay acquisitions include Skype (sold in 2009), Rent.com (sold in 2012), Stubhub, and Shopping.com. The company is planning to sell Stubhub, an online ticket exchange business, by 2020.
2018 saw eBay’s marketplace growth slowing down, which may indicate that the company is trailing behind its competitors and the industry overall. However, with its consistent active buyer growth and growing revenues despite negative gross merchandise volume, it may still be able to improve its overall performance in the future.
The recruitment process varies from role to role, but applicants may expect to begin with a telephone or video interview which may be technical or behavioural. Promising applicants are then invited on-site for a series of tests (ie general aptitude test and programming test for aspiring software engineers), and several rounds of interviews with HR representatives. Software engineers must have a clear grasp of operating systems, data structures, algorithms, and coding. The process may take two to four weeks.
eBay is reported to issue an above average basic salary. The average annual salary for a software engineer is Rs 1,343,181 (according to 12 respondents). Benefits may include health and life insurance, paid vacation and sick leave, gym membership, work from home opportunities and free meals, among others.
eBay hosts several activities for its workers, most of which are in line with its advocacy of diversity and inclusion. For example, during Pride Month, eBay employees took part in Pride events to support the LGBTQ community in 12 global locations. In India, employees celebrated Diwali with an event celebrated with food, traditional clothing, and various performances. In honour of Martin Luther King, the Black Employees at eBay (BEE) organised a gathering of 16 Bay-area companies, 250 tech peers, family, and friends to march in the Martin Luther King Day Parade.
The words ‘creative’, ‘supportive’, ‘unrestrictive’ and ‘friendly’ are often used to describe eBay’s company culture. The company is keen on hiring young, fresh, and forward-thinking.
eBay’s charity arm, the eBay Foundation, engages the company’s employees in services to the communities where they work and live. Present in 10 counties and 16 locations, the eBay Foundation encourages employees to volunteer their time in organizing fundraisers and drives, as well as championing local nonprofits to receive cash grants from the foundation.
Apart from the foundation, eBay also employs a number of CSR programs that include the Retail Revival program, which trains local business owners to sell their products in a global marketplace, and eBay for Charity, where every interaction on eBay offers opportunities to support causes you care about. The company also supports sustainable development by utilizing clean energy and promoting responsible consumption and production, among others.
eBay's Impact Programs build employees with a passion for giving back to their community through various community engagement programs. These programs include Global Impact Teams, which host onsite volunteer events, plan group volunteer outings, and support fundraising events, and skill-based volunteering, among others.
For example, recognising the need for more tech education, New York's Global Impact Team focused on tech youth mentorship programs that help students develop the technical expertise needed to be talented technologists. Australia's Global Impact Team forged a strong connection with the Ronald McDonald House in Randwick to support families with children afflicted with serious illnesses.
eBay offers a creative and stimulating environment where graduates can develop their careers. Great pay, benefits, and a highly diverse environment are the company’s main draws – qualities that most freshers will most likely find to be irresistible. Know, however, that big companies have their own drawbacks – slow decision making and a closed-door leadership style from upper management are the company’s common critiques.