Spring is just around the corner, and all of us are patiently waiting for the end of snow, and the arrival, not just of sun, but of Twitter France. Word broke last year that the social network would be opening up a subsidiary, which may be a smart play, given all the government grief that Twitter has run into in the past six months. As the date rolls ever closer to the first day of spring, Challenges (the French ‘Forbes’) has reported that Twitter may being a bit too choosy about who they hire for the not-so-illustrious Head of Twitter France position.
With responsibilities of dealing with the French government, growing the nascent advertising platform in France, no one seems to be interested in the Twitter position which has no direct authority on high-level decisions, says Giuseppe de Martino, VP at Dailymotion.
Twitter’s search has been going on for over a year and a half, according to some of the approached candidates, which include former president Sarkozy’s staff member Nicolas Princen & Twitter VP of international development Marc Maniez.
The Spring date was set after Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe paid a visit to Twitter’s San Francisco HQ, after which he released a statement saying that Twitter would be hiring up to 10 employees in France by Spring 2013.
And so, with no word out about a chosen candidate, it seems it will come down to the wire for Twitter to find the right candidate. As Challenges reports, Twitter may be looking for a candidate that doesn’t exist, as they are looking for someone familiar with the platform, who also has experience in public policy, a legal background, and who is young. This kind of cross-background, multi-faceted young French go-getter may be close to impossible to find, given France’s lengthy education system and propensity for very focused, singular educations.
In the end, it may not be so much that Twitter is being picky, but that the job they thought would attract 1000s has attracted much less, and the background and experience they’re looking for doesn’t line up with the responsibilities & glamour of the position.