Sometimes we get questions that even our expert staff needs a little extra help answering. We are very lucky that we have so many talented recruiters at Microsoft to draw from. Today we have a special guest post from Joe Wallis who agreed to help us out with this question from a reader.

Dear JobsBlog: I will finish my degree in Information Technology in a few months. Technically, I am inexperienced in the job market, but I have 11 years of experience in the Air Force. During those years I've set up SharePoint portal pages, developed databases, managed accounts etc. Basically, I've worked on computer systems and programs with no real focus but to "get the job done". My question is how do I use those skills I picked up in the military to make me appeal more to hiring managers, specifically Microsoft? - Very Eager Technologist

Dear V.E.T. - That is a great question and we appreciate your interest in Microsoft. First of all, thank you for your service and Microsoft wishes you the best of luck in your career search!

As you finish your degree in Information Technology and with your computer systems background in the Air Force, Microsoft is a great place to leverage your skills and a company that values your experience. Microsoft has a specific military/veteran recruiting program called Militay2Microsoft. We use the tagline “We Still Serve”. A great place to start engaging our program is at our website, www.westillserve.com. Our site has several functions that can assist in finding the right opportunities to match your experience. We have a MOS/AFSC/NEC decoder tool that will present you with open positions at Microsoft that best match your military specialty.

Every Friday afternoon between 12 and 3 PM PST, you can chat with veterans at Microsoft through our website and find out how they made their transition to Microsoft. Veterans representing our internal Microsoft Military Community are available to answer your questions concerning a career at Microsoft.

Our website also has a function to join our Talent Network and set up a search agent that will email you open positions that match your experience at whatever frequency you want. This is set up with keyword entries and is a great way see where your skills currently match to Microsoft open positions. I would also recommend you follow our social media sites at LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Our social pages are all named “We Still Serve” and can be found on our website.

As our program presents numerous well qualified veterans to our staffing organization and our internal Military Microsoft community advocates within their businesses for veterans, hiring managers are becoming well aware of the great skills and experience our veterans bring to Microsoft. Again, good luck in your career search and we look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Joe

Hello Dear JobsBlog Readers,
 
We are rounding out an amazing year of growth, loss, and change in the world of technology. As a part of the people that make up this workforce, I wanted to reflect on 2011 and starting 2012 - another year full of possibilities and products. 

As citizens of the high technology world, this is a chance to think about what you will do in the New Year and what part you will play:

1. Recommit yourself to your job. Maybe you have been thinking the grass is greener but are generally happy with your job. Either recommit yourself to your job – doing the best work possible with a positive attitude -  or recommit yourself to finding a job that will get you to do your best work with the best possible attitude. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener and I think as a whole we need to be thankful for what we have been blessed with. This is a trait often forgotten in this world of tumultuous talent change. If you’re not there personally, you can take steps to get there.

2. Keep yourself marketable. Complacency is another thing that is so easy to fall into. As we all know the economy is something that is uncertain. Equip yourself with what you need to be marketable – a class, a programming language, a mentor. You know you’re marketable when you meet the requirements for jobs you are interested in and get job interviews and offers if you choose to take it that far. Don’t let comfort and loads of work block you from taking care of yourself and your future.

3. Choose your attitude – I hinted about this earlier. Your attitude towards life and work – you control it and it controls the outcome of your work, job, and sometimes life. I’m not saying to view the world with rose colored glasses but be aware that you control your happiness. Sometimes keeping up with Joneses and getting to the next level are not what you are really looking for. Reexamine what your top priorities are and reinvest your time, energy, and attitude to those things.

Here’s to a happy and successful New Year and may 2012 bring you and your families’ great joy, hope, and true happiness.

-Eugenia

Dear JobsBlog:
How much work detail should I include on my resume? I’m a little late coming to the technology industry though it is my first love and my dream career. Most of my work experience prior to getting my degree and most recent work experience is outside the tech industry. Should I include that on my resume? I don’t want to appear like I am lying, but it may be a bit of a shock for me to walk into someone’s office for the first time. Especially if they are expecting a relatively young person!

-Lots of Experience

Dear Lots of Experience:

I think it’s great that you realize what your true passion is! It will come across in any interviews you go on and I appreciate that you care enough to tailor your resume for your audience. From your question, it sounds as though you recently completed a degree in Computer Science or a related field. A lot of recruiters and hiring managers would like to see your experience if you feel it is relevant to the job you’re applying to. So even if it is outside of the technology world, the fact that you were a program or project manager, a manager of people or teams, or have experience in long range planning or managing huge budgets, those are all traits or skills we love to see in combination with your new degree/skills. 

Tailoring your resume to put those skills front and center and tying that together with personal projects (a technical blog, site, app) you have worked on in the tech world will get you where you want to go. Remember it’s not about who you worked for or what you worked on – the type or scope of work and the quality of work are what you will bring to your next job. If you can find a job where you can carry over your domain expertise – even better.

In the end, we are hiring people. People are not just skills and experience on a piece of paper; we are complete packages with a story. It will be your job to tie those parts of your story and make them relevant to the new job you’re trying to land.

Best of luck to you!
Eugenia

In what seems like ancient history, I wrote this post back in 2008 about how candidates can go about finding their very own recruiter. Since then, a lot has changed! For starters we’ve completely revamped our careers site and now – at least for college students – finding your recruiter is easier than ever! Really. You just select the items from the drop down that apply to you – and presto – there’s a short bio for your recruiter and even a link to contact! Second – as the popularity of networking sites like LinkedIn continues to increase, it seems that almost anyone is searchable and a mere click or two away.

With all of that in mind, I felt a follow up post was long overdue and wanted to provide a few quick tips on what I call “Making First Contact.”  

1. Target your approach: As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, recruiters for experienced positions at Microsoft are often aligned by both product group and also the discipline or profession for which they hire. For example, my role is focused entirely on hiring technical talent (Software Developers, Program Managers, and Developers in Test) for the Windows Live organization. Other than as a potential networking hub, I’m unlikely to be much help to someone looking for say a role in Office, or perhaps one of our Marketing functions. It’s just not in my scope or area of expertise. Before contacting a recruiter, it’s always a good idea to make sure that the recruiter you’re contacting is really the best person for the job!

2. Set expectations: What do you hope to achieve from the communication? Be clear in your goals and what you want. Is there a specific opening you want to be considered for?Are you unsure what you should be applying for and looking for guidance? The more specific you are in your goals and objectives, the more likely I am to help you achieve them. As an extreme edge case – the worst thing you could do is send a generic “I want a job” email. This may have the undesirable effect of conveying laziness, or at the very least, a lack of understanding of the process or value for my time.

3. Back up your case: Continuing in the theme for #2, the more detail you can provide the better. This is an email, not a cover letter, but at the same time including a few tidbits or examples to back up why you think you’re a good candidate or why you need assistance beyond the regular application portal is important. If you’re a spam and reputation service expert and just can’t seem to find any job listings that seem to be worth applying to – call that out! As the old adage goes, “Help me, help you.”

4. Include your resume: This may seem an obvious one, but you’d be surprised how many emails I receive that don’t include a resume. Of course, sending a resume by email doesn’t replace having to apply through the careers site, but it’s more convenient to the recruiter than having to look it up in our database.  

5. Don’t spam: Or maybe, put another way, be genuine in your approach! There isn’t anything wrong with contacting more than one recruiter to hedge your bets, but be transparent with each recruiter about what you are doing. And don’t send the exact same form-letter to all of us. I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say my opinion isn’t adversely affected when I receive a form letter with one of our competitor’s names in the subject line!

6. And last...be patient: Recruiters receive hundreds of email a day, and while we do our best it’s inevitable that some triage takes place. By following the above advice you can increase the likelihood of a response, but not necessarily guarantee it. If you aren’t hearing back, it’s okay to send a follow up mail a few days after the original, but beyond that consider that you might not be contacting the right person or asking the right questions. If you still aren’t hearing back, take a self-critical look and consider another route. And, as always, don’t forget the careers site! It’s still the primary route to be considered for any open position!

-Kenji

When it comes to looking for a job, experience is king. So what's a candidate to do? Especially when they are feeling "stuck in the middle". One such person expressed that very frustration when they wrote to us and asked:

There seem to be a lot of positions for people right out of college or people with 5 plus years of experience. Are there opportunities for people with “in between” experience? Say 2-3 years of experience? What should I do? 

I hear you. So I went on a mission and sat down with Jason Pankow to ask him what he thought. In fact I sort of ambushed him with my camera in his office. Since this is very much an on the spot interview you know you are getting the straight scoop from Jason.

Watch what Jason has to say and let us know what you think. Then tell us what you'd like to hear more of on Dear JobsBlog!

Cheers,
Zoe 

Dear JobsBlog: I am in my last year of studies at a university outside the US. I am getting my resume ready to apply for jobs, but I am not familiar with how resumes are written for US companies. Do you have any tips for me on what information to include (or not include) and what format I should use?

All the best –

Waiting to Apply

Dear Waiting: You don’t even know how timely your question is! We just got this great download of information from our U.S. University team on what they look for in a resume. They give advice on what information is important to include and what you should leave out and even provide a simple formatting matrix and sample resume.

Though it may seem like this information is meant for international students applying for jobs at Microsoft, we think it can apply to just about any student or new grad looking for a new position in the U.S.

Here is the post. Hope this is helpful to you and your fellow job seekers!

Good luck,

Gretchen