Entries tagged 'dear-jobsblog'
Is it better to have coding experience in the US or abroad?
Dear JobsBlog: I am a developer with 6 years of experience working outside of the US. American recruiters have been rejecting my application and I suspect that it is because of the international-nature of my coding experience. I thought that coding was not affected by place. Does the location of my coding experience really matter?-International Dev
Dear International Dev: It is unlikely that they would pass on you based solely on the geography of where your coding experience is gained. That said, there are many factors at play when considering candidates with international experience – some of which, may inhibit our ability to consider you further.Here are a few personal examples where I’ve rejected resumes with International experience. Perhaps one of these applies and will help shed some light?
The candidate requires a new visa, yet none are available. There really aren’t many options for overcoming this obstacle. No matter how strong a resume may be, there is a legal barrier here, which must be respected.
The candidate still lives abroad. This is a problem of time and money and – as painful as it might be to admit – it’s not about picking the absolute best candidate. Frankly, interviewing an international candidate takes longer and costs more money. For some positions, it might not make sense when a domestic and equally qualified candidate can be found faster.
The resume isn’t the best match for the role. The years of experience listed are just a number; other qualifications must also be considered, as well as the depth of that experience and the overall quality of the resume.
The important thing I’d want candidates to know here is that Resume Review is both a quantitative and comparative process. Recruiters are evaluating resumes based both on the requirements of the position and how that resume compares to the others in the stack.
The fine print/some critical reflection: with any generic question, it’s important to remember that each position is different in what it will and won’t consider. A personal frustration, which I’m sure many of our readers share, is that most job boards (and job descriptions) do not make it easy to search and filter positions based on the above type of criteria.
Our systems also do not currently provide automated updates to a candidate at the earliest stages of consideration. This is commonly perceived as the “Black hole effect,” and unfortunately, not going away soon. Just know that recruiters like myself are spending hours each week reading the resumes which are submitted to us, and there is *usually* a good reason if we aren’t moving forward.
-Kenji
Quick take: E.J. Layne’s intern life
‘Softie in Question: E.J. Layne
Job title: Program Manager Intern – Immersive Office Experience
On summer break from his Master’s degree studies in Computer Science at Georgia Tech, E.J. Layne decided to intern on Microsoft’s Redmond Campus. Far from mastering the photocopier or Starbucks runs, E.J. is trusted with evolving some of Microsoft Office OneNote’s upcoming features and driving new ideas to advance technology.
Beyond his substantial work responsibilities, E.J. also finds time to compete on an Ultimate Frisbee club team and star in Season 3 of My Intern Life (MIL3).
He is one of eight Microsoft interns contributing weekly video snippets for the online mini-series. New episodes will be posted on Microsoft JobsBlog every Wednesday through September. Even if you are just starting to consider interning in the technology industry, MIL3 is not to be missed!
Microspotting caught up with E.J. to hear how he’s settling in as an intern and get behind the scenes of his behind the scene videos.
E.J., was it always a goal to intern at Microsoft?
I guess I always saw Microsoft as a pinnacle in the tech industry, but never really counted on working here. I also looked at Google, but decided that the Program Manager (PM) role at Microsoft was best for me.Why’s that?
At Google, the internship is more of a narrow user experience design role. The PM internship here allows me to design my feature using my computer science background. However, I also have to consider real world user scenarios, competition and development costs in my design. It’s a broader experience and a better fit for me.
Your resume questions answered!
A few weeks ago we asked you to submit your resume questions to us on Facebook and Twitter. We were going to try a new feature where we took a selection of those questions and then provided you with quick video responses from some of our staffing experts here at Microsoft. Due to some unforeseen logistical issues it took us a little bit longer to post this then we hoped, but here it is!Kenji Yamaguchi (Windows Live) and Jason Pankow (Xbox) both Staffing Consultants, took a time out to answer a few queries. Let us know what topics you’d like for us to cover in the future!
Searching for a job while happily employed
Dear JobsBlog: I’m pretty happily with my current job, but I’m ready to take the next step in my career. How do I negotiate a job search while I am still employed? I am nervous about my current employer finding out that I am interested in looking at other companies. Is there a way for me to do this tactfully?-Happily Employed
Dear Happy: Though it might be scary, one of the best things you can do for yourself while you are content in your current job is to keep yourself marketable. This means that you have to take the initiative and step out of your comfort zone a bit. Trying a few of these things below can really keep your skills fresh. And who knows? It may also lead you exactly to that next step in your career. 1. “Finding out what you’re worth” – Someone I know recently coined this phrase. It had been 14 years since he had last interviewed outside of his company and it was an eye opening experience for him. To keep yourself marketable, you should interview outside of your company at least once every two years to keep your interview skills strong, see how employers in your field are evaluating candidates, and to “see what you’re worth” as far as any potential offers might receive. This is invaluable because you are forced to go through preparation, perform industry research, and see what it takes to get to the next step or into the top company for your field. If you can’t even get out of the gate (i.e. land an interview) you know that you have a lot of work to do. And that is a whole other blog topic!
Are you ready to rock er...or code?
It feels good to stray from the norm and ask different questions! This week we wanted to know what music you rock out to while working. We got some incredibibly enthusiastic and fun answers from all of you. And, as there are hundreds of different styles of music, there were almost as many different categories of music you like to listen to while working. Classical, folk, trance, pop, classic rock, metal, folk Punjabi, progressive rock - some we didn't even know existed as a category.
Your tips for video conferencing interviews
Last week we asked whether you prefer a video or phone interview and you suprised us with your responses. Times they are a changin'. This week, since you seemed to indicate that video interviews were your top choice, so we asked you to share your top tips for making video interviews successful with other jobseekers. We seemed to be on target with our advice, but here are the top three we liked.
Video conferencing is a preferred method to phone interviews
The responses to this week’s question: “What would you prefer - a video conference or a telephone interview?”, left us scratching our head a little. Really almost all of you – a whopping 88% - said you would rather have a video conference instead of just a phone interview. Our original guess was that, with some of the technical limitations, you would rather have a phone interview. That hypothesis was definitely blown out of the water!It did get us thinking about the advantages of seeing who you are talking to, but also some potential pitfalls. Here are a few quick tips for a successful visual – if not live in person – interview for both participants.
Missed the #LifeatMS Twitter chat? Read the full transcript now
Thanks to all who participated in our #LifeatMS tweet-a-thon this morning.
If you weren’t able to join us then, please take a look at the complete transcript below. There are some great conversations and insights in there. And make sure to keep an eye out for our next Twitter chat (details to come on Microsoft Careers Facebook and @MSFTcareers on Twitter).
And special thanks to Jubal @jubal_ince, Megan @megansmcdonald, Lorrin @lorrinm & Gretchen @gledgard for fielding the questions today! Make sure to follow all of them on Twitter.
The questions and answers in the chat are as follows (all answers were reprinted verbatim):Questions we dread during interviews
This week’s question, “What is the one interview question you hope you don’t have to answer?”, produced some very interesting responses, from the humorous, to the expected, to questions that are illegal to ask in the United States. Here’s our take on some of the themes shared in your comments:Simone got us laughing when she posted: “Is that toilet paper on your shoe?” Yeah, wouldn’t be too awesome to walk into an interview dragging along some TP from your last bathroom break. Though maybe it could be an icebreaker to get both you and the interviewer cracking up about something silly.
We hear you on the “What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?” questions. We’ve hopefully helped set you on the right track with our post on this topic, but still this isn’t an easy set of questions to answer.
What do you ask when interviewing a company?
I think we can all agree that interviewing is a two way street. Though maybe a little more heavily weighted towards the employer, we also get to ask questions to determine whether the company is a place where we want to either start or continue to develop our careers. That’s why our question this week focused on you as the interviewer of a new employer; “What is the one question you always ask during interviews to make sure the job is right for you?”One common theme that emerged was what the company has to offer you. From on the job development, to community involvement to, yes bonuses, it was important for you to know how a company will support you and your career and maybe even some of your interests:
