It's not just the numbers!
As Jenna mentioned we are “rated” by the number of hires produced and at the end of the day it is all about tracking the numbers. For example to reach my overall goal in a quarter, I typically have to review at least 1000 resumes. So as you see there is a lot of work that goes into finding “the hire” at Microsoft.
Ok, so now that I've given you a taste of the “numbers”; at the end of the day I still have to say it’s not “just about the numbers”! I KNOW that at every step of my process these numbers are living, breathing human beings and that I am as much there advocate into Microsoft as I am a gatekeeper for my Hiring Managers time. I try and keep that in mind as I am making my decisions about whom to contact, who gets priority as far as getting on my calendar first and such. Communication is crucial to this job and providing a positive recruiting experience is paramount not only to Microsoft but to MY personal reputation as an industry recruiter. I know full well that networking is a critical path to success as a recruiter and if you do not look at things outside of the “numbers” your network may well collapse.
Take Frank for example; I came across Frank during a search for people that had applied to one of our Program Manager positions (Yes we do look!!) in our applicant tracking system. Right away I was able to tell (in my opinion anyways ;-p ) that he was a hire. OK! So this was made a bit easier by the fact that he had been through a loop at MS recently and received all positive responses on the feedback, but the team was not able to move to an offer at that time.
Immediately I did two things; contacted the recruiter that was in charge of the original loop to see what was going on (our reputation for doing the right thing within our own community is also critical for success) and flagged the candidate for follow up so he didn’t go off my radar. Once I got the “story” and the “ok to move forward” from the other recruiter I contacted Frank to see if he was still interested in opportunities with Microsoft and if he remembered the position with Office Live he had applied to. Yes and Yes! Great! Now onto my screen questions so I could submit him to my hiring manager.
Frank and I had a great conversation and while he wasn’t the “typical” core tech software development background Program Manager candidate I typically look for this position required a strong User Experience background which Frank had in droves! Now from Frank’s perspective he had not really considered a career at Microsoft as his background is very strong within Apple’s products. Frank is also a blog follower and has used Jobsblog to gather information. Read some of the things that he had to say about the MS recruiting process and our bloggers.
Taken from an email from Frank: “The blogging thing is way cool and I think it can only help someone in your position. As someone who has supreme power as the MSFT Jobs gatekeeper, a lot of folks are looking to your posts for guidance and insight as to how to attain their dream job. Your last post was great for someone who is looking to get into MSFT as a developer and gave some very insightful information. I would love to see more posts like that. I can't begin to tell you how much I have learned from the Jobs Blog and many other blogs within MSFT. It was a MAJOR contributing factor to swaying my opinions and attitude about Microsoft in a positive way.”
He also had a bit of advice for me which is always appreciated as blogging is something new for me!
Frank said, “I say keep up the good work and for future topics, think about how you felt trying to get in and the types of questions that you were wondering about. If it's something you can write about now, I think it's a safe bet there are many others wondering the same things. Talk to you soon...”
Frank is interviewing with our team soon… wish him luck!!
~Eric
PS: A shameless shout out to my son Drake who is celebrating his 1st birthday today!! Happy Birthday Drake - Daddy loves you!
9 Comments
Scott Simmons said:
Happy Birthday Drake!
Enjoy the day.
S:)
Erich said:
I'm curious, if you've been through the interview process before and received favorable feedback, but didn't get the job ... would you suggest going through the recruiter you dealt with on-site at Microsoft if you want to re-apply or submit your resume into the general database for a specific position? Thanks!
Erich
EricMStutzman said:
Hi Erich,
I think its a case by case basis. There have been times that I have revisted candidates that didnt get selected for offers and brought them in for a different position and gotten an offer out the second time around.
In general I would recommend applying directly to the positions that you are interested in, as I (and most likely the other MS recruiters) cannot possibly know all of our counterparts and what positions they are recruiting for. If you apply directly there is a good chance the recruiter will see your resume attached to their open positions.
That being said, if you have a good relationship with your recruiter you could do a follow up and see if there are any opportunities that would be a match to you.
Hope that helps.
Eric
Erich said:
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the insight!
Erich
Akram said:
Really guys you are doing one hell of a great job. I had the privilage to be interviewed at microsoft a while ago as a program manager, and i had an amazing experience with all the interviewers. The jobsblog was an amazing source for me to know about MS life and the people whom i expect to work with, really it had a great effect on me that i didn't blink to take a decision after i took my offer. It is because people like you eric and others that i was so fortunate to have this job. I was contacted by a recruiter and brought down from Egypt down to microsoft for an interview and what amazes me really about MS is how they reach the far end of the world to find a matching talent. I am joining in october and i am really excited to be part of a great society like MS, one day i will write about my interview experience at MS really it was a journey to heaven on earth.
Pradeep U.N. said:
The metrics if it is just about getting a MS hire and the hiring funnel says 1000 resumes have to be fed into it to meet a quarterly goal - as herculian as it is - still sounds very short term and tactical to me.
Is there a metric that shows the successful relevance of the candidate hired measured by the duration the person stays in that position or how well he/she does in that position in the first/second yr? Or maybe a post mortem survey after 1 yr?
Jus curious :)
dhaval said:
Hello Eric,
I am from India .. and I am a fresher .. and I know I am talented ... and I know I am born to be at lobbying at the lobby of Microsoft one day... Well I have a series of questions ..which may be u can answer ... and may be no one else can ... or may be only u wish to answer to me and no one else does ...
Let me put them in order so that u can answer them in the same way ...
Q1) Microsoft in India has seven divisons out of which I am interested in joining either GDCI, IDC and or MSR.
For SDE or SDET positions in GDCI and IDC most of the recruitments are through campus and the rest are through referals...
The pattern is same for both.....
u have four rounds ---- one is a written test,then a group discussion, then a Technical interview and then a HR ....
When compared to the pattern at US there cud be about 8 to 10 rounds of interviews .. mostly all of them being technical .......
Now my question is why an there is so many differences in the selection procedure ....?? where in India or US u usually work on the same products .......
2)Why is most of the concetration on campus interviews ... why not have a large number of offcampus and .. job fairs ... where the "campus guyz" can also come and compete with guyz like us who are equivally deserving and competant !!!!!
3)In campus interviews here ... Based on your projects u r asked ur interview questions .. and then basic quesitons in C ..and OS[no quesitons like the selling of ice cubes or mount fuji] and u dont need to know in details about the MS.net, biztalk,vista,CE,etc ... they expect u wud learn as the course of ur internship gets over.
My question is when one interviews a guy/girl just out of college .. why is she expected to knwo c# or .Net or WinFS and stuff ... y not give him/her the same oppurtunities.... ???[and I am not saying this out of frustation ... I know c# and WinFS and I am currently working on CE.... my project was in java and i am quite good at NUNIT and JUNIT testng]
4)What if i apply today at www.microsoft.com/careers and get through a telephonic interview .. wud i be flow to and fro to US for the onsite interview .. or wud i have a web conference interview like the google guyz do [oops did i take the wrong name]....
waiting waiting waiting to get ur reply ...
Akshaya said:
Give my blessings to Drake.....hope he becomes the Chairman of MS ;-)
Now, for my question, I m final yr student in India and I had applied for an internship at MSR India(only) 2 months back. Then I recieved a mail from a personnel at MSR Redmond about a position, he thought I would be suitable for. After various interactions, we came across something called a geo-location factor! According, to which non-US students were given less priority in the summer(and I m not available in falls)and later, the position was filled and the deal was over.
Now, what I want to ask is, how can guys like me can deal with this factor. I am constant follower of this blog and have read many of the posts under the International Recruiting section.
Also, I am planning to start my own research project, here in India, as a major project of my engg. Can I get some help, guidance, mentoring or sponsorship from Microsoft??
I have already sent a mail to the same guy(at MSR Redmond) and a reply is still awaited.
Do u have any suggestion or a protocol(kinda something) for me?
Thnx
Akshaya
jenna erich said:
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