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!

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Dear JobsBlog:
I am interested in applying to Microsoft, but am worried that I am not eligible because I have a degree from an online university.

I would have liked to attend a traditional university, but did not grow up with many opportunities. Are degrees from accredited online universities accepted at Microsoft? If so, how can I showcase my skills to Microsoft so that my resume is not eliminated in the first round (when it gets compared to others who have attended schools with fancier names but may have less actual programming experience than me)?
- Confused Online Grad

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Have you ever wondered what fields of study are hot right now in the world of technology?  Or maybe you’re starting to think about declaring your major and you’re looking for some real world guidance?

It is worth thinking beyond a traditional Computer Science degree or even an Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) program. Microsoft is hiring people with unique backgrounds, some that are new with the inception of the Cloud, web services and the amazing scale at which the industry is operating (Exabyte anyone?).

The following is my list of the Top Three hottest academic areas for a future career in tech:

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Resume review & advice. Part II of II. (read Part I)

Resume review actually consists of several different “layers” of consideration.

There are multiple factors that I consider simultaneously and all need to be accounted for before I make the decision to contact a candidate for a phone interview. What I’m looking for is a resume that “pops out" at me on multiple layers. 

The first thing that I look for when reviewing a resume, are the basics: does this candidate meet the minimum requirements for the position? Keep in mind, for many positions there are two sets of requirements – the bare minimum required – and the bonus qualifications that I’m ideally hoping to find. In this layer, I’m only looking for the former – but I’m militant in my resolve. If I need a year of experience, and you have six months – sorry, I just clicked “NEXT”.

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Resume review & advice. Part I of II. (Read Part II)

I’ve considered writing about resume advice since I started contributing to JobsBlog. However, I’ve put it off and even considered not writing about it at all because the subject matter can be VERY controversial.

I’m not going to make you the empty promise that following my advice will *really* help you land that next job or get your resume noticed in the sea of resumes. Resume writing is more art than science and any advice charading as the singular truth can lead you down the wrong path.

What I will share with you is, for better or worse, the process I use when reviewing resumes – and I’m going to give you the honest not-so-sugar-coated-truth about what goes through my mind when I click “NEXT.
This is an unvarnished account. Reader beware:

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Over the weekend, Bing partnered with world-renowned public speaker Richard Greene and Avatar director James Cameron to host The Avatar Award Competition in New York City.

Over $12,000 in scholarships were given to the students who delivered the best 2-3 minute speeches on “An Environmental Lesson I Learned from Avatar and How to Apply it in My Community, New York City, America and/or the World”.

In addition to the competition, attendees saw a special screening of some of the highlights of Avatar, heard from James Cameron, learned public speaking secrets from Richard Greene, and learned how Bing can help them become better informed and confident about their ideas.

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I titled this blog post for developers, however, I believe it's sound advice for anyone writing a resume.  

What jobseekers need to keep in mind is that skilled recruiters are masters of Boolean logic.  We use it in search engines, metasearch engines and job boards.  I use it to find people's profiles, blogs and resumes on your webpage. 

So how is this information helpful???  The data in these mediums is immense – so we often tie several key search terms to make our search more effective.  For example, in LinkedIn a typical search for a Sr. UI Developer could look like (c# OR c++) AND (Silverlight OR WPF) AND (UI OR UX).

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There was a great bit in the original Clerks film where Dante and Randal discuss if one’s stated function always ties to what they actually do… (As pointed out in the past by Kenji!). Anyone who’s been around the technology industry knows that the meaning of a job title differs greatly from company to company. There’s a famous blog by Steven Sinofsy that dissects the difference between the PM role at Microsoft vs. anywhere else, so no need to revisit that here.

I did want to call out though that when you get on the phone with a recruiter, they will pay less attention to the title you held at company X and more attention to the responsibilities you performed in that role. I bring this up because there’s been a few times where I’ve seen something interesting on a resume that made me think about them for a title different than what they are working as now.

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