a latest post, Tablet Laptop Development Supervisor, Philip Su, talked about the ups and downs he’s seen in Microsoft’s ability to attract the best technical talent over the course of the last few years. As someone who was a college student in the late 90s, I can remember the lure of the “######y” companies, like Trilogy. (Hey, we still have the Boze home theater speakers that Josh won at a Trilogy event. We call them the “Trilogy Memorial Speakers,” and we enjoy them nightly. Thanks, Trilogy!) That said, while other companies had a lot of great perks to offer, Microsoft’s visits to my campus were always the big events of the year. Around fall and spring career fair time, Microsoft would also host tech talks with some Redmond-based engineers and interns (and don’t forget the free pizza), and that lecture was the place to be. company right before the bubble burst, and I remember the recruiters couldn’t hire people fast enough. We had lots of open positions, and Hiring Managers were eager to hire, hire,
office 2007 Standard update key, hire. recruiting, I felt the first effects of the bubble burst around early 2001. At that time, I was a member of the international recruiting team. In the late 90s, Microsoft hired quite a bit overseas as the domestic market was dwindling. But as the economy began to shut down stateside (and just like every company, Microsoft began to look at cost-cutting efforts), the North American candidate pool became our primary focus. And that meant a change in jobs for me. often assume that Microsoft recruiters’ jobs got easier when the economic times got tough. I mean, we had a larger candidate pool, just as many open positions, and mostly the same resources and budget that we had in previous years. But, at least in my opinion,
windows 7 home basic 32bit, our roles increased in complexity. Hiring Managers, realizing the error of their eager ways in the 90s, started being more selective in their hiring decisions. That’s certainly not a bad thing – but for the first time (maybe ever) recruiters really had to work to find that perfect hire. Sure, more candidates existed in the market, but not all were qualified, and that just meant even more volume to wade through to find the right match. And when we tried to recruit people who were already gainfully employed, often they weren't interested. A secure job was a coveted thing, and people weren't eager to give that up to take a chance with Microsoft. The “close” was certainly easier though. We still had to sell against the usual competitors like IBM, Amazon, and eventually Google, but the lure of the start-up virtually disappeared. split into model of which I personally was a fan. I called it the “checks and balances” system. One recruiter would be in charge of finding, attracting, and screening the talent. Then that recruiter would pass the candidate off to another recruiter who would be tasked with managing the interview day, consulting with the Hiring Supervisor on the hire/no hire decision, and declining or offering the candidate,
microsoft office 2007 Professional Plus code, if appropriate. Typically (but not always), the first recruiter was primarily goaled on the number of “offer-able” candidates submitted for interviews, and the second recruiter would be primarily goaled on the percentage of “offers accepted.” While this system had many process flaws and inconsistencies,
genuine office 2010 32 bit, I liked it because it helped ensure that the recruiters were making the right decisions for the company, not just for their own “numbers.” The second recruiter became a gatekeeper who could help advise the Hiring Supervisor from a more un-biased perspective. model has since changed, and we work in a different fashion now (which has its own positive qualities), but that high bar of excellence with both Hiring Managers and recruiters is still there. Sometimes, I’d argue the bar is too high. We got so paranoid from our hiring trends in the 90s that we are often scared to take chances on people now. (I still maintain there is little chance we’d hire a young Billg if he applied for a job today.) the economy evens out in the coming months and years (hopefully!), I think we’ll see a balance between the two extremes. The pain of the 90s will slowly dull,
microsoft office 2007 Enterprise serial, and the fear of the early 00s will subside. as always, I’ll continue my mission to help Microsoft remain and/or become (never sure which it is!) the #1 employer of choice.