You can use your favorite social network to register or link an existing account:
Or use your email address to register without a social network:
Sign in with these social networks:
Or enter your username and password
Forgot your password?
Yes, please link my existing account with for quick, secure access.
No, I would like to create a new account with my profile information.
Since resumes are among our most popular template downloads on Office Online, and particularly from our Career Center we thought it might be worthwhile to offer you job seekers even more assistance as you start the journey of finding that perfect position. So, it just made sense to go directly to the source - our own human resources department - to glean some sage advice. I'd like to thank Ty Madarang for taking time out of his busy recruiting schedule to share knowledge gained from his experience. -- Nancy
I am a Staffing Consultant with Microsoft and hire Industry talent for the Office Online organization. I have been in the Staffing Industry for nearly 10 years, and love what I do. One of the satisfying elements to my job is the impact I have in people’s lives. Every candidate I talk to I learn something from. I’d like to share with you some tips for those of you that want to explore the job market and want to get ahead of the game. Enjoy!
1. Know what you want: if you’re going to invest your time and energy in a job search, you owe it to yourself to first identify what want to do. What’s your passion? Why are you looking for a new role? What makes you happy? Keep these things top of mind, and it will not only be good to keep yourself honest, but keep you focused. That energy will exude well when talking to future employers.
2. Keep it short and sweet (K.I.S.S.): many of you may remember that phrase from your teacher or career counselor in school – well guess what, those are great words to live by! Employers aren’t so hard and fast about 1 page resumes, but be sure to compose your resume with experiences that are relevant to what you’re looking for. Your resume tells a story and should have a flow of related/transferrable experiences. Keeping it succinct listing examples is a great way to lay that out and will also give you guiding points for you to elaborate in an interview.
3. Do your homework: with a healthy and competitive job market you should remind yourself that there will always be more candidates than job openings. That said, getting ahead of the pack is key. What can you do? – great question….here are some basic pointers:
a. Tailor your resume to the position you are applying for.
b. review the job description – focus in on the key things that is referenced in the position
c. research the company/product/service/business model/team
d. come up w/ key examples of skills/experiences that you have that transfer to what is being asked
e. prepare a set of critical questions you want to ask - think about what’s most important to you at the end of the day
4. What do recruiters look for? That’s always top of mind with candidates. Disclaimer - different companies have different sets of requirements for their respective positions. From my perspective as a Staffing Consultant at Microsoft, I tend to look for 3 core things in all candidates:
a. Functional aptitude: the related skills, experience, and aptitude that are transferrable to the function or role itself (for instance, for a software development role – things like industry software development experience).
b. Technical aptitude (if applicable): the technical skills, experiences that are relevant for the role (for instance, software development/programming, working with specific technologies in a particular domain). A candidate may also be probed regarding what they have worked with, and how have they used the technologies – what have they done with it, their depth of knowledge/experience, etc.
c. “Core Competencies”: competencies are a set of behaviors that differentiate outstanding performance from typical performance in a profession or path. They are linked to critical business needs that will enable our success today and in the future. To put in other words, it’s the “how” that elaborates on the “what”. For instance, what is equally important to answering an interview question right or wrong, is how does the person come up with the solution – what is their thought process?, drive for results?, are they thinking about the different stakeholders/users?, do they need to think globally (different cultures, languages, characters)?, etc.
5. Follow up: these days there are so many different ways to connect with job opportunities – through the Internet, your contacts, company website/job posting, recruiting events, career fairs, etc., etc, so keeping your name top of mind with the employer is key, so do your part and follow up. Contacts are typically available to you, especially when companies have open positions – they try to make it as easy as possible to reach them. Be sure to ask for a contact just in case and follow up within 1 week of your last contact with them. Keep in mind that you may also be doing a favor to the recruiting contact since they may be overwhelmed with the number of responses.
I hope this was helpful for you. You’re probably asking yourself, “hey this is great, how do I take action and apply?" I'm glad you asked! You can go to our career site, select your country, and search for open jobs by product, keyword and more. Or you can look at specific jobs for Office Online because the Office Online organization is hiring!
--Ty Madarang
Staffing Consultant
Microsoft Corporation
Like this post? Share it!
Share on Facebook
Really like this post? Bookmark it!
Comments: (24) Collapse
I have 15-years in munnicipal government.
5-years as a City Manager10-years as a zcity Councilmember President for 2-Terms. I have a lot of education but no degree. I have 20-years in Sales and Management. My question is: How do I create an attractive resume without discussing the last 3-years of recovery from a near fatal brain injury? I am recovering well and hope to be able to return to active employment upon completion of my rehabilation at the Ohio State University Medical Center. Thank you for your anticipated reply, MikeO'Brien mikeobrien127@hotmail.com
Hi Mike - you might find this article interesting: www.msnbc.msn.com/.../16932295
Check out my website, in my experience I have ran into two different situations: Ordinary recruiters would want me to provide a short resume, however headhunters want to know more so I have a long version of my resume. Both can be downloaded into Word documents. For the record, I've been programming with Microsoft's products over ten years.
Hi Mike - sorry for the delayed response. As for your question, I wouldn't worry too much, gaps in employment history happens. I would recommend including a cover letter to go along w/ your resume. That provides you an opportunity to highlight any relevant experience that you have been doing while out of employment, and, should also elaborate why you are interested in a particular role you are applying for. Good luck!
currently i work at electronic manufacture, i was try to sent many apply to many company,my question is how can i make resume and cv for telecomunication company. and can i get resume and cv sample for it. regard bagus
i diane nero ft collge student and i need this product to free trail with enter 25 character to set up the dialog box please this class is very important please send this product my 1-18-08 i need this to complete my assignments thanks ms nero if you have any question call me 8042226838 after 1-18-08
Hi Diane - I'm not sure what you are requesting, but it looks like a question for Support. Here's a link to the page that tells you how to reach them: support.microsoft.com/.../default.aspx
Hi Bagus - you can search our templates database for a CV or resume template: office.microsoft.com/.../CT101043371033.aspx For advice on how to write your resume, check out the articles on MSN Careers: msn.careerbuilder.com/.../category.aspx
I've worked 25 yrs for a telecommunications giant. I have been a clerk-typist, customer service rep, and a repair and installation technician. During my employment, I have earned a BS, and I am also finished a MS (Organizational Change Management). How do I transistion into a new career? I am very interested in organizational coaching,more specificially in the areas of public speaking and relationship building. How do I tailor my resume to fit this criteria?
Iam quite happy with the suggesions given, but still i have some concerns can you kindly help me out? I was working as Finance promoter for two wheeler loan ICICI and i have no proofs to submit as it was not on rules, we were working for some unknow associates . As on now iam working for Skoda four wheeler as CRE , I got this job by my spoken skill in the interview. The company dint bother to ask me the past job experience, Ihave completed 6 months in the present job . My only concern is about that 5Years of my working with the previous company. Can you kindly help me on the this regard Thank you
I feel the most important thing for a resume, and this goes a little against SOME traditional conventions, is comfort level of the writer when it comes to talking about the facts presented. There are resumes for Headhunters, resumes for Internet-based job databases and resumes you hand out to family/friends/former co-workers to keep them up to date on you! It is common knowledge the best jobs are not advertised in the newspaper and may not appear on any Internet job site, so growing a social network of "(your name here) Promoters" is one more way to go! Remember, you are the "product" and know what you would be both happiest and most productive doing! Begging someone for a job only indebts you to them in subtle and often unspoken ways. Is that the sort of first, second or third "career" you want? Give yourself credit for KNOWING the things you know AND having the ability to find answers to the things you do not know. This is one skill many perspective employees are lacking.
Great discussion here. Finding a new job is challenging and requires focus and self-reflection. Updating your resume to suit the job description helps, but good old networking is still apparently one of the best tools for finding a new job. Have you read this article? www.msnbc.msn.com/.../16950204 It's an interview with Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute? I used that book to find my first job a couple of decades ago, and the information in it is still relevant today. Bolles also has a lot of great resources on his web site:
http://www.jobhuntersbible.com Good luck.
I agree, great discussion. If your questions did not get answered, please let me know and I'm happy to help out. Good luck!
Hi, I am cmpleting my MBA from leading B-school and about to apply to Microsoft. My hesitation...I have one gap of 4-5 months and another short assignment of 3 months. Both of which I do not want to show, and was contemplating covering the same by stretching the work experinces on both ...but am apprehensive that MS may undertake background checks even for international students and this may not be the right decision... Question : Would MS definitley do a background check (of work experience) for an international student (Asian country) ? Need a definite response here, please.
Hi Paul - yes, we do background checks verifying employment. You shouldn't feel discouraged to apply as we not only assess someone's skills/experience, but potential/aptitude as well. Feel free to send me your resume directly and we can discuss further. tymad@microsoft.com Thanks
Comments: (loading) Collapse