Most of my readers will know that getting a job at Microsoft has been a, well, a passion of mine for the last 8 months or so. Recently I’ve sidelined this in favour of taking care of my family. With a little one on the way I don’t feel now’s the time to move.

I recently got an email that went something like this:

I saw several of your postings on the MS recruiters site Moon Gals. I’m
wondering… How did your quest go? Any advice you might have for a fellow
PM trying to get recruited for work at MS?

Well, I responded to the poster in question. I’m copying it here because I feel it might hold value for others who are looking for jobs at Microsoft. It doesn’t answer how to deal with the phone interview or the onsite. I’m not an expert in those areas. Hell, I’m not an expert in anything related to getting a job at Microsoft, but at least I have knowledge of the people and processes behind a lot of where they’re coming from.

Here is my response to her question:

To be honest, my quest is on hold for now. We’ve recently become pregnant, and I felt that now isn’t exactly the best time to move.

Really, there are 3 parts to the whole process (all of this is shared “as is” and in no way is guaranteed to be accurate):

1. Beginning a dialogue
2. Getting recognized
3. Landing an opportunity

I know the obvious steps are resume, phone interview and in person interivew, but I’ve found these steps to effectively be false. They don’t progress that way for too many people, and too many people get held up on trying to get that elusive phone interview so they simply submit hundreds of resumes.

To me, the steps I outlined are in order of importance as well as chronological order, though I do concede that you could get recognized before beginning a dialogue.

To frame my steps, I need to give some background, in case you’re new to trying to apply at Microsoft. First, Microsoft is, before anything else, an entity. And it’s a rather silent entity. It doesn’t say a whole hell of a lot unless it wants to. The bare minimum in fact. Yes, there are employees who talk, engage in conversations, etc, but by and large the entity (as it currently stands, though it IS changing) is a silent one.

You’ll encounter this very quickly as you start to look for jobs. Send resume after resume and not get any response besides the standard one… And for many people it starts right there.

But, by and large, the reason Microsoft is such a silent entity is because it is freaking huge. And, by and large, it really only knows the people it knows.

What’s the easiest way to get to know Microsoft? Begin a dialogue. Start a conversation. Pick a sales rep, a blogger, a local usergroup staff member… Whatever. But pick a Microsoftie and get to know them as a person. Don’t even bring up any job. Don’t farm this person for their contacts. None of it. They can smell it from a mile away and if you ever do land a job they might just resent you for it. Maybe. Or not. Either way, I personally feel that using people for their connections (specifically for a job) doesn’t foster relationship, and relationship really is key.

Ultimately it should be your goal to get noticed. However, without beginning a dialogue or winning a Nobel Prize this is exceedingly difficult to do. Beyond becoming an MVP (not easy), starting an ISV (not easy) or writing a book or famous application (or getting bought out) it is very hard to get noticed… Unless you begin a dialogue.

The great thing about dialogues is that they lead to conversations. And then relationships and, eventually, relationships lead to you feeling like you actually have a relationship with the entity that is Microsoft.

This is utlimately the most important step, in my opinion, because the hardest part at Microsoft isn’t getting the phone interview or anything, it’s finding the right job in the right team! You’ll hear lots of Microsoft people, as you get to know them, say “wow, you’d be great for Microsoft” or even “you’d be great for this job” or even “you’d be great for this team” and all of those will be true (at least they were / are in my case). However it’s being the right person for the right job on the right team that is the difficult part.

And it is this relationship knowledge which will allow you to get noticed for the right jobs. After all, once you know 5-50 Microsoft folks, saying to one “hey, do you know [x] who’s hiring for position [y]” is easy. You’re basically just asking for an email address. After you’ve developed some kind of relationship, very few people will mind giving this out.

Talk to the individual (via email) about the position. Let them know your background. See if there’s a fit. If there is, great, apply through them or through your original contact. What you don’t, ideally, want to do is just “apply through the Careers page”. This is the party line and is really the thing you’ll hear more than anything else. The reality is that while the Careers page is where the most resumes come through, it isn’t actually where the most interviews come through. The most interviews come from internal referrals either from staff members or from the hiring manager.

Don’t push the fact that you’re looking for an internal referral, but be honest: you would love this job, you would love to work for Microsoft and you feel you are the right person for the right job on the right team. If the individual agrees with you, they shouldn’t feel bullied into referring you. But be gentle. Again, this is about relationships before anything.

Why is it about relationships before anything? Because Microsoft folk are a very social bunch. In their own weird way. There are some very interesting codes of behaviour, and for many people it has been hard to shake mis-steps made during the hiring process. So, again, think of Microsoft as an entity. A wrong done to anyone might just come back to bite you.

This isn’t to say that Microsoft folk are vengeful or unfriendly. Quite the opposite. Most new hires will be awed by how friendly everyone actually is. By and large this is because they haven’t gotten to know the people at Microsoft first and foremost. Personally it is still my dream to work at Microsoft, and one of the biggest reasons is because I’d be able to get to personally know the 50 or so people I only know through email / IM / phone calls.

As far as tips for the phone interview and onsite? I’ll leave that to the pros. JobsBlog. Robert Scoble. Chris Sells. How to Move Mount Fuji. As long as you keep these tips in mind, you should do well.

I’m going to post this to my blog and point Gretchen and Zoe to it to see what they think. I’d hate to misrepresent Microsoft or get any facts wrong, but I’m sure you aren’t the only person with this question (or with some of the frustrations I’ve felt over the months).

Good luck in your search, and have a great week :)

Jeremy C. Wright
Resume: http://jeremy-wright.blogspot.com
Blog: http://www.ensight.org