How Microsoft Recruits: Anti-plan and Contrarian Enrollment Expansion in the Economic Crisis

Are there many such cases? There are so many cases, even in the face of talents worth retaining, we will not hesitate to ask Bill Gates or Ballmer for help. How is Microsoft recruiting today? Nowadays, the talent recruitment situation facing Microsoft is not only that the pressure of talent competition is obviously greater than before, but also the arrival of the economic crisis, which Microsoft does not deny. A few days ago, the senior human resources director of Microsoft global market gathered in Beijing to discuss not only the recruitment problem, but also the major universities in China. During this period, the directors started a dialogue with Tencent Technology, and they also admitted that the human resources team had made an assessment of the possible impact of the economic crisis. However, the result is optimistic for Microsoft: the economic crisis will help release more talents, and a sound financial foundation will help Microsoft recruit more excellent employees. Therefore, Microsoft will increase its efforts to recruit new employees on a global scale. But for directors, the key is how to find the outstanding talents they need. In this regard, Microsoft has always stressed that they use all available forces, including inviting Bill Gates and Ballmer to help themselves. Patrick Sullivan, Recruitment Director of Microsoft China R&D Group (Tencent Technology with Pictures) Tencent Technology: Microsoft is understood by the outside world as a technology-driven company. Does Microsoft's human resources need a technical background? How do you recruit the core and excellent R&D personnel your company needs, especially when you want to develop? Patrick Sullivan (Recruitment Director, Microsoft China R&D Group): I'm not from a technical background. I have been engaged in human resource recruitment and training in Microsoft for eleven years. My main concern when working with the team is to determine the characteristics and abilities of the talents we need from the perspective of company development. In this process, we have a very close cooperation with Microsoft's internal technology to recruit suitable technicians for the company. As for Microsoft's recruitment work in China and around the world, including the United States, we will first put forward some specific types, fields and job categories of talents we need, and then send out job invitations in this area. For these positions, many people will express interest and submit applications, and then start a screening process. In this procedure, we need to see whether the relevant applicants have those important and core characteristics, such as whether they pay attention to results and have great enthusiasm for technology, products and solutions. It also depends on whether the candidate can show some core values of Microsoft, such as honesty, reliability and willingness to meet some major challenges. Christine Robbie (General Manager of Human Resources at Microsoft's US headquarters): The situation in the United States is similar to what Patrick Sullivan just said, and we will also pay attention to the core competence of candidates. Because in today's high-tech field, the development and changes are very fast, which requires the high flexibility of employees in the industry. It also depends on whether these people have the ability to solve problems, whether they can prioritize related things and distinguish appropriate priorities. At the same time, it depends on the core competence of these people. In China, the situation is similar. We also invite internal technology to interview these candidates, such as asking some questions, programming a program, or asking them to describe some kind of test, or asking them some questions, asking them how to make a toaster, and then asking some related questions to examine their abilities. And from the characteristics of successful recruitment in the past, we can find evidence whether the candidates have these abilities. Peggy Garcia (Director of Human Resources Recruitment): By the way, we do have the ability to recruit key talents according to different majors at Microsoft. For example, you can find the ability of key skilled personnel such as software development, testing, sales, marketing and IT. China is a huge market for both technical talents and scientific research and development, and universities are world-famous for cultivating outstanding students. The talents we are looking for here are mainly people who study very well, are curious about new knowledge and have strong learning motivation. Because the technology is developing very fast now, maybe what these students know today will no longer be useful in four or five years, because there will be something new at that time, so we are very concerned about the learning ability of these talents. At Microsoft, we spend a lot of time training with our employees every year, and their enthusiasm for learning is very high. I hope our employees can always be at the forefront of their technology. Moreover, we should always be curious about new things produced by other departments of the company. We hope to build such a model, which is the result of rapid learning and can be quickly shared among various departments within Microsoft. Kristen Roby, general manager of human resources at Microsoft's US headquarters (Tencent Technology with pictures) Tencent Technology: After all, there are very few excellent R&D talents everywhere, and they are very personalized. What will Microsoft do if there is a talent that Microsoft is particularly eager for, but his personality is not suitable for joining? Christine Robbie (general manager of human resources at Microsoft's American headquarters): There are many people with great personalities inside Microsoft. We also encourage Microsoft employees to be themselves and then do their best by being themselves. One of the tasks we have done in Microsoft's human resources department is to create such an environment with relevant managers so that Microsoft employees can be themselves and integrate into Microsoft's environment. In Microsoft headquarters and in China, we have maintained a certain degree of flexibility, that is to say, for those employees of Microsoft, there are related tasks of their company. As long as these tasks are completed, as for how they accomplish these tasks, the procedural requirements in this regard are not so strict. I have participated in many internal technical departments of Microsoft. I am a traditional person in terms of working hours. I am used to going to work at 8 am and 5 pm, while some technicians come to work at 10 am and 1 1 pm, working overtime at night and spending more time in the office. We encourage them to do so, and of course encourage them to work in a more traditional way, as long as they can complete their tasks. Especially in the technical department of Microsoft, the work itself is very creative, and it is difficult for employees with such creative personality to give them a mold. John williams (Senior Director of Human Resources): I want to add here that Microsoft has a great so-called asset or advantage for him, because it has a very diversified business all over the world. Because a company is engaged in diversified business, it can be more tolerant and accept the styles and cultures of different employees. Tencent Technology: When it comes to the attraction of enterprises to talents, many competitors such as Google are also increasing their attraction to talents. What will Microsoft do to stay competitive in enhancing its attraction to talents? How much pressure do you feel now? Patrick Sullivan (Recruitment Director of Microsoft China R&D Group): In China, the pressure for Microsoft to compete for top technical talents comes from many companies, and they all need very advanced software technical talents. But this is a good and healthy talent competition. What we do is to make Microsoft have a very good employee value. Here, Microsoft has excellent people, and we deal with these people every day. In Microsoft, it can be said that through the process of dealing with them, their knowledge and ability have brought a challenge to everyone, so they are mutual challenges. Here we need to face an environment in which Microsoft employees can work very well, share their ideas and develop with the help of others. Microsoft has a very wide range of technical fields and platforms, and all kinds of technical talents can find opportunities to stand out in Microsoft, which makes Microsoft provide employees with unparalleled career development paths. For example, if a person works in human resources today, if he feels that he has the ability in marketing, the company can also help him develop in the marketing direction. In terms of software development, if a person always wants to do software development, he can also start developing IE and browsers. In a few years, he can enter the field of Microsoft search service software development. Maybe in a few years, he will transfer to Microsoft Office and use his talents to upgrade Office to a higher level. Tencent Technology: Does the current global economic downturn have a big impact on Microsoft recruitment? Patrick Sullivan (Director of Recruitment, Microsoft China R&D Group): As a best practice, Microsoft has been constantly reviewing its global recruitment and development policies. We believe that active and effective management of these policies will help us overcome the severe economic environment we are currently facing. Fortunately, in terms of finance, Microsoft is currently in a very stable position, which is conducive to Microsoft's sustained growth and helps us recruit and recruit relevant talents. I have every reason to believe that we will continue to add new employees around the world for the rest of this fiscal year. Under the new economic situation, there is a so-called flood of talents in the market. In the torrent of talents, how to find the right talents, to borrow a word, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The flow speed of talents in the market has been greatly improved. Kelly Olesen (Director of Employee Competency Development): As a team, we spent some time discussing the current economic situation and its impact on our business in China and other parts of the world, and also discussed the issues that the human resources department should pay attention to at this time. In this regard, Microsoft can provide a series of welfare support for our employees, especially those who encounter difficulties. We have been trying our best to keep in touch with employees and help the company's * * * to explain relevant business strategies to them more effectively and pay attention to their affairs effectively. Our human resources team has been helping our employees overcome the impact they have suffered, not only in the internal work of Microsoft, but also in other aspects of their lives.