Microsoft Human Resources Planning and Configuration

Microsoft Human Resources Planning and Configuration

Introduction: Human resource planning will make an important contribution to the strategic management process of the organization. In essence, human resource needs are rooted in the organization's strategic and operational plans. The following is the Microsoft human resources planning and configuration I bring to you. I hope it will be helpful to everyone.

Human resource planning must be linked to the organization's strategic plan. Human resource planning can neither focus solely on coping with short-term crises, nor is it a simple task that can only be solved by human resource management specialists. On the contrary, human resources planning Planning must be linked to the strategy of the international enterprise. Human resource planning can be divided into several steps. The following takes Microsoft's human resource planning and configuration as an example to illustrate.

1. Determine organizational goals and their impact on various departments of the organization

The human resources director needs to be clear about the company's overall strategy. The development strategy determines the human resources strategy, the business strategy determines what type of talents to choose, and the business scale and goals determine the cost of talents. Only when the company's strategy is clear can human resource planning be targeted and not just a castle in the air.

(1) Microsoft’s innovation strategy and talent strategy

Microsoft China R&D Group has a famous formula: IT=IQ+IP. The meaning is: the most critical elements that contribute to the success of an IT enterprise are its core talents (IQ) and innovation (IP), which are the two cornerstones of promoting the era of knowledge economy.

In the era of knowledge economy, the value created by one person is likely to exceed the value contributed by tens of millions of people in the past century; therefore, for IT companies (especially software companies), it is the most important , the most cherishable thing is human wisdom. Another "ladder" that helps IT companies achieve success is the core innovation and technology of the company. Taking software companies as an example, intellectual property rights consisting of source code, patents, Know-How and processes are the source of energy for the survival and development of companies. Unlike companies in automobile manufacturing, energy, and large retail industries, software companies do not have many employees, fixed entities, factories, assembly lines, and large facilities. At Microsoft, you will only see two brains: human brain + computer.

This formula is defined as the development strategy of Microsoft China R&D Group. Microsoft is establishing a complete mechanism for attracting, cultivating and protecting talents, providing every employee with space to fully utilize their talents, and serving the Chinese and global markets with innovative technologies and products.

Based on the above development strategy, Microsoft’s talent strategy is to find the best employees and train them in a 360-degree manner. Microsoft began to focus on recruiting and developing college student talents, while continuing to find and develop MBA talents; Microsoft's training not only includes training on each employee's technical breadth and depth, product development mechanism, technology research and product development methods, as well as Microsoft corporate culture, There is also training on leadership and management skills. Microsoft reformed its talent strategy and introduced college graduates mainly for two reasons. First, Microsoft attaches great importance to enterprise-specific knowledge and believes in training college graduates with these abilities. Secondly, Microsoft not only hopes to obtain talents with excellent marketing talents, but also hopes to build a supply line of future leaders and continuously deliver leadership talents who can truly commit to the success of the enterprise.

(2) Microsoft's 20xx product development strategy

Microsoft will implement in 2010 a strategy focusing on the evolving TV, cloud technology, and natural user interface technology innovations. strategy. The corresponding Microsoft products are Xbox, bing (search), and Windows 7 (Windows system).

At present, Microsoft has cooperated with HP. HP will use Bing as the default search engine in its global computer products; Ford Motor will also launch a new search engine based on Microsoft's embedded platform. Sync system; Fiat's 1 millionth car with Microsoft drivers has reached the hands of users; Kia Motors also announced a new in-car system built on the Windows platform.

Since Win7 was launched in October last year, many people have focused on the performance of this operating system. After the release of Windows 7, PC sales increased by 50%, exceeding last year's Christmas holiday sales by more than 50%. Windows 7 is the fastest-selling operating system in history, and Win7 has won 94% customer satisfaction. Windows 7 is a rising trend in our industry. Plus, Xbox is going to have a great year, and here's why: Microsoft has spent 30 years researching user interfaces.

In the future, Microsoft will create a simpler, more intuitive, and more natural project for Xbox, that is Natal. This project will be announced during the 2010 Christmas holidays.

2. The quantity and type of human resources required to achieve organizational goals

Microsoft has always had a wide range of needs for talents. Last year, Microsoft China R&D Group*** attracted more than 500 FTEs, including more than 200 experienced technical and management talents from home and abroad, and more than 200 FTEs attracted from China's top universities. Outstanding graduates. These overwhelming numbers demonstrate Microsoft's unparalleled appeal. In the new year, as Microsoft's strategy becomes clear, its human resources and other supporting departments need to be redeployed to coordinate the implementation of the company's strategy. To this end, Microsoft will continue to attract the best and brightest people to join.

(1) Number of Microsoft Talent Requirements

Microsoft management hopes to increase the number of employees in 2010. In the new round of talent recruitment, Microsoft plans to control the employee increase ratio to 10 %, and only permanent staff will be considered for additions and temporary staff will not be considered. For human resource managers, finding qualified talents from the talent market that has expanded due to layoffs in the post-economic crisis era is their biggest challenge. Since October last year, the talent flow in the IT industry has been relatively active in the entire talent market. It is estimated that from 2010 to 2013, the employment growth rate in my country's IT industry will be 10.8%. At campus job fairs across the country, recruitment demand in the IT industry has shown rapid growth. Microsoft also took the lead in launching campus recruitment to recruit talents. The demand reached more than 100 people, attracting students to go there happily. Since October 2009, Microsoft job demand has increased by 18% compared with the same period last year.

(2) Types of Microsoft talent needs Development talents: According to Microsoft’s latest product development strategy, the focus of Microsoft’s talent strategy is on recruiting top technical personnel. The types of talents in greater demand include system software engineers, software testing engineers, network system engineers, consulting engineers, etc. Microsoft attaches great importance to developers, and it focuses on providing developers with powerful tools, free training, etc. Visual Basic allows developers to create business applications on top of Office. Now, Visual Studio has become an important tool for regular enterprise developers, and its generosity has also made Windows an indispensable thing on many enterprise desktops.

Anti-piracy technical talents: Microsoft is currently recruiting anti-piracy technical talents to strengthen the anti-piracy capabilities of Windows 7 and other products. Its responsibilities are: to develop new anti-intrusion mechanisms and hacker detection technologies to prevent Microsoft products from being hacked and cracked. For the current Windows 7 system, if the user is using a pirated version, the desktop background will turn black and the user will be reminded regularly. In addition, there is a watermark reminder on the desktop.

Sales talents: With the continuous launch of Microsoft's series of strategic products and the siege of competing companies around the world, software product planners and sales marketing talents are also in demand. will be part of the requirement.

3. Microsoft’s external human resources supply

The availability of human resources is an environmental factor that cannot be ignored in human resource planning, which objectively determines the human resources that an enterprise can recruit. quantity and quality. The following is a brief description of the external labor market environment that Microsoft China faces in China. The 2009 fourth quarter monitoring report recently released by the China Human Resources Market Information Monitoring Center shows that the labor supply in the national talent market exceeds demand.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, labor supply exceeded demand, and the ratio of job vacancies to job seekers continued to rise; compared with the third quarter, the total labor supply and demand decreased, but increased significantly compared with the same period of the previous year. However, the IT industry, like all industries, has the dilemma of finding good talents. China has a huge population base, but the number of high-end talents at the top of the pyramid is quite small.

During the decades of rapid development of computer education, the scale of computer majors across the country has expanded rapidly. More than 360 undergraduate colleges and universities have added undergraduate computer majors, bringing the number of colleges and universities with undergraduate computer majors to more than 500. Institute, accounting for 75% of the more than 670 undergraduate colleges and universities in the country, and the computer science major ranks first in the country's undergraduate majors in terms of the number of points in a single major and the total number of students in a single major. In 2004, there were 51,000 undergraduate students majoring in software and 1.04 million undergraduate students majoring in software-related majors in China. In 2003, the total number of general colleges and universities in my country was 1,683, and there were 679 undergraduate schools, of which 505 offered the "Computer Science and Technology" major, ranking first in the country in terms of professional points. In 2003, the number of students enrolled in the school was 270,000, accounting for 10% of the total number of students majoring in science and engineering. 14.6% is also the highest. By the end of 2005, China had piloted 35 software colleges and 35 software vocational and technical colleges.

Although colleges and universities have made good progress in deepening education reform in recent years, there is now a contradiction between the talent demand of IT companies and the employment of college students. There is strong demand from companies and strong supply of graduates. , but at the same time, it is difficult for companies to select people, and it is also difficult for graduates to find employment. In China, there is a serious structural imbalance in IT talents. There is a shortage of "two ends". There is a shortage of senior IT talents, including senior management talents and senior technical talents. There is also a lack of basic technical talents, industrial talents, and a lack of talents who can transform scientific research and development results into There is a lack of professional engineers for engineering talents in real products. McKinsey's 2003 report pointed out that China currently has only about 2.6 million young talents suitable for software engineer positions, and less than 20% of the annual graduates of software and related majors can meet the basic skill requirements of the IT industry.

4. Strict selection standards and recruit the best talents. Compared with the talent selection characteristics of other companies, Microsoft's talent selection has the following characteristics: First, adhere to the employment philosophy based on ability. Microsoft summarizes the talent competency standards into: personal expertise, performance, customer feedback, team spirit, long-term goals and love for products and technology, etc., and adds definitions to each talent and updates the level of talent. Appropriate descriptions are provided, and auxiliary materials such as reference books, instruction manuals, and talent cards are added.

This set of cards was developed and used by Microsoft Australia Co., Ltd. in 1994. In 1995, it was promoted to Microsoft offices around the world. Microsoft will use this set of "Competency Color Cards" during the recruitment process, using the questions listed on the color cards as a guide, and always adhere to the same standards and requirements when interviewing and evaluating candidates.

Take teamwork as an example. Teamwork is what best reflects Microsoft’s corporate culture and its strong competitiveness and creativity. Microsoft's definition of "team spirit" is this: everyone works hard to develop and maintain a productive, efficient and high-morale team. Core competencies in team spirit include: communication skills, conflict coordination skills, being good at listening to other people's opinions, and handling interpersonal relationships. Therefore, when Microsoft conducts team spirit tests, the main questions include the following questions: whether success or failure is the sole responsibility of the team, whether they can ask questions and help each other learn from each other, whether they are willing to take the initiative to contribute, and how to solve difficulties when encountering them. How do you evaluate the work and help of your teammates, whether you are willing to play a supporting role in the team, whether you always trust and support your subordinates, etc.

Second, formulate talent standards for job recruitment based on company culture.

Microsoft’s selection criteria for technical or research talents are: personal qualities such as confidence, honesty, calmness, courage, creativity, fuzzy decision-making ability, self-development ability, as well as decision-making ability, driving force, good Work performance, planning, organization and coordination skills, problem-solving skills, management skills and other professional job capabilities. Different positions require different technical abilities, but they all have the passion and persistence to pursue technology.

Microsoft prefers to employ fewer people than too many. The elimination rate in screening and interviews is very high, and there are no exceptions for all applicants (including internal staff turnover). Internal staff turnover pays more attention to current job performance, level and comments, while external interviews pay more attention to necessary competitive conditions. In order to avoid the waste of human resources, the company's position selection follows the principle of setting up positions according to the situation rather than according to the person.

In order to better grasp and understand the employment standards and norms, the company has taken two measures. One is to establish an interview cycle group. The interview cycle team generally includes project managers (PM), software designers (SDE), and recruiting managers (RM). This allows for a comprehensive and objective assessment of recruiting talent. Second, pay attention to training interviewers. After passing the training, the interviewer must not only understand the interview process and general requirements, be familiar with basic labor laws and interview strategies, but more importantly, understand the necessary conditions for the recruitment position.

Third, the interview process is intensive and rigorous, and the test content is closely combined with the ability standards.

Microsoft’s strict interview mechanism is well known. Microsoft takes a rigorous attitude towards interviews and adopts a carefully designed interview process. Each applicant's interview is attended by many Microsoft employees, and every employee who participates in the interview is assigned interview tasks in advance. Microsoft's interview process is the most difficult and longest among high-tech companies. Applicants need to go through a written test and 3 to 4 rounds of interviews to enter Microsoft. Technical talent recruitment generally involves two types of interviews, namely software designer interview (SDE) and project manager interview (PM). Each type of interview requires 3 to 4 rounds of extensive processes.

4. Diversified recruitment channels Microsoft has a combination of internal recruitment and external recruitment to open up channels for talent recruitment.

Microsoft’s recruitment information must first be published internally for internal employees to choose from. If there are no suitable candidates within two weeks, the recruitment information can be posted on the group's internal recruitment website. If you still can't find a satisfactory candidate within a month, the Human Resources Department can consider hiring through recruitment channels outside the group. There are five main talent recruitment channels at Microsoft:

Intern recruitment. Microsoft has always attached great importance to selecting interns who are smart and have a solid knowledge base. Excellent interns are the source of outstanding future employees of Microsoft. Microsoft's intern program pays special attention to on-site training and publicity of company culture and policies. Seeing is believing, hearing is believing. Microsoft believes that the best way is to let interns come to the company to work and live for a period of time.

Campus recruitment. Microsoft believes that compared to talents hired from society, talents recruited on campus have many advantages, such as: talents are highly malleable, highly loyal to the company, most willing to go all out, not afraid of risks, and willing to accumulate experience in the department, etc.

Employee recommendations. Microsoft strongly encourages company employees to recommend outstanding talents. If the company hires a candidate submitted by an employee, the recommending employee will be rewarded by the company.

Microsoft users. Microsoft has compiled a special program. When thousands of Microsoft users conduct online searches, Microsoft will get the relevant information they searched, and from this it can analyze which users have higher skills or can be listed as company recruitment targets. This approach, while not perfect, is very useful.

Website recruitment. Most of Microsoft's advertisements promote Microsoft's products and performance, the work of Microsoft people, and annual earnings. Although advertising is not directly related to talent recruitment, such publicity has accumulated the brand advantage of Microsoft Talent Recruitment and is indeed another way to attract talents.

In addition, Microsoft does not believe that employee job-hopping is a bad thing. For outstanding employees who leave the company, Microsoft will also track their work status and will invite them back at the appropriate time. .

5. Microsoft Recruitment Process

(1) Written test: Since Microsoft employs a strategy of generally casting the net and focusing on fishing, many people will be notified to take the test every time (usually 400 to 500 people), and only 3 to 5 people are finally selected. This 1% chance of recruitment requires the first screening during the written examination process.

The content of the entire written test mainly focuses on three aspects: knowledge (20%), programming ability (50%) and intelligence (30%). (2) First round interview: The first round interview is conducted by three software engineers from Microsoft to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the applicant, including simple network setup, system failure analysis, Windows features, new Windows features and Its use, as well as issues related to the use and programming of other Microsoft products.

(3) Second round interview: In the second round interview, a senior software engineer will re-examine the overall quality of the applicant. The scope of the interviewer's questions is still within the scope of the previous three engineers, but the difficulty is greatly increased, which means that you must not only know what is happening, but also why.

(4) The third round of interview: The third round of interview is a test of English proficiency. To test English listening and speaking skills, interviewers need to introduce themselves in English. The interviewer will also ask why they want to go to Microsoft and what they think of Microsoft, etc.

(5) The fourth round of interviews: The last round of interviews is a direct dialogue between the CEO of the Microsoft branch and the applicant. When recruiting, Microsoft pays great attention not to put pressure on the applicant, but to make the applicant successful. Therefore, this round of conversation is usually conducted in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. The interviewer will ask some questions about dealing with people, dealing with others, and dealing with work and life. Basically, they have nothing to do with technology. .

After the interview, Microsoft will consider the applicant's written test scores and the scores of the two interviews. The entire recruitment process has come to an end. ;