MSDN Magazine - February 2008 - (Page 140) Finding the Best of the Best HOWARD DIERKING MSDN Magazine recently had the opportunity to sit down eas that the company is just starting to explore. To quote Pitasky: with Scott Pitasky, General Manager of Talent Acquisition at “We’ve gotten smarter about how we define smart.” According to Pitasky, the notion of a good “fit” for Microsoft is Microsoft, and members of his team to learn how Microsoft approaches recruitment. We learned that as the world gets smaller, an old concept that is no longer relevant. Instead, hiring managers Microsoft is continually adjusting not only its strategies for recruit- look for candidates who demonstrate a marked ability to learn and ing but, in some cases, aspects of its very culture in order to find and problem-solve. This has required a change in Microsoft interviewhire the best of the best. Several enthusiastic staffing managers and ing culture over the past several years, says the group. So how does an interviewer adequately meatechnical leaders participated in this discussion, sure these abilities in today’s culture? Boseman and we’d like to thank them for their insights: At the core are three says it best: “I would know exactly who is a good James Hunt and Randall Boseman located in primary qualities: fit for a team if I could just have 30 minutes to play Redmond, Amit Vasishta of Microsoft India, and basketball with them. You can learn a ton about a Chris Gootherts of Microsoft China. passion, intelligence, person by watching how they play on a team.” And If you search the Web for “interviewing at and the ability to solve while there’s no plan for adjusting the interviewing Microsoft,” you’ll find countless stories—some problems. strategy to include a game of 5 on 5, the group did funny, some terrifying. However, many of those describe how the use of role-play scenarios (either stories address a very fundamental question: what qualities does Microsoft look for in a software developer? Addressing real or hypothetical) enables the interviewer to get a glimpse into this question allowed Pitasky and his team to describe how some of how a candidate might behave in a team setting. So as Microsoft has grown larger and the world has gotten smallthe historical qualities have been reshaped or completely replaced. At the core, however, three primary qualities were discussed: pas- er, the new global recruiting philosophy is that the company “hires from anywhere for anywhere.” However, this requires Microsoft to sion, intelligence, and the ability to solve problems. The word “passion” came up often, clearly a Microsoft priority. take into account many differences in region. For example, in the What’s unique, however, is in how the interview process has changed United States, the number of computer science majors has been to evaluate passion in a candidate. Historically at Microsoft, pas- steadily dropping by about 15 percent per year. As a result, Microsoft sion meant being passionate about what Microsoft was doing at the has had to look toward other types of degrees and search technical time—and, as a result, many talented candidates were overlooked. communities for local heroes. On the other end of the spectrum, More recently, passion has come to include any thing or activity in India, you find a large number of candidates with engineering that an individual feels strongly about. Boseman described an in- degrees. There, the local challenge is finding a diverse group of interview where the candidate talked in great detail of purchasing a dividuals who can not only solve deep technical problems but who motorcycle in Turkey and riding it through the Middle East and also have the potential to mentor and to manage. Meanwhile, Israel Europe. The candidate’s enthusiasm for that experience was a bet- has a large percentage of senior-level developers, while China has a noticeable gap in its mid-level and senior ranks. In general, one of ter predictor of his passion than any technical debate. Intelligence seems like such an obvious quality for someone the group’s top priorities is in further developing Microsoft into a in the software engineering field. However, like passion, intelli- more global company, starting with the very people it hires. Our discussion concluded with a funny interview story. A regence has come to be redefined over the past several years. You’ve no doubt heard the stories about “puzzle questions” in Microsoft cruiter had scheduled an interview in Redmond with a candidate interviews. The problem with such questions is that they only de- from Michigan, but the candidate didn’t mention he had a meditermine one kind of intelligence—and many other types, such as cal condition that prevented him from flying. On the day of the interpersonal intelligence, are required to successfully create great interview, the recruiter arrived at work to find the candidate’s RV software. Realizing this, Microsoft has significantly broadened its in the parking lot—he had driven all the way from Michigan. Now notions of intelligence to capture the qualities and experiences of that’s passion! great candidates who can help Microsoft innovate and grow in ar- Howard Dierking is the Editor-in-Chief for MSDN Magazine. { } 140 msdnmagazine
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.