Entries tagged 'job-hunting'
Andre Artis: Influencing the next generation of Black Technologists
‘Softie in question: Andre Artis
Job title: Area Sales Manager for the South Central Region and Microsoft’s unofficial recruiter at the annual National Black MBA Association Conference.
It’s not unusual to find Microsofties who are eager to spread the word about their own experiences and help introduce a future generation of ‘Softies to the company. We caught up with Andre Artis to learn about how he got involved in representing Microsoft at one of the largest networking events in the U.S.
Andre started out as a potential Microsoft candidate back in 2009 when he attended his second National Black MBA Association Conference. “Microsoft was number one on my list of potential employers,” Andre said. “Microsoft was ultimately interested in me because of my ability to manage people and my proven track record in high tech sales. As an employee, I love the enthusiasm of my colleagues and I feel honored to be part of this company.”
After joining the company, Andre’s passion for working at Microsoft and the potential for other African Americans interested in a technology career spurred him to attend the National Black MBA Association Conferences on his own time to help Microsoft recruit new talent.
Searching for a job while happily employed
Dear JobsBlog: I’m pretty happily with my current job, but I’m ready to take the next step in my career. How do I negotiate a job search while I am still employed? I am nervous about my current employer finding out that I am interested in looking at other companies. Is there a way for me to do this tactfully?-Happily Employed
Dear Happy: Though it might be scary, one of the best things you can do for yourself while you are content in your current job is to keep yourself marketable. This means that you have to take the initiative and step out of your comfort zone a bit. Trying a few of these things below can really keep your skills fresh. And who knows? It may also lead you exactly to that next step in your career. 1. “Finding out what you’re worth” – Someone I know recently coined this phrase. It had been 14 years since he had last interviewed outside of his company and it was an eye opening experience for him. To keep yourself marketable, you should interview outside of your company at least once every two years to keep your interview skills strong, see how employers in your field are evaluating candidates, and to “see what you’re worth” as far as any potential offers might receive. This is invaluable because you are forced to go through preparation, perform industry research, and see what it takes to get to the next step or into the top company for your field. If you can’t even get out of the gate (i.e. land an interview) you know that you have a lot of work to do. And that is a whole other blog topic!
How do you research a company before you apply?
Last week you really got us thinking about your motivations behind applying to a specific company. So much so that it made us think of this week’s question: How do you find out what it’s like to work at a company before you apply for a job?Many of you thought along the same lines by going to your online and personal networks for first-hand accounts from employees; like the following people would:
What motivates you to apply to a specific company?
In our latest edition of the Question of the Week, we asked “What motivates you to apply to a specific company?”
You responded with many great answers that covered a wide range of reasons why you might chose to apply for a position. While you may guess a lot of people look at compensation and job content, another prevailing theme was how a company treats—and to a larger extent—supports their employees. Here is a taste of some of the responses we heard:
What is the best job search tip you've received?
A few weeks ago we started a new feature on our Facebook and Twitter pages called Question of the Week to hear what you have to say about current Microsoft career topics. This week’s question was, “What is the best job search tip you've received?” The following were a few of our favorite responses, as well as our own take on the question.Do you have better advice? Let us know!
Cloud computing talent: Where do I grow from here? (Part 5 of 5)
Have you been wondering what cloud computing roles we have here at Microsoft? Or how we evaluate cloud computing talent? If so, this is the series for you.Make sure to take a look at the full series:
Part 1: Cloud computing talent: What is it?
Part 2: Cloud computing talent: Who is it?
Part 3: Cloud computing talent: What do we look for?
Part 4: Cloud computing talent: What if no cloud?Thank you to Chandra Prasad for his insight throughout this series and to Yunus Mohammed for his assistance on Part 2.
Today, we finish up with the peerless Chandra Prasad on Part 5, "Cloud computing talent: Where do I go from here?"
What are the career opportunities you see for cloud computing talent in the years to come?
We believe that we are just in the beginning of the paradigm shift towards the cloud. It is really an exciting time since this kind of a transformation happens infrequently.Cloud computing talent: What if no cloud experience? (Part 4 of 5)
Have you been wondering what cloud computing roles we have here at Microsoft? Or how we evaluate cloud computing talent? If so, this is the series for you.In Part I, we discussed "Cloud computing talent: What is it?" with Microsoft's Chandra Prasad, one of the world's foremost authorities on cloud computing. In Part II, we looked at "Cloud computing talent: Who is it?" with Chandra and Yunus Mohammed, the Dev Manager with Windows Azure team. Part III was "Cloud Computing Talent: What do we look for?" again with Chandra.
Today, we'll consider Part IV "Cloud computing talent: What if no cloud experience?
Cloud Computing is relatively new, so we have a smaller pool of candidates with direct cloud experience in the industry or at the university level. Please clarify: what are the other skills we look for in the absence of direct cloud experience?
Cloud computing talent: What do we look for? (Part 3 of 5)
Have you been wondering what cloud computing roles we have here at Microsoft? Or how we evaluate cloud computing talent? If so, this is the series for you.In Part I, we discussed "Cloud computing talent: What is it?" with Microsoft's Chandra Prasad, one of the world's foremost authorities on cloud computing. In Part 2, we looked at "Cloud computing talent: Who is it?" with Chandra and Yunus Mohammed, the Dev Manager with Windows Azure team.
Today, we're going to examine "Cloud Computing Talent: What do we look for?" - again with Chandra.
What are the core skills we look for in a person with cloud computing related experience?
First and foremost, we are still looking for the basic core competencies and great software engineering skills that we would look for in any other position. We still expect that they are solid software engineers, have good customer focus, have great communication skills, and can collaborate and make the team around them better.Cloud computing talent: Who is it? (Part 2 of 5)
Have you been wondering what cloud computing roles we have here at Microsoft? Or how we evaluate cloud computing talent? If so, this is the series for you.In Part I, we discussed "Cloud computing talent: What is it?" with Microsoft's Chandra Prasad, one of the world's foremost authorities on cloud computing.
Today we follow up with Chandra for Part 2 of our series "Cloud computing talent: Who is it?"
Yunus Mohammed, the Dev Manager with Windows Azure team, assisted with the answer.
Who qualifies as someone who has cloud computing experience?
Cloud computing talent: What is it? (Part 1 of 5)
After the positive response to my earlier JobsBlog interview with Chandra Prasad, I decided to do a full series of interviews with him about the nature of cloud computing talent.Chandra is the Development Manager in the Distributed Application Server group in the Business Platform Division, which is a long way of saying that he is one of the world's foremost authorities on cloud computing.
Have you been wondering what cloud computing roles we have here at Microsoft? Or how we evaluate cloud computing talent? If so, this is the series for you.
For Part 1 "Cloud computing talent: What is it?", I asked Chandra, "What is the definition of cloud computing talent?"
Read on for Chandra's answer...