Office 2010 Home And Stude/nt Key blog the-talent-

Update 6/7: Welcome, new visitors! Wow, I'm surprised. I didn't think my little rants were news worthy. Let me first say that the point of this post was to create a dialog between recruiters, hiring managers, interviewers, and candidates ... and I think that was accomplished. In fact, the dialog it has created (so far) has been very rich and beneficial. I want to also point out that I don't feel the problems Microsoft faces are any different than any other company out there ... especially in the tech space. Google is in the same boat. Yahoo is in the same boat. Amazon is in the same boat. In fact, it's a very large ship, and it's conversations like this that help turn it - even if it's a little at a time.
To anyone out there whom I offended, I sincerely apologize. The post, while serious, was meant as an off-the-cuff (and believe it or not, even humorous) rant. Yes, there are lines I would want to take back and remove from this entry, but this is what I said, and it wouldn't be fair to my readers to remove these lines. I also want to say that these comments are a broad generalizatoin. There are many great "with-it" Hiring Managers out there ... and this certainly isn't directed at you. Again, I apologize.
Anyway, since you are here, feel free to visit my other posts (which you will find are 99% of the time very positive about working at Microsoft). And email me if you'd like a job.
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I’ve been in a blogging tug-of-war with myself lately. There are things I want to write about, but I am unsure of the topics’ appropriateness for JobsBlog. After all, the target audience for this blog (at least I think) is the jobseeker, and I want to keep my content relevant and focused on topics that jobseekers would find of interest.
But on the flipside, I know several hiring managers and interviewers (inside and outside of Microsoft) read my blog, too, and there are certain topics I want to direct toward them. And there are certain things I want to tell them that, at times, I don’t think would be so PC of me to say in a public forum. (But maybe being non-PC is the right way to go … it’s so hard to tell when you try to balance being a good and fair blogger with being a good and fair corporate citizen.)
Yesterday, I set up an internal blog so I could post my various rants to a “safe” audience. Josh told me this was lame. Anything I want to rant about related to recruiting should probably be ranted about on the external blog. I think he’s right, but it’s also difficult to properly judge my safety net at times.
My latest tirade revolves around Hiring Managers (and I’m referring to Microsoft Hiring Managers … but I know this problem exists in other companies) not “getting” the talent landscape. Not only do they not seem to understand that brilliant software engineers don’t grow on trees (you don’t, do you?) … but they can’t seem to get it through their heads that 1) Microsoft isn’t the only place hiring, 2) Working at a big company isn’t everyone’s dream, and 3) Redmond is not the first place people say they want to move when they wake up in the morning. (Unfortunately, I don’t think the slogan ….”Where do you want to go today? Redmond, of course!” would fly.)
So I guess I’ve just been really tired of (pardon my bluntness) the entitled,Office 2010 Home And Business, spoiled whiners lately. So much that it’s made me question my desire to continue working in a Recruiting function for this company. I don’t know how many times I can have the same conversation like, yes, Monster.com is a one place to search for candidates but it’s not the only place, and no, Mr. Hiring Manager, you don’t need your own account. We’ve got it covered. Thanks though.
Quite honestly (maybe here is where my tirade kicks in), I’m sick and tired of the Hiring Managers around here not trusting their recruiters. Hi there – news flash. Guess what? I probably have a higher IQ than you (yes, I just went there),Office 2007 Professional Plus Key, and I “get” it. Trust me. They pay me the big bucks to be an expert on hiring for the company. You do your job; I’ll do mine. Plus,Windows 7 Product Key, you don’t see me getting in your business every time some Microsoft program crashes on me, do you?
No, recruiting is not rocket science, but (and I’ve realize this more and more every day), it’s not easy either. (especially in the industry recruiting space.) Actually, I frequently kick myself for getting myself into a profession that seems to have such tough, seemingly unsolvable problems.
And here’s the other thing. Microsoft has some of the top recruiters in the industry working to solve these problems. We actually know our stuff,Office 2010 Home And Stude/nt Key, and we are actually actively working on solutions everyday.
Part of the problem (and I fully realize this and admit this) is that we as a recruiting organization haven’t done a good enough job explaining the problems we face as an organization. I think it may be part of that ego thing of wanting to make sure everyone (in particular Hiring Managers) believe we are in control of the situation. But it ends up hurting us even worse because we don’t take the time to explain the realities of the talent landscape and better educate employees on how they can help themselves. My team and I have been talking about this a lot lately, so hopefully, you (internal Microsoft employees) will see more education about this in the coming months.
So for now,Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, I do think I’ll include my little tidbits from time to time. No more rants like this (hopefully), and no, I’m not losing it (quite yet.)
But I hereby warn ye, next Microsoft employee who sends me the next great recruiting idea like searching our resume database or sponsoring a one-time event, I will not be so nice. There’s no silver bullet, and to recruit top talent, you’ve got to be prepared to invest long-term in solving the problem. When you are ready to talk about that, you know where I am.
gretchen