Microsoft Office 2010 Key blog network-for-that-ne

A couple of weeks back, I mentioned hints for occupation seekers who desire to network for any career at Microsoft. Preparation and professionalism can take you a long way.

Today, I’ll discuss the flip-side … My advice for employees who would like to network to find great candidates. That’s right. You don’t have to (and shouldn’t!) wait for recruiting to build those connections for you. As an employee, you may have many more opportunities to be on the front lines with your target candidates than your recruiters do, so you should leverage those occasions to reach out to great talent. In fact, if you are really good, I might let you borrow my “Have you been nice to a recruiter today?” t-shirt. We are all recruiters … whether we write a blog, attend a conference, or ride an airplane. That’s lesson #1.

I know we have many strong recruiting ambassadors and opinionated profession seekers out there so please chime in if you have more add or want to refute my advice. In my list today, I think you will notice a striking similarity between the position seeker advice and the employee advice.

Do your homework – So you would like to find great talent for Microsoft? Wonderful. Who’s your target audience? What types of skills and experiences define your ideal candidate set? Where does this target audience congregate … industry conference, forums, user groups? Are you already involved in any of these activities or groups? Once you’ve decided the best groups and places to practice your networking,Microsoft Office 2010 Key, embark on a little background work. Do you already have known contacts within these channels? Based on reputation, do you know of anyone you might want to connect with? How will you do this? What do you know about this person? How receptive do you think he or she will be? These are all good questions to ask yourself.

Respect others’ time – Believe it or not, not everyone enjoys profession solicitations. Really. My first piece of advice is to connect with your target through the medium you think they’d be most comfortable with. For techies, I usually find this to be email. Keep the message short and sweet … and not salesy! And remember to clearly state who you are, where you work, and why you are contacting with this person right off the bat. If your contact is remotely interested in talking to you further, they’ll bite. Spin and verbose messages won’t help. I truly do believe less is more for initial contacts.

Be brave – You won’t get anything if you don’t ask. Take the chance. Put in a plug for your team’s open jobs during your next conference presentation. If you are working a trade show, ask the really insightful and intelligent visitors if they’ve ever considered working for Microsoft. Email your favorite blogger. Notice someone in newsgroups or forums who totally gets your technology? Strike up a conversation! Take a leap!

Practice the pitch – Alright. Through your networking, you’ve found a prospect willing to hear more. Awesome. Now it’s your chance to make a great impression. First, find a mutually agreeable time to discuss next steps. For example, if you meet someone new on a tradeshow floor, he may not want to talk to you about jobs right then and there … so exchange business cards (and be sure to follow-up later!) or schedule a time when you can both devote a number of uninterrupted minutes to the discussion. Now you’re talking. Make sure your new friend clearly understands who you are and what you do at the company. What are your responsibilities? What does your group produce? Now, ask your prospect what he would love out of his next career move. Remember, this person has not applied to you; you’ve approached him so you can’t necessarily fit him into your team’s open positions. You get the idea from here. Listen. Listen. Listen. And then describe what you can offer that fits into those career goals. Don’t have a mutual match? That’s ok. Do you know a co-worker on another team who is looking for a new employee? Offer to make the connection. (We also have an employee referral program where you can refer the great people you meet … An “employee referral” does not have to be a close friend ... just a seemingly qualified connection you’ve made.) Remember, it’s all about karma.

Stop the spam – Networking is about relationships. Relationships do not derive from the mass emailing of templates or the including of many prospects on the cc line. Each prospect is a unique snowflake. Special treatment goes a long way. If you can’t craft your communication to be customized and personal, just don’t do it.

Show your gratitude and build the network – Did your networking work? Did you find a smart new hire, or were you able to refer an exceptional person over to another group at Microsoft? Take your new contact to lunch and let her know how very happy you are that she joined Microsoft. And here’s the kicker … ask her whom else she knows who might be interested in joining Microsoft. Great people know great people. Keep your networking spinning!

Remember, each time you connect with a non-Microsoft employee, you are potentially reaching out to our next great hire. You are on the front-lines, and you are one of the company’s best recruiters. Wear that badge with pride!

Good luck!

gretchen

P.S. And for the record, I admit that I’m posting this entry today because this week’s Micronews (our internal employee publication) is highlighting JobsBlog! (Thanks, Brian and Julie!) I’ve gotta hook new readers (in this case: employees) somehow. ;-) Y'all come back now, ya hear!