Dear JobsBlog: I am a developer with 6 years of experience working outside of the US. American recruiters have been rejecting my application and I suspect that it is because of the international-nature of my coding experience. I thought that coding was not affected by place. Does the location of my coding experience really matter?

-International Dev

Dear International Dev: It is unlikely that they would pass on you based solely on the geography of where your coding experience is gained. That said, there are many factors at play when considering candidates with international experience – some of which, may inhibit our ability to consider you further.

Here are a few personal examples where I’ve rejected resumes with International experience. Perhaps one of these applies and will help shed some light?

The candidate requires a new visa, yet none are available. There really aren’t many options for overcoming this obstacle. No matter how strong a resume may be, there is a legal barrier here, which must be respected.

The candidate still lives abroad. This is a problem of time and money and – as painful as it might be to admit – it’s not about picking the absolute best candidate. Frankly, interviewing an international candidate takes longer and costs more money. For some positions, it might not make sense when a domestic and equally qualified candidate can be found faster. 

The resume isn’t the best match for the role. The years of experience listed are just a number; other qualifications must also be considered, as well as the depth of that experience and the overall quality of the resume.

The important thing I’d want candidates to know here is that Resume Review is both a quantitative and comparative process.  Recruiters are evaluating resumes based both on the requirements of the position and how that resume compares to the others in the stack.    

The fine print/some critical reflection: with any generic question, it’s important to remember that each position is different in what it will and won’t consider. A personal frustration, which I’m sure many of our readers share, is that most job boards (and job descriptions) do not make it easy to search and filter positions based on the above type of criteria. 

Our systems also do not currently provide automated updates to a candidate at the earliest stages of consideration. This is commonly perceived as the “Black hole effect,” and unfortunately, not going away soon.  Just know that recruiters like myself are spending hours each week reading the resumes which are submitted to us, and there is *usually* a good reason if we aren’t moving forward.

-Kenji

I've got good news for International job seekers interested in Microsoft software development opportunities, but not ready to relocate Stateside: we have jobs in the places you live!
 
This is the first in a series to showcase some of our global development centers and development teams. They are working on a wide variety of different technology and products with the team sizes range from big to small. The one thing that they all have in common is that they have huge impact on products that are used around the world. I'm looking forward to sharing the interviews and pictures from these places around the world.
 

So keep an eye on JobsBlog for my posts over the next months as we go around the world  - meeting the people who build the software we use. Our first stop next week will be in Oslo, Norway.
 
In the meantime, for a listing of all of our development opportunities – visit the below links.  There may not be openings right now in all of these locations, but join the Talent Network and get notified as opportunities become available within your location and technology interests.
 

Canada:  Click Here
China:  Click Here
Europe:  Click Here
India:  Click Here
Israel:  Click Here
Japan:  Click Here
For all other positions and locations:  Click Here
 
Thanks all – hope this helps you find that job you’ve been looking for….it is possibly closer to home then you thought!
 
-Anne

In my last post I mentioned that we would be touring the globe visiting some of our international development centers. Our first stop: Oslo, Norway. Take a moment to find out more about one of the 'Softies that works at this location and what he works on. Some pretty interesting stuff happens on our campuses around the world!

All the best - Anne

‘Softie in Question: Sveinar Rasmussen
Position at Microsoft: Principal SDE
Group: Search Foundation, IEG
Location: Oslo, Norway

Tell me more about the Microsoft offices in Oslo?
The offices here are nice. Last year (2011), a few areas in the offices here were refurbished. A sip of coffee in the new library is relaxing between the coding sessions – and there is a foosball table too, kicking back with games and consoles. The atmosphere is relaxed but with lively loud discussions sometimes. The cantina food is great with a huge selection of salads plus a hot dish every day. On most Fridays there are plenty of cakes to counter those healthy salads, too! It’s balanced.
 
What is it like to work at Microsoft in one of our subsidiary offices compared to working in the US Headquarters?
Despite its Redmond-centric past, I feel that Microsoft is embracing the subsidiary offices quite well. With extensive use of Lync, the practical difference isn´t huge. Being a subsidiary, I believe we are in on the action. Naturally, we cannot attend the yearly huge company meeting in person - but we do get the luxury of attending these meetings from the comfort of our chair. Another thing that I feel is very heartwarming and respectfully impressive: Redmondians happily suggest Lync outside their working hours. We get the same employee benefits like a fantastic free Windows Phone 7 device... and discounted Kinect sensors and games etc.
 
What was the reason you considered applying to Microsoft?  How did you find out about the specific role you are currently in right now?
I would claim that Microsoft is a company for us engineers. And with the focus on delivering quality software, I feel that one can truly be proud of what Microsoft is doing to stay relevant in the technology sector. The competition is fierce, but we are tenacious. But with certain innovative products in the market now like Office 2010, Windows 7, Xbox360, Kinect, Bing and Windows Phone 7, there is a huge customer base that follows. When you have so many users of our products, the impact of this great engineering playground offers a great place to work building the next version of Office.

I have been writing search engines for over a decade. Microsoft acquired our team here back in 2008. The role I have today is mostly the same as it has been all along - having fun, learning and building a platform to help people with finding stuff they need. Being a principal software engineer for enterprise search is rewarding. I blessed with skilled co-workers here with strong problem solving abilities, expertise in server side development with emphasis on scalability, reliability and security.

Any tips to job seekers around the world interested in relocating to Oslo and working at Microsoft?
Oslo is not a big city, the weather isn’t particularly warm during the Norwegian winters... but the working atmosphere that Microsoft offers, the friendly warm people in our distributed group coupled with the joy of tech = makes my day. Maybe it will do the same for you, too?

 I’m sure the enterprising reader has already read through this site and numerous others to piece together our interview process, however I don’t believe we’ve ever fully outlined it in one place. (Ginny did a great post on the college process– though it’s slightly different than what’s used for experienced candidates.)

So what’s going on from the experienced/industry candidate side? Here’s the general Microsoft interview process (from an industry recruiter’s perspective – mine!)

1. Application (via our Microsoft Careers website)
2. Recruiter review (See below for more details)
3. Recruiter interview (often by phone, sometimes email)
4. Technical Interview (phone, in person, email, or Live Meeting)
5. On-site interview (also in rare situations: Video Teleconference or Live Meeting)

Now, the details for each of these steps can vary slightly by recruiter and position. And each probably warrants its own topic within this blog. However, the one piece I want to focus on today is Recruiter Review, as this hasn't been discussed much previously.

"Recruiter Review" is the step during which the recruiter is reviewing the resumes for all the various applicants on a given position. To do this, the recruiter applies a search algorithm to pull a list of applicants which closely matches the requirements for that position. The recruiter then goes through that list of applicants, reading each individual resume to determine who to move forward and contact.

What does this mean for you? Well, remember this post from Gretchen way back when? What’s better than one recruiter attempting to read every resume submission that matches our profile? 200+ recruiters checking resume submissions and matching them against our profiles! :-). Keep in mind we’re only human, but we’re out there looking and matching every day!

So what’s the next step? Search our site, narrow your search to the right jobs, and apply online. Oh, and if you happen to come across anything that mentions Windows Live – click those first! ;-)

- Kenji (who also happens to recruit for Window Live ;-)

Dear JobsBlog: I've done it before, and I've seen it in virtually every resume that I come across. But let’s put the question to rest. What is your take on the famous "list of skills" like: "Programming lauguages: C#, Java, C++ Software Design: UML, Merise Services and Hosting: Web Services, WCF, OData, Windows Azure platform." Are they always good, always bad, or "it depends"? Should this list be included on a resume? If so, why? Thanks in advance!

-List of Skills

Dear List: As a Developer or Engineer, your main skill or trade is your ability to code, build, ship, optimize, test, and solve problems.  As recruiters we review a lot of resumes and  appreciate it when you include the arsenal of technical skills you have with regards to specific programming languages, database experience, and other tools/technologies.  So yes, you should include this information. With one caveat: what we don’t want to see are technologies listed you barely have experience with.  If you’ve used XML once and aren’t well versed in it, it is better to leave it off your resume. Anything you list is fair game to call out during a technical interview/screen.  It doesn’t bode well to list things you aren’t very familiar with. We know you have a lot to offer and that you have broad technical ability but we want it to be clear to us what you have done and what your areas of strengths are technically. For example, by your skills list alone we can tell if you’re a hard core Microsoft technologies engineer, someone who fully immersed in the mobile world, a UI Developer, or someone who is focused on the LAMP stack. 

Beyond technical skills, if you have a strong ability or domain expertise in an area please call that out.  Without clearly listing this, we won’t know what your expertise is in, what jobs might best suited for you, and better yet what your technical background looks like.  Also if you have special skills such as experience with R, machine learning, data mining, Hadoop, or MapReduce to name a few, we would love to be able to see these skills listed clearly.  Writing a resume is not an easy or quick task however erring on the side of simplicity, getting straight to the point about what your contribution was for each job, and clearly citing your strong ability in certain technical areas is probably your safest bet. A resume is supposed to summarize your skills and experience on paper, it’s job is to get you that phone screen and interview.  Help us understand you on paper and get you to the next step in finding your new career.

Good luck!
Eugenia