"We have tons of openings.." says Sassan Saedi from WWESS Recruiting Committee
Sassan Saedi our debonair team-man on the Recruiting Committee on the Microsoft Worldwide Enterprise & Support Services spoke to me about his stint so far at Microsoft and the recruiting committee. Here are some excerpts from that interview.
So give us a quick summary of your career so far and why you joined Microsoft, The WWESS Team and how you joined the Recruiting committee?
I was an IT Manager for a large transportation company while I went to grad school at Kellogg. Upon graduation with a Marketing and Strategy MBA, I moved to Ameritech/SBC as a Marketing Manager for consumer ISDN/xDSL products. During this time, I defined and launched the consumer DSL product. Over the next few years I managed a variety of products in both the consumer and business spaces. I then moved to 3COM as a Services Product Manager. Following 3COM, I consulted for a couple of years in the Telecom space on Marketing and Product Management assignments.
Microsoft was not on my radar during my job search. When MS called (they found me on Monster.com), I took the interview out of curiosity more than anything (although I did take it very seriously). When the offer came then next day, I had to re-evaluate my career and weigh the pros/cons of such a move. For me, moving out of Telecom and broadening my experience while building on the foundation that I already had was a key factor in coming on board to MS. The new services strategy also gave me a rare opportunity to create and own something new at Microsoft, a unique opportunity in a $40B giant.
How was your interview process with the Team? What was the toughest question you were asked and why did you think it was the toughest?
Interview process was as tough as I expected it. One person was grilling me hard on measurement metrics of the position I was interviewing for….I obviously did not give him the answer he was looking for….to this day I don’t know what he wanted….anyway, it was very frustrating and I thought I had blown the entire interview. He then escorted me to the waiting area 15 minutes early to wait for my next interview. Obviously the ending to the story was good :)
What kind of work do you do at the WWESS Team?
I am a Sr. Program Manager for Workshop SKUs responsible for the development of the new Worldwide Workshop SKUs that we are launching.
What has been your biggest fun day at work?
I guess MGB was the highlight so far. I was still fairly new and attended MGB in Atlanta. It was a great chance to hear the executive’s vision first hand and also get to know my team mates better….Still can’t get the picture of Pradeep on the swing out of my head :)
Any nightmare-days at WWESS yet?
None yet, but I am sure I am prepared :)
We hear you go to the gym at the same time as Steve Ballmer in the mornings. Fine. And you wear your Ipod on you in front of him? Whats up with that?
Yes, sometimes I workout at the same time as Steveb and have seen him sweating a few machines over. As for the iPod question, I have no idea what you are talking about :) I would never consider buying such a single use device that does not have the ability to provide a broader computing experience :)
So in your words, what would constitute a stellar resume? What are the must-haves and what would be an X-Factor on a resume?
My pet peeve is seeing resumes that list responsibilities. I really don’t care what someone is responsible for. I am most interested on what they accomplished. Too often candidates stuff their resumes with job description bullets. I am most interested in seeing meaningful accomplishments with details, ie. Responsibility levels, challenges, timeframes and quantifiable end results.
What are your next big plans to be implemented on the recruiting committee?
I have been working on online recruiting through MBA alumni career networks. Still working on defining the next “big plans”. To potential recruits who want to join the team – what do you say they should do to maximize their visibility? Know what you are going after and submit a resume that supports that goal. Too often I see resumes that have seemingly have no relation to the job posting(s). I don’t have time to read spend 15 minutes dissecting the resume, I want to be able to see the relevance in 1-2 minutes. If you are not going to rewrite your resume to the job posting, at least update the summary section so I can see why it is logically possible that you are qualified for the advertised position.
Secondly, I would say don’t give up. We have tons of openings and new ones constantly created. Keep applying for the various positions. Just because you are in our database doesn’t mean the hiring manager or the assigned recruiter will come across your resume. Believe it or not thousands of people apply every month, you need to be seen and noticed before they can call you back.
