My name is Matt Aberham and I work in Microsoft’s Online Services Business (Global Foundation Services to be exact) and my job is to help find Program Managers and Engineers to build and manage web services running at the largest scale possible.

I still can’t believe I work at Microsoft. I’ve been recruiting for 12+ years, working on various startups around the Puget Sound and Bay Area and Microsoft is the opposite of everything I’ve ever built...

...Except of course it isn’t! Since joining in October of 2007, I’ve been consistently amazed at how much fun I’m having and how “non monolithic” the company feels.

As most people know, Microsoft is not the dominant market driver in online services business and in this space we’re very much still a start up. To me, that’s the draw. Within every challenge lies an opportunity and I’ve never understood the point of joining a company after they’ve gotten it all figured out. The teams I help build have a direct impact on how Microsoft succeeds in transitioning from shrink-wrapped software to Software + Services.

One of my big focus areas is encouraging managers to hire candidates that have 70-80 percent of the skills and experience necessary to do the job and the aptitude to learn the rest. 

Rather than getting caught up solely on what a candidate has done, I understand that a series of identical moves is rarely a compelling proposition for most people. I try to find candidates a healthy balance of leveraging their existing skills with what he/she wants to do.

If designing, developing and managing web services on an unprecedented scale maps to what you are looking for I’d love to hear from you!

There was a great bit in the original Clerks film where Dante and Randal discuss if one’s stated function always ties to what they actually do… (As pointed out in the past by Kenji!). Anyone who’s been around the technology industry knows that the meaning of a job title differs greatly from company to company. There’s a famous blog by Steven Sinofsy that dissects the difference between the PM role at Microsoft vs. anywhere else, so no need to revisit that here.

I did want to call out though that when you get on the phone with a recruiter, they will pay less attention to the title you held at company X and more attention to the responsibilities you performed in that role. I bring this up because there’s been a few times where I’ve seen something interesting on a resume that made me think about them for a title different than what they are working as now.

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This post is courtesy of Bing Jobs Blog:

I’m a big Top Chef fan and I love to cook, but I don’t really consider myself a “Foodie.” There are too many concepts I'm totally ignorant of that are old news to most Foodies. For instance, the whole concept of deconstructed cooking was foreign to me until started watching the show.

Given the large number of ingredients Microsoft uses to create our online services, I thought it would be fun to look at some of the main groups that combine to deliver Bing, courtesy of our OSD Career Site:

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CNN and CareerBuilder recently published a list of the 43 weirdest things said in job interviews, and we asked for your stories. We also asked our JobsBloggers. Here is Matt's answer.

I knew this interview was going to be a memorable one when I picked the candidate up in the lobby and he had his sunglasses (Yes, even in Seattle!)  resting on the top of his head.

I always encourage my candidates to stay comfortable and relaxed, but when we got back to my office his posture in the chair was more appropriate for a day of couch surfing instead of intense interviews.

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Not long after JobsBlog started in 2004, Gretchen answered a reader who wanted to know what he should say when an interviewer asked him to describe his strengths and weaknesses. Five years later, that post is still one of the most popular articles on this site. Gretchen’s advice remains relevant, of course, and we encourage you to read it – but we thought we’d give you an update from varying viewpoints. Check out what Kenji, Lisa and Matt have to say about this infamous interview question!

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Dear JobsBlog: I've never done a lunch interview before, but I've heard horror stories about candidates being so nervous they forget basic table manners or get a huge chunk of broccoli stuck in their teeth. How can I enjoy my meal and still impress a hiring manager? Any suggestions on what to order and how to avoid awkwardness?

-Apprehensive Appetite

Dear Apprehensive Appetite: You've probably seen us mention on this blog that answers to many questions we receive vary from recruiter to recruiter. That said, we decided to take some bites of advice from several JobsBloggers on this topic. Put your headphones on and get your elbows off the table for podcasts from Matt, Lisa and Janelle that will help improve your lunch interview techniques!

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Understanding that every recruiter conducts initial candidate screens differently, I wanted to share some of the themes that come up with candidates I don’t end up moving forward with. JobsBlog has lots of great tips for ways to improve your phone screen, but here are some things to avoid.

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This is a great question. In classic recruiter style, I’m going to be very definitive and say: I think that it depends. :-) Startups are great because they force people to wear multiple hats, work in a resource-constrained environment, and think about how what they work on interacts with other pieces...

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All recruiters have different theories on how much to “prepare” their candidates the morning of the interview. There’s only one tip I like to give candidates when they come in, and it’s really more common sense than inside information: Question us . As Kenji pointed out , most of those pesky Microsoft...

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