Happy new year to everyone! Hope you are all having a great 2010 so far.

I wanted to share a few changes we've got brewing here at JobsBlog for the new year:

Microspotting and JobsBlog merge: Yes, that's right. Two of your favorite Microsoft blogs are now one. :) Back in the fall (before Ariel, Microspotting's founder, left Microsoft), we decided to bring both blogs together onto one site. Actually, it was Ariel's idea, and I think it's a great one. We know the audiences of Microspotting and the traditional JobsBlog can be a bit different so you'll have the option to read the sections together--or separate.

If you want to read both blogs together, continue visiting our main blog site or main blog feed.

If you just want Microspotting, you can pass go and skip directly to the Microspotting page or Microspotting feed.

We've also got a new Microspotter -- Thomas -- on staff. He'll continue Ariel's working of finding the employees you might have least expected to work at Microsoft. And he'll also cover other interesting places and happenings around campus. As always, you can reach him at spotted (at) microsoft (dot) com.

A new look: Tis the season for a change of style. To accommodate the merge, we'll deploy a new skin and look on Thursday. This new look will be more similar to other Microsoft Careers properties, too (while maintaining JobsBlog's flair) so we'll appear to be more a part of a family ... which is what we are!

Gretchen's maternity leave: I'm also happy to announce that my husband and I are expecting a baby so I'll be gone on maternity leave from February-ish to July-ish. In the meantime, the JobsBloggers will keep on blogging!

Hope you enjoy the changes, and welcome to Microspotting!

gretchen