Dear Jobsblog:
I am a CS grad in my 20s. The startup that my friends and I were working on went under and I have no other work experience. I am interested in pursuing a career with Microsoft, but know that it could take a while to get my foot in the door. Do you have any recommendations for what I can be doing in the meantime to strengthen my resume?

-Between Jobs

Dear Between Jobs:
Congratulations! Graduation is an amazing achievement.

Keep track of the work that you did with your friends on the startup project, what felt easy for you and what skills/technologies you picked up. You can think about in terms of the SDLC. Identifying who your customers are, how you gathered or made up requirements, the trade offs you made through the process, the development or coding work you did, how you tested your product/ensured quality and the results of your work. 

I love that you would like to work for Microsoft one day – that takes me to my next suggestion. Get on our career site and start plugging in key words that describe you and your strengths and see what jobs pop up. Take a close look at the requirements and start closing the gap between where you are today and what those requirements are. If that means picking up a new technology or getting more immersed into gathering requirements or focusing on quality in your startup work, you can control what muscle you want to build or flex.

Once you have thought about this, you can start to rework your resume, identify what part of the process you are strongest in and what role you think you might want to take on here at Microsoft (Software Developer, Developer in Test or Program Manager). To answer your question, Microsoft hires great developers every day and we look at ability, potential and trajectory. Your startup experience is valuable. Determine your strengths and build on your weaknesses. When you feel ready and you can meet those requirements on our job postings – submit your resume or reach out to me on Twitter @eugenia_online. 

Wishing you continued success.

-Eugenia