Views from the Top: Microsoft
Interview with Richard Lind, Developer & Platform Evangelism Lead
By Grazyna Sotta
About Microsoft, ranked 2nd by engineering students in Sweden (FöretagsBarometern 2010)
What are your main activities?
We develop, market and sell software programs and related services.
Something you would not expect about Microsoft:
One of few software companies doing basic research and development that is not product specific.
Current Number of employees: 450 in Sweden, 97 000 in the whole world
Expected Number of Vacancies for 2010: 40-50 in Sweden
About Microsoft's Employer Brand
What are the current business conditions that are driving the need for employer branding in your organization?
As we are at the frontline of developing software programs, which is becoming a more and more important area of business. To do this we need to recruit and retain the best on the market. In addition, we have high internal goals on hiring female developers, which with the low supply among graduates is a challenge.
How long has the company focused on its employer brand?
Our employer branding and talent management activities have been developing for the past 10 years. We currently have a trainee program in place for recent graduates and a high performer program to help professionals with experience develop within and beyond their current role.
What does your organization hope to accomplish via its employer branding activities?
Recruitment and retention. We want to be a naturally attractive work place for young graduates and an employer they chose to stay and develop with.
What specific objectives will take advantage of or mitigate the impact of your specific business environment?
We’re about to experience a new paradigm shift, which occurs approximately every 10 years. The one we’re about to experience is known as cloud computing and translates to a new approach to developing, maintaining and delivering services. It’s a new way of seeing and thinking about information technology. To keep up and stay ahead of the development, we need to recruit top talent that will have the capacity to think in these new ways.
Are you measuring your employer brand? If yes, how?
We follow our attractiveness among the students through the Universum Student Survey and carry out our own internal survey among the staff once a year.
Is employer branding driven by the senior management team?
Senior management is responsible for how we are perceived both as an employer and services provider, so employer branding is important on all levels of our organization.
How do you define your employer brand in a few words?
Innovative, powerful and global.
How do you think your company is perceived by students? Is it accurate?
The students see that we have a large influence and dominate on the market, which is a mixed blessing. Some think it’s fantastic and see the opportunities that come with it. Others believe we’re too powerful and not innovative enough, which is misleading and unfortunately a perception that pushes them away from us.
How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
We lead the development and our employees work with innovative products. Furthermore, we have strong values and focus on genuine and caring relationship with clients, a global approach, highest quality, hiring good people with good values, innovation, responsible management and helping clients and employees to new heights.
What are your current internal and external Employer Brand priorities (strategic and promotional)?
Externally, we focus on communicating innovation and creativity on the job.
Internally, we make sure that our staff can develop continuously while keeping a good balance between their professional and personal life.
Do you have specific deliverables that your employer branding programme needs to produce? And if so, what are those deliverables?
As we follow up the internal well being of our employees in terms of working environment, work life balance, remuneration, communication quality and 12 other factors, we have targets per department and for the company as a whole.
With the coming elections, what consequences do you expect for employers and job seekers? And will this have an impact on your employer branding activities?
The outcome of the elections might influence the industry in the long term perspective – by allocating (or not) resources to selected university programs. The changes we primarily foresee will come from the improving economy on a global scale. With a better recruitment market situation, we will need to give better offers to the talent we wish to recruit.