Landing a job at Microsoft, Part1: The Resume, Catch Their Attention!

In a previous post, I talked about the job offer I got to work at Microsoft. This is the first of a 3 post series where I share my experience and some tips & tricks and resources that could help YOU do the same ;)

So, The first step is your resume/CV. You have to submit a great one, since it’s the first thing they’ll get to see of you (and of your work, since it’s something YOU produced).

However, and before going deep into how to present your resume, I would like to touch on something of the utmost importance. If you want to have a great resume, you need to HAVE a great resume. Confusing? not really. You can’t impress them with what you would/will do, and certainly not by faking it, so you better make sure to invest in yourself, and pack up a good deal of experiences and skills. This will also have the benefit of giving you more confidence in your interviews (more on that later).

Microsoft gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse!

So, I received some AWESOME news recently! An offer from Microsoft for an SDE (Software Development Engineer) position in its Online Services Division :D and as the title suggests, I couldn’t refuse ;)

As a result, I wanted to share with you, the different stages I went through in order to get this offer, along with some tips & tricks and resources that could help YOU land a job at the company of your dreams.

First, let me give you some context, and summarize the process, then I’ll try to give more details along with the tips & tricks in the following posts.

In the beginning of September, it came to my knowledge (through Facebook, oddly enough :P) that Microsoft was having a recruitment campaign in the MEA (Middle-East and Africa) region, and that there will be an event in Dubai from October 3rd to the 6th. The news mentioned the website “http://www.microsoft.com/university”, so I just went there and took a look around at the different “graduate” offers. It looked (very) interesting (duh!), so I decided to give it a try. I wrote a resume and submitted my application in the website. And waited …