Central & Eastern Europe graduate opportunities

Calling all students looking for graduate roles in Central and Eastern Europe in locations including Poland, Czech, Russia, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and our HQ in Munich, Germany - Go ahead, dream big! The Microsoft Academy for College Hires [MACH] Program is designed for University hires like you.  We believe that work is a place for exploration, creativity, innovation and professional growth. It’s about being inspired and motivated to achieve extraordinary things which leave a lasting impact. At Microsoft, you learn from the finest in the business. As a full time graduate employee, you experience an inspiring world class program.

We look for graduates in the following areas:
MACH Sales: Are you passionate about interacting directly with our customers and being on the front lines to bring the magic of software to consumers and businesses? Our MACH sales experience will provide you with a dynamic tool kit to enable you to hone your sales craft to become trusted advisors and impactful contributors to our business!

MACH Technical: If you are interested in pursuing our Consulting or IT Services roles, you stand a chance to build upon your technical acumen with expert technologists and gain skills in effective  communications to help our customers and partners realize the brilliance of IT.

MACH MBA:
If you have a few years of professional experience and you are currently working towards attaining your full-time MBA degree, we have a MACH experience tailored just for you! In addition to being on the job to contribute to our business priorities, you stand to gain additional tools to communicate effectively to a wide variety of audiences, build a solid understanding of our business strategy, and leverage a global network of peers and colleagues.

We have customized experiences to help you start strong at Microsoft, build your global network, and drive your career. Our two year program is focused on ensuring that you receive the professional development early to help you accelerate your impact in role and that you have the tools and knowledge to steer your long term career. With over 2,500 MACH employees in over 60 countries worldwide, you’ll gain a network to a global community of peers, leadership exposure, world class trainings and the opportunity to take on challenging work that contributes meaningfully to helping people and businesses realize their full potential.

If you are interested in learning more – keep checking back here.  We will be adding blogs from some of our current MACH graduates located in Central and Eastern Europe in the coming months as well as details of how to apply for graduates roles available from September.

Toni-Marie Lowney, University Staffing Lead CEE

ATEFEH SEBDANI – Customer Immersion Experience

As mentioned in my presentation, there is a concept called Customer Immersion Experience at Microsoft. This is what I work with and it’s extremely fun and challenging. There’s only one person who drives this project in Sweden and that unique role was delegated to me when I stepped into the MACH program. In other words, it’s a privilege to have this kind of trust.

Since January, I’ve been totally focused on learning what CIE is all about, which partners that work with the concept, who wants to use it in a nearby future, how we internally use it as a tool, learning about the products included, create and send newsletters about updates and information, ensuring the installation of new versions internally as well as at partners, working on a new interior plan, present the concept for partners, etc.

The tasks vary on a daily basis and each day really looks different. Basically, the only read thread is that nothing is continuous.

So what is the Customer Immersion Experience?

In short, it is a physical room where we invite our customers to experience Microsoft
Productivity Platform. With productivity we refer to products such as SharePoint
, Exchange, Office 2010  and Lync. Here the customer gets to role play in a simulated
“day-in-the-life” as employees on a fictitious company. Together with a facilitator, they get different tasks that they have to perform and through that see the value of the whole platform and the seamless circle between our products.

I’m not working directly towards customers but via our partners. Regardless of who is in the room, it really is fascinating to see the reactions afterwards. We offer great products and that is manifested during such a session. We are not alone in thinking our products are good.

The CIE concept is still pretty new, yet it has already had great success around the world. As we tend to say: “You would never buy a car without test driving it before. Neither would you bid on a house you’ve never seen. Or would you?”

So, I’m looking forward to drive this concept to success even more here in Sweden, both internally as well as externally. By attending events, giving presentations, keep a straight strategy, freshen up the existing room, keep a good relationship with partners and colleagues, shape and design the whole concept…and so on. Variety and challenges in a fantastic mix.

Do check out the Swedish MACH blog as well, you can also access the blog in
English! (Bing translate)

//Atefeh Sebdani

So what’s the MACH scheme all about?

Get ready to hit the ground running! Firstly, congratulations if you have made it on to the MACH scheme. By no means is the application process an easy feat! So getting through the application process alone, I feel gives a real demonstration of determination and character (so pat on the back).

Firstly, check out the following website: http://careers.microsoft.com/careers/en/gb/home.aspx as it is an invaluable source of information (if you haven’t applied yet, what are you waiting for?!). What I found the most helpful were the videos from graduates and interns on what it is really like to work here and what some of the hiring managers would expect from the graduates they recruit.

The MACH program is a two year scheme. You kick off your first week at Microsoft with a week-long induction. During this, you have an opportunity to network with your colleagues and managers; learn more about the business and how your role impacts on your business division. And it’s fun!

Training is very hands on and whether you’re in the Sales, Marketing or Technical stream, training will be tailored to your role. The first year of the program focuses on giving you the foundations for your transition into Microsoft and the second year will focus on career development.

There are four key MACH training events:
• Winter School: takes place in a European location, marking the official kick off of the MACH program. You’ll have a chance to meet other international MACH hires and participate in professional and team skills training.

• MGC (MACH Global Conference) @ MGX: takes place in the U.S.A and gives you a global networking experience and exposure to senior executives within the company.

• Capstone: takes place in a European location and involves an end-to-end Microsoft business simulation and Year 2 kickoff.

• Keystone Workshop / Program Completion: takes place in a European location and consists of a career/feedback workshop.

The second year of the program looks to provide you with career development tools and resources, where you’ll complete a program of virtual learning modules. This will provide you with guidance on furthering your professional development and career at Microsoft.

The major benefits of being on the scheme are that there is so much to take on board and provided that you are willing and keen, there is so much you can take in. You’re valued and you’re not treated as a trainee. You’re respected in your role and the responsibilities that come with it. The opportunities to progress and develop are endless and I would encourage anyone to take advantage of this.

Rest assured, you’ll never have a boring day and you’ll have numerous opportunities to interact and work with some of the best in their field within a company as big and global as Microsoft. Trust me; the people here know what they’re talking about!

Dawn E.

Our induction week in Reading. Va va voooooom – Go Team 3!

MACH Application Process – My Experience

By the way, just to save repetition, Toni-Marie Lowney has written a great post on the stages and the timelines in the MACH application process, so if you’re looking for specifics, check it out! I’m just going to tell you my experience of the application process, how I felt at each stage and of course, the happy ending (or beginning rather!).

It was July 2010, I’d just arrived back having completed a year-long internship in Paris and was wondering where on Earth my life was going after university. Having worked for a telecommunications company, I realized my passion was in the digital industry, in either marketing or advertising (nothing related to my degree by the way). Heading into final year and the inevitability that it would be all over in a short few months (and those months did fly by, I still can’t believe I’m working here now, Uni feels like such a long time ago), I thought I’d better do something about it. A friend of mine had been accepted onto the NHS graduate scheme the previous year and the idea of graduate schemes appealed to me. Speaking to my university careers advisors, I decided to make a list of companies that I was interested in and went about my research.

I still have no idea to this day what made me do this, but I decided to type Microsoft careers into a search engine and “graduate” came up. Curious, I clicked on it and after combing the site through for all its possible information, I thought, well why not; it’d be worth a shot – as it is such a prestigious program, honestly I didn’t feel like a stood a chance of getting on it! I hadn’t even known until then that Microsoft even had a graduate program! So I completed the application form online (I cannot stress enough how important it is to spend time on a graduate application, if you want to be considered, be sure to do you research, bring your personality into it. They will know if you’ve just cut and paste the same generic responses that you’ve written for other applications!). I didn’t give it much thought as I’d sent it off over a weekend and university assignments were looming.

So I remember feeling surprised but elated when I got a speedy response from the graduate recruitment team within 2 days, inviting me to the next stage of the process, which was an on-line test. I had to complete it within 5 days, so having done the practice tests, I decided to go for it and complete the test by Microsoft. Another piece of advice I’d like to share at this stage is that only do the test by Microsoft if you’re getting at least about 80% of the practice questions correct. I was about half way through the real test when my mind went blank and I just thought to myself “Oh no.” So with time against me, and a couple of educated guesses, I completed it and went to sleep. Or tried to. I was feeling annoyed at myself and almost certain that I’d blown it.

You can imagine how I felt the following day when I got an email back from Microsoft inviting me to a telephone interview (which was within a week of doing the online test – me thinking to myself, that’s not enough time!). I researched the company as much as I could – the annual report, the graduate website, the official website, Microsoft press archives, newspaper/magazine articles where Microsoft was mentioned, you name it, I exhausted all avenues of sources of information, as well as interview techniques. http://prospects.ac.uk became my best friend. The interview lasted around 35 minutes for me. Nerves had been present the entire time as I tried to answer each question as concisely as I could, but channelling that into positive thoughts, thankfully, saw me through that call!

The first three stages of the application process went extremely quickly (they all happened within two weeks for me), so the month-long wait was pretty tough. So I was air-punching when I found out that I’d gotten through to the assessment centre. You’d have knocked out about 90% of the competition by this stage, so well done if you manage to get this far!

I had a week’s notice to prepare for the assessment centre (although it varies), so I brushed up on what I’d written in my application, more research on the company, did practice interviews with my careers advisor at the university as well as getting advice on assessment centres.

These are your (potential) employers, so look the part and dress as though you mean business! Try to get a good night’s sleep as well as the assessment centre is a long day and it can take a lot out of you, so being well-rested means that you are on your game. Even though you may be a bag of nerves, turn this into adrenaline.

Assessment centre done and dusted. I waited. And waited. Then finally… I still haven’t forgotten that call that I received from Microsoft when they told me I had been accepted onto the MACH scheme. Although that’s about all I remember as excitement and elation took over and my mind just went blank.

Dawn E.

DAWN WOODHOUSE, Product Specialist in Advertising and Online

Hey everyone!

The first of many… So you’ve got this far, now let’s see if I can hold your attention! My name is Dawn Woodhouse. I work as a Product Specialist in Advertising & Online, in London. I’ll be blogging with Jenny Stevens as a two-team, so I’ll take the floor with a quick introduction and then hand it over to Jenny.

Basically, I support my team in identifying advertising opportunities on MSN UK. I work as a go-between with trade marketing, research team, display operation managers, the editorial team… the list goes on! A lot of what we do as a team is about creating a positioning and telling a story, being strategic and striking a sales and product balance. Having been here since September 2011, my role is starting to pick up momentum and will be changing in some capacity, so watch this space for upcoming updates!

What do I love about working here? What don’t I love is more the question. The atmosphere, the people (and I honestly believe that people make a place), the autonomy in my work and the trust that your team and manager have in you to do your job and to do it well. You get as much out of it as you’re ready to put into it, and if you really want to achieve your full potential and become more than just a number, be ready to stand out and work hard.

But we know how to have fun as well, and whether you’re in London or Reading, there is plenty to get involved in at work, with your colleagues or being a tourist in your own city! And not forgetting our global cousins as well.

What excites me the most about being at Microsoft – It is dynamic, creative, innovative, sociable and fun! Everything you would want to be a part of.

Outside of work, I have an unhealthy penchant for video games, Fancie cupcakes (these cupcakes are the business) and travelling (so that’s where all my money goes…).

JENNIFER STEVENS, Account Manager

Hello everyone!

Firstly thanks for reading our blog. Dawn and I will be blogging weekly on what it is like to be on the MACH scheme in London. Both of us work in A&O, but we have different roles so we are aiming to give a really broad insight into what happens in Microsoft Advertising as a whole.

I work as an Account Manager (AM) in the display side of the team. I project manage advertising campaigns that run on our MSN webpage and our Windows Live offerings. I have responsibility for certain advertising agencies and it is my job to ensure that they are happy with the performance of their campaigns and to maintain a great relationship with these clients.

Currently, my day to day responsibilities consist of reporting on live campaigns and keeping my clients informed about the progression of the campaign. I am also on hand to answer any questions that may arise and solve any problems that occur. Soon, once I am all trained up and fully happy within role, I will be given my own agencies to look after. I can’t wait for the challenge and the opportunity!!

Support in London has been great, I’ve been here a month so far and have loved every second of it. I have a buddy – who trains me on day to day duties – who has been terrific to work with. I also have a self-proclaimed Life Coach, who sits next to me and helps me with the little things that come up. I guess it’s a bit cliché but the culture at Microsoft is really open, you can ask anyone anything and everyone is happy to help you.

The best thing about working within digital media and advertising is the people. I know, I know, I’m full of clichés today!! But it really is. They are fun, energetic and enjoy their jobs. The office is busy and vibrant and everyone is really supportive. Check out the photo of us , it’s a mixture of my team the AMs the Performance Account Managers (PAMs) and the Display Operations Managers (DOMs) – who all sit near to me.

But it’s not just all work at Microsoft, we have a great social scene and opportunities to get involved in loads of good things. Microsoft has a reputation for being fun and outgoing – I’m constantly being nagged at to go to the pub, or on random nights out or to lunch with the team. It’s a hard life I know…

Anyway, through my blogs I hope to tell you a lot about what it’s like to live in London and work at Microsoft. I want to give you a MACH graduate’s perspective of Microsoft Advertising. Both Dawn and I will be doing loads of exciting stuff which we can’t wait to share with the blogging community!

Thanks for reading, more exciting life updates to follow next week!!!

JOE STIFF, Project Manager

It’s been an interesting past couple of weeks at Microsoft for me.

I had a meeting recently where I got the opportunity to show off everything I have worked on so far in my first couple of months at MS, and people were really enthusiastic about it! I’ve made a fully functioning database, with a dashboard on top, where colleagues can view their sales data in various ways. They can get some real value out of the information I’ve pulled together for them, I feel like I’ve really contributed to Microsoft with this, what a great feeling!

I attended a talk from a guy, who’s been in the company for 9 years, where he talked about his experiences so far and how he’s got to where he is today. Howard had been an intern, just like me! He got onto the Microsoft MACH Scheme, which is exactly what I was hoping to do next, and then proven himself and become a crucial part of the Microsoft team. It’s a perfect success story, which is just one of the inspiring things I hear about every day at Microsoft. This one, however, really encourages me, as it is real life evidence, of how working hard will allow you to achieve almost anything you set out for. I find inspiring things really motivate me to go out and achieve the same.
“Superior infrastructure makes for richer fantasies, believe me.” – Bill Bryson.

My everyday role also holds some real responsibility too, now. I have to compose and send emails with important sales information to each ‘Account Manager’, telling them whether or not they’ve done everything they needed to do for each sale (filled in the right forms, ticked the right boxes, etc.). These Account Managers rely on me to give them this data, and help them to keep on top of the work. Sometimes I need to ‘express my urgent concern’ for certain sales, calling action from people that may have been in the company for a lot longer than I have. It really shows the great way Microsoft work, people are always happy to listen to you, even if you’re brand new to your role, it’s a great atmosphere.

The responsibility is exciting, and I have to think on my feet and act fast when an Account Manager gets back to me with a question or problem, but I’m never worried about it, as I have a brilliant team, always willing to spend the time to help me if I really needed it, behind me. That said, you must not fall into the habit of asking endless questions before trying to complete the task first, yourself. Using your initiative is something, surprisingly, not every company allows you the freedom to do.

Joe Stiff