Challenges of Testing Data - Is it Really 73°F in Seattle right now? – by Cyril Bouanna

Cyril Bounanna is a Senior Development Lead for the Bing Data Quality and Measurement Team.  Today he presents to us a real-life scenario that software engineers and testers encounter when they are building Bing. *** Software engineers have developed a lot of expertise and solutions to assess code quality. From static analysis to E2E automation, performance benchmarks, or search relevance, we know how to verify if our code does the right...
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Recruiting questions answered: To cover letter or not cover letter, by Amanda Matthews

Q: Dear Recruiter, Can you please tell me your opinion on including a cover letter?  Also, are there any other items that I should not be included in my resume?   Great question, this is one that is often asked of me.  Even within my own family, I have people who disagree with me on this topic.  I have been in the recruiting industry for 12 years and have hired in all disciplines from Finance to Engineering, so I hope my...
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Why Should You Talk to a Recruiter, You Ask? I’ll Tell You - by Andrea LaCoy

I think that everyone would agree with the statement that we live in a world that is ever changing and always evolving. The standard way of doing things in the past are being replaced with the better, faster, more efficient versions and this can been seen in almost everything we do. Making a career change is no exception. Gone are the days of reading the ‘Want Ads’ in the newspaper, or dropping off your resume to that potential...
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Scouting For Talent - by Brian Christensen

Working as a Staffing Consultant within Online Services Division here at Microsoft, I am constantly reminded that my job has a lot of similar aspects to sports and trying to put together a team that is set up to win. While watching the NBA Eastern Conference Finals this past weekend, I noticed the intricacies of what it took to put a winning team on the court. Even before teams come together, there is a lot of behind the scenes work that...
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Finding the Perfect Match - by Katherine Stern

While staring at the words of my dating profile: Hello, my name is Katherine, I am 5’8″, and have brown hair and eyes and I like golf, tennis and long walks on the beach…I got to thinking, wow, this is really similar to recruiting.  So, for the fun of it, I thought I would compare the similarities.  These are my findings! Your resume is your online profile.  It tells a recruiter everything we need know about you....
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3 Tips on How to Get your Job Search Started by Amanda

I spoke with a candidate yesterday that was relocating to Seattle because his wife had accepted a job with Bing.  He asked my advice on getting his job search started, which prompted me to share the advice with all of you.  Here are 3 things that you can do that will put you ahead of the pack. 1.      Brush up your resume. Ideally you want to look for a job while you still have one.  If you are...
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Resume Writing Tips - How Not To Write a Resume

  I asked recruiters, hiring managers, for their top “pet peeves” things they see on resumes that make them                                                      ...
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Resume writing tips for Developers by Amanda

I titled this blog post for developers, however, I believe it’s sound advice for anyone writing a resume.   What jobseekers need to keep in mind is that skilled recruiters are masters of Boolean logic.  We use it in search engines, metasearch engines and job boards.  I use it to find people’s profiles, blogs and resumes on your webpage.  So how is this information helpful???  The data in these mediums...
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Dear Candidate: Help Me Help You by Marie

Dear Candidate: When I like your resume enough to pull you out of our database and we’ve arranged a time to talk on the phone, I hope you’ll to be prepared to talk to me.   When I ask you to “tell me about yourself,” I hope you’ll be ready for the question.   There should not be a long, uncomfortable silence from you when I ask this. When you get on the phone during...
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Consider this....before you put it online by Kay

Here are some reminders about links on your resume to the web and links on the web that lead to your resume. Careful What You Put Online. If you have a online account, people you won’t want to be reading your profile may be able to access it, even if you think nobody will reads it. Make your accounts private, so only your friends can access them. Be extra careful, and don’t post anything that you don’t want a...
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