"Go beyond what you learn in text books!" That is is
Chitra Sood's advice to youngsters keen to join the information
technology sector. The staffing director of Microsoft India Development
Centre.
Chitra Sood tells Shobha Warrier what MSIDC looks for in a
prospective employee.
As the staffing director of Microsoft India Development Centre, what do
you look for in students whom you want to recruit for the centre?The
core thing we look for is computer science fundamentals. Then we look at
their passion for innovation and passion for using technology to see how it
can be useful to people. We also look for the ability to work in ambiguous
situations. That is because we try to solve customer problems and it is not
necessary that you always know what the real problems are. They also should
have the ability to take risks. These are some of the things that we want in
any student who joins MSIDC.
Is it based on interview alone that you take students? What is the
recruitment process?
We have a written test on computer science fundamentals. If that is taken
care of, there will be three one-on-one interviews which is basically to
assess the skills of the person and what he can do in an organisation like
ours. That's it!
Compared to the other IT companies who recruit in thousands, Microsoft
recruits only a very few every year. How many do you recruit in a year?
Unlike the service providers, we are a product development company. So, we
don't hire in those kind of numbers. We also encourage those in the company
to move from one product to another. So, hiring depends on this also.
Roughly, we hire 150 people for the development centre every year.
For me this are the key Features..