August 02, 2019

Personal experience: How to get a job at Microsoft

About myself

My name is Oksana Makarenko and I am 26 years old. I was born and raised in Almaty. I love this city very much for its beauty, but most of all for the people. Having been in the USA for the past two years, I recall my relatives and friends with warm feelings and look forward to meeting them.

In 2014 I graduated from AlmaU in Marketing specialty. I would like to note that I started working in this area much earlier. I am one of those lucky people who correctly chose a profession, so my parents’ investment is paying off today. But the main thing is that my work brings me incredible pleasure.

Memories of AlmaU

During my studies at AlmaU I was the head of the group. I was more interested in studies, internships, conferences and business games. Thanks to this, the first serious offer I received in my student years. One of the brightest memories was the year of 2012.

AlmaU team took 1st place at “Golden Compass” International Competition in Ukraine.

I express gratitude to AlmaU for laying the foundation of my professional career, great opportunities and communication with experts.

About work

I have been working as a Marketing Project Manager at Microsoft since 2018. My functional responsibilities include implementation of marketing support for projects aimed at developing relationships with company partners. This is a contract position which is tied to the type and duration of my visa.

The world business company employs completely ordinary people.

In order to get a job in any company in the USA, you need three basics: a work visa (this is the most difficult moment), competencies, knowledge and a strong desire.

In September 2017, I came to the United States through a professional internship program and took up the duties of a marketing coordinator at Wimmer Solutions, a recruiting company for IT.

I worked in this position for six months: improved the website usability, SEO and promotion in the media. The work is very interesting, but monotonous within a small company. The manager offered to try for open positions with the client. I did not believe that I could get there. But everything turned out to be not so scary: in a couple of weeks I was given a computer, a badge and a social package.

What skills are needed to work in a large corporation?

From my own experience, I can say that expertise and independence are important for a marketer in a large company.

American companies do not hire a simple contractor who will do what the line manager tells him.

The employer expects that the hired specialist will be able to analyze and plan, and will help the company achieve business goals. You need to feel business needs, analyze the market, build and test hypotheses, develop, coordinate and implement innovations. And also not to be afraid of being rejected.

Communication is the second quality. In the USA, a huge role is assigned to it - how skillfully you can have an interlocutor and make “useful” acquaintances determine your career successes. You need to feel the culture of a department, company and country, so it is impossible to work out a single, correct plan.

Stress resistance is the third necessary skill. A lot of work. You do not always like it, sometimes there is lack of time and people. In any case, you need to be able to keep face and professionalism.

would be interested in programming and coding. In the USA, I took a lot of online courses: SEO, Digital Analytics, HTML5, Content Writing, and other. However, now I can say with confidence that I cannot imagine life without education.

I get the greatest pleasure from the responsibility for development and result of my projects. Microsoft encourages autonomy. There is no micromanagement on the part of administration, so I am free to be creative and to perform. For example, I can work remotely, start and end a working day earlier, because administration does not want to see the number of hours worked per day, but the quality of work.

I draw my strength and get inspired from working with people. I like to work in a team of professionals, learn and share knowledge.

About living abroad

I always thought that effective communication is one of my strongest skills. But in the USA, I realized that this “skill” is far from being so strong. The language barrier was very frustrating and served as a barrier to my assimilation. I had to work on my language and accent.

Living in a new country is a complex stress. It is necessary to conclude a rental contract, fill out tax documentation, change the light bulb. This list will seem funny to someone, but in a new country it can be a lot of stress.

Achievements

One of my former bosses noted that I learned to be proud of my achievements and “know my worth”. I never had the desire to arrange a demonstration of my virtues, successful projects and skills.

I still don’t like this, because I sincerely believe that success is measured by results.

Nevertheless, I am proud of my every project and new skill.

If not Microsoft, then what?

I love hiking in the mountains and forest. I like to spend an active weekend, listen to the sound of the wind, and also take photos. The shutter clicks of my old Nikon are especially close to me.

I like to write. She used to write poems, stories that never saw the light of day. Now this is marketing content, but I do not lose hope that one day I will do something meaningful in this direction.

I love children, since I worked as an animator at children's parties for many years. New Year celebrations have their own special charm - sincere smiles, lights everywhere and smell of tangerines.

About the benefits of AlmaU

Studying at AlmaU is the foundation of my career. Teachers of the department instilled in me love for the profession through interactive training and conversations. They did not read lectures from paper and treated students well. It was their warm attitude and personal interest that helped to love their studies and profession.