Meet Michelle Bennett, Microsoft Alum: “I’m still a PC, even though I’m no longer paid to be”
April 17, 2009
By Dave Mendoza
* Originally Published on RecruitingBlogs.com
Michelle Bennett
Employer: Microsoft Alumni
Position: Sr. Technical Recruiter
Employment Summary: Microsoft, HP, Ingersoll Rand
Austin, Texas
• LinkedIn Profile:
• Facebook Profile
• RecruitingBlogs Profile
• Twitter
• Email Michelle: mkbennet@yahoo.com
Over the last several years I have been connected to Michelle Bennett via various networks and we have at least 49 contacts in common on Facebook. It was over the last weeks as I saw chatter pick up with the massive corporate staffing layoffs that a particular note made an impression on me. It was candid, it was positive while taking ownership of a life changing event and it reflected on what she took away from an experience during an otherwise sobering day:
“I worked at MSFT for the past few years until my name was added to the list of positions eliminated last January. Shouldn’t I be angry? Curiously, I remain loyal to the end as I write this on my official termination day. OK, the company isn’t perfect but I loved hanging with the amazing brains and I can say I’m a better person for my time there. So I offer thanks to the powers that be. I appreciate the opportunity, the many lessons, and the generosity. Yeah, I’m still a PC and proud of it!”
I knew I had to know Michelle Bennett better, but I couldn’t keep it to myself, so today, let’s all get to know someone above and beyond someone who jokes about her labor statistic designation. Today, Iet’s get to know a class act my friends:
Most recently, Michelle has served as a staffing consultant at Micosoft over the last four years. Her primary focus was to source and qualify technical candidates for Microsoft’s MBD and STB organizations, where she oversaw efforts to hire the best Program Management and Development talent for the Server and Tools Business, located at Microsoft’s HDQ in Redmond, WA. She created and implemented a strong staffing strategy to meet business needs, including competitive intelligence, talent market research and niche targeting. Michelle Sourced passive candidates through networking, cold calling, internet searches and research., in addition to on-line databases, contact lists, internal databases, etc. She partnered with business leaders to increase employee referrals and HR partners on ways to recognize and reward such efforts. Michelle also managed HR and Staffing projects at Microsoft from defining the scope to completion.
As a staffing consultant at Hewlett-Packard, Michelle performed full cycle hiring process for the SMB sales organization. She sourced and recruited talent through internet, job boards, user groups, cold calling, candidate targeting and networking. In addition, she executed college recruitment campaign, including circulation of job announcements, local campus recruitment, and developing relationships with the directors of universities offering a Sales Excellence program.
As a Senior Staffing Specialist at Ingersoll-Rand, Michelle was responsible for performing the recruiting and staffing process for supported locations, including; Sales, Marketing, Engineering, IT, and support in international and remote locations.
Q&A with Michelle Bennett
Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world.
Michelle’s Recent Facebook Announcement: I’m still a PC, even though I’m no longer paid to be: “I worked at MSFT for the past few years until my name was added to the list of positions eliminated last January. Shouldn’t I be angry? Curiously, I remain allegiant to the end as I write this on my official termination day. OK, the company isn’t perfect but I loved hanging with the amazing brains and I can say I’m a better person for my time there. So I offer thanks to the powers that be. I appreciate the opportunity, the many lessons, and the generosity. Yeah, I’m still a PC and proud of it!”
Michelle: I’m married to a phenomenal man that I met while we worked at the same company in Colorado Springs and now live in Austin, TX. We have a too-smart-for-her-own-good German shepherd that is spoiled beyond belief. A perfect example of this is how she persuades me to follow her to the refrigerator and give in to her demands whenever there is Rudy’s smoked turkey leftovers.
I thoroughly enjoy living in the ‘Live Music Capital’ and can be found on any given night trying out one of the hundreds of locally owned restaurants, enjoying great food, wine and music with friends.
Michelle: True to my birth sign, I love being around water! One of my favorite activities is sailing and I hope to live on a sailboat someday, traveling from island to island. My hubby and I bought a 25 year old sailboat last year to help us learn the systems the hard way – by fixing and replacing them! Seriously though, it’s been a great lesson and we’re usually out on Lake Travis every weekend.
Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter?
Michelle: I’ve been in the staffing industry for over 15 years and like the rest of us, I never really planned on becoming a recruiter. I landed my first gig as an On-site Contract Manager at a nuclear plant by being at the right place at the right time. Volt Technical needed someone and I needed a job. I stayed on the agency side until five years later when I started with Oracle in my first corporate recruiter role and have been “corp” ever since. Most recently, I was a Staffing Consultant at Microsoft focusing on finding technical talent for their STB (Server & Tools Business) organization.
I’ve worked from a virtual office (remotely) for at least a third of my recruiting career using technology made available by people I’ve recruited along the way. How cool is that?!
Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career?
Michelle: I’d have to say the single event that was most influential was during the last recession and the value of a strong professional network. During that time I was President of the Southern Chapter of the Colorado Technical Recruiters Network (www.ctrn.org) and saw firsthand the effect on the whole community as so many individuals lost their jobs. The ones that who recovered the quickest had reached out to their friends and asked them to reach to theirs to make the connection. The recruiters who were most successful were the ones that took the extra step to push a candidate’s resume to others, even when it didn’t result in monetary gain for them. In turn, they received many candidates when needed from sources they wouldn’t otherwise be able to tap.
strong> Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after?
Michelle: I do but not just one. There are many that I highly respect and regularly connect with for their thoughts and input. I feel blessed and fortunate for the people I’ve been able to meet and work with who are so amazing at what they do.
Six Degrees: Tell us about your job at Microsoft:
Michelle: I’m glad you asked Dave. Recently I joined a rapidly growing group of recruiters tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s right, laid off and unemployed. It’s more or less par for the course in our industry during these slumps and I’m using my free time to help others in a similar situation with their resumes.
Six Degrees: (A) What other companies’ recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples?
Michelle: I admire any company that manages to keep the hiring process simple. More complicated rarely means better. Recruitment is a critical piece of the business and we can provide a greater value to the client by quickly attracting the right talent without unnecessary delays.
I enjoy tracking a few of the great staffing leaders and watch closely when they go to a new organization. Rob McIntosh is one of these individuals that I think ‘gets it’ and also understands how to source the talent.
Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why?
Michelle: Social networking will continue to be a critical tool for recruiters as it expands with new venues. A great example of this is the growing trend of video resumes on YouTube. As recruiters, we need to stay aware of new tools to access competitive research and to build relationships now with the people we may need to recruit for tomorrow.
Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there?
Michelle: I plan to continue recruiting for great companies and developing first-class staffing strategies to source specialized talent. Eventually, my goal is to shift gears and focus on HR/Staffing process improvement for a larger organization.
Appreciating to Engage
April 17, 2009
Interesting study that was emailed to me by some PR folks. Do you agree with the findings?
A new global study commissioned by employee appreciation firm O.C. Tanner shows that appreciating employees can boost engagement by 20-30 percent. And during this time of economic uncertainty, increasing productivity with something as simple as “thanks” is a message all managers can use.
The 2008 Global Recognition Study conducted for O.C. Tanner by Towers Perrin took place in 13 countries, surveying more than 10,000 employees on topics such as company communication, trust, opportunity and well-being.
“While employees in China and Russia value team recognition more highly than individual acclaim, the more modest British prefer private recognition from their boss,” says Gostick. “It is clear that every country places a high value on the power of recognition.”
Employee engagement is a significant predictor of business success and an indicator of organizational profitability, customer satisfaction and employee longevity. According to the study, this level of dedication is driven by feelings of pride, trust, and an overriding sense of opportunity and well-being. While it might take years to rebuild these feelings if they are lost, implementing a program of appreciation brings direct and immediate bottom line results, boosting engagement in low-trust companies up to 63 percent—nearly level with companies where trust is already high. This same dynamic proves true for other factors of engagement, like accountability and goal setting.
“Many companies in our industry would say that in dark times you have to cut programs like recognition to the bone, but they are dead wrong,” says Linda Ross, Senior Analyst of El Paso Corporation, a client of O.C. Tanner. “When people feel unappreciated they are unwilling to bring their best to the table. And if you want to grow as an organization, you need everyone to be willing to give their best.”
buttload of job-related domains for sale
April 17, 2009
The operator of Jobhill.com, Inventive Marketing, is hoping to unload its entire portfolio of job-related URLs. Highlights, depending on the eye of the beholder, might include bartendingjobs.com, RNjobs.org and Bookkeeperjobs.com.
For a full list, click here.
According to owner Dean Davis, if the whole lot of 865 can’t be sold as-is – at a current pricetag of $5.5 million – then the URLs will be sold piecemeal. And, of course, there’s a chance most, if not all the domains are too crappy to sell at all. We’re sure Davis will keep us updated.
“web 2.0 is f&cked”
April 17, 2009
who’s going to buy hotjobs?
April 17, 2009
I still remember the day I met HotJobs. It was at SHRM in 1998, if hangover serves me correctly. The company was exhibiting in a modest booth and was more akin to a punchline, jokingly accused of being a porn site, than a legitimate company. “What kind of hot jobs do you have?”
No one was laughing, however, when they opened their war chest for a Super Bowl ad a few months later. And they really weren’t laughing when the start-up was picked-up by Web icon Yahoo! in 2002. Since then, by most counts, HotJobs has been a solid acquisition for Yahoo! and one of its best revenue generators.
Fast forward to 2009 and the company is subject to new rumors about acquisitions and sell-offs. This time compliments of The New York Times.
Under [New Yahoo! CEO Carol] Bartz, Yahoo has also been trying to sell some business units that it doesn’t consider core to its mission, including Hotjobs, the online recruiting service, according to several people familiar with the plans.
Will it happen? Time will tell. Until then, who are some possible suitors?
- Monster – Let’s start with the obvious choice and the one with the most recent track record of buying companies. It’s doubtful Yahoo! will accept stock as part of an acquisition by MWW and it’s even more doubtful that Monster has the liquid it would take to buy HotJobs. It would also be interesting to see how much crossover between customers there are at the moment. Might not be ideal.
- CareerBuilder – They’ve been in the print/online hybrid business for quite awhile now, so the existing relationships Yahoo! has with print entities around the country would be a natural fit, if not a bureaucratic mess. Still, with recent layoffs and cost-cutting measures at the company, acquisition seems unlikely.
- News Corp – Already an investor in the space via Simply Hired, Murdoch and Co. could be looking at the HotJobs brand to help support Fox and their other properties, such as The Wall Street Journal.
- Microsoft – Another company that’s dipped its toe into employment in the past (CareerBuilder stake), Microsoft is already close to Yahoo! and potentially looking at a search relationship. Could a deal that combines Yahoo! Search and HotJobs be that unreasonable?
- Dice – With a wide array of niche sites in its arsenal, Dice could be looking at a play that would compliment their existing catalog and jump into The Big Three overnight. And how many HotJobs clients could they turn into Dice clients?
- Jobing – A long shot? Maybe. Rumor is they’ve been actively looking for companies over the past 6 months to add to they’ve done in the past. And HotJobs’ newspaper play caters to Jobing’s local focus pretty nicely, and in markets they don’t currently target hardcore.
- None of the Above – Bad economy. Bad timing. ‘Nuff said.
Aside from those who say a deal is D.O.A., I for one wouldn’t be surprised if we saw some movement out of Sunnyvale around HotJobs. Whenever you have a motivated seller – and Yahoo! undoubtedly is by most accounts – things happen that normally wouldn’t.
As one source said, “This is what shitstorms are for.”
domino’s to reexamine its hiring policies
April 17, 2009
After a shocking video that showed Domino’s employees putting food up their nose and passing gas on salami surfaced on YouTube to an audience of millions, the pizza chain went into a damage control frenzy.
The perpetrators were captured and slapped with felonies. Their criminal history has been revealed much to the disgust of the American public, many of whom wonder how one of the accused, who had a rap sheet including sexual battery and possession of stolen property, was eligible to be hired for a job dealing with the public in the first place.
An exhausted and embarrassed Patrick Doyle, Domino’s president, appeared in his own video today in which he assured the public that everything has now been handled appropriately. The statement borders on begging. Check it out for yourself.
If they do revamp their hiring policies, would you give them a second chance?
and the webby award goes to…
April 17, 2009
The Webby Awards, which was hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, have announced their nominees in Internet excellence.
In the employment category, here are the candidates:
VisualCV has already sent out a press release about their nomination. “We are thrilled to be nominated for this year’s Webby Awards and are truly honored to be recognized as one of the Web’s best and brightest,” said Jeffrey Hunter, CEO of VisualCV. “We’ve set out as a company to change the landscape for job seekers and recruiters and the prestige that accompanies such a nomination signifies the value we are bringing to our members.”
Last year CareerBuilder was the winner of the People’s Voice Award, which is chosen by the global web community. Consol Energy Recruiting Site won the best employment website Webby.
good karma for your business
April 17, 2009
SocialYell.com is a new forum in beta that allows users to rate and discuss businesses and organizations based on their positive or negative impact on the world.
The site says their mission is to promote social and ecological responsibility. This sounds like a very positive message; however I wonder if such a forum will actually force companies to translate calls-to-action into good deeds.
The site is subdivided into 5 categories: environment, health, social equity, consumer advocacy and charity. According to founder David Rostan, SocialYell users post ratings not just for the sake of determining which organizations are more popular, but to hone in on specific company initiatives that spotlight companies on the right track (and those that should be).
So far there are around 72 businesses listed with various ratings. To highlight an example, here is some feedback on Dell:
Dell does not use any toxic materials in the manufacturing of their energy efficient computers. They have programs that work to reduce emissions in their shipping and logistics operations and offer a recovery and recycling program for their customers’ old computers at no charge.
As far as I could tell, most of the discussions about companies where positive – not surprising considering several of the companies listed seemed to be in the health food or organic industry.
the yahoo brain drain continues
April 17, 2009
SuccessFactors, a creator of on-demand performance and talent management solutions, has hired former Yahoo! executive Dmitri Krakovsky as vice president of product management.
Krakovsky was most recently Yahoo’s vice president of Business and Marketplace Operations, and Sponsored Search. Previously, Dmitri held vice president of product positions for Yahoo!’s Advertiser and Publisher group and Small Business Services.
“Dmitri’s exceptional track record in leading the most important products with some of the most successful and loved web applications ever built is going to drive unbelievable and fantastic innovation at SuccessFactors,” said Lars Dalgaard, chief executive officer for SuccessFactors. “With consumer and enterprise Web experience, from Yahoo to Intuit, over to small business products, Web 2.0 and 3.0, cloud expertise, he’s a perfect fit for the company.”
“SuccessFactors is a truly exceptional company, so it was a no-brainer to come here and join this innovative team,” said Dmitri Krakovsky, vice president of product management at SuccessFactors. “I am excited about joining a group of people unified by the common passion and focused on solving real-life customer problems. The SuccessFactors’ platform, proven scale, and flexibility are a real testament to the customer value. I’m excited to roll up my sleeves and work with this team to evolve our product strategy and the roadmap to create great, easy to use on-demand product – as powerful as leading enterprise applications and as easy to use as consumer products.”
Gsr
April 17, 2009
