Microsoft reality show puts job candidates on the hot seat
Putting your best foot forward during a job interview is tough enough but imagine adding a bunch of TV cameras to the mix?
A new online reality show is doing just that – as candidates compete to land a job at Microsoft.
More than 100 people auditioned for the show, but hiring bosses with the tech company narrowed the field to a lucky four.
“I thought I have to work here. I have to work here,” said Stacy, one of the candidates competing in the online show.
The premise behind 'Be the Next Microsoft Employee' pits real life computer whizzes against one another for a chance to become a support engineer job at Microsoft.
“I think you're going to see a bunch of incredibly passionate people, they love what they do. They know technology backwards and forwards,” said Mark Protus, executive producer for the show.
Protus is the one who came up with the idea for the online job competition.
“It’s completely unscripted and totally real and very much like working at Microsoft,” he said.
Microsoft provided the candidates with luxury accommodations during the taping but the candidates admit it was no cushy ride.
“It makes you squirm,” said one candidate.
During the four-episode series the candidates face tests on their database knowledge in real-life scenarios.
“How many of the products here are sold by more than one vendor? And you'll use this thumb drive to solve the problem?” asked one of the show’s judges during an episode.
As dramatic music plays in the background, viewers can feel the pressure mount among the candidates.
“That was it, I was done,” said Stacy.
Buck Woody was the main judge for the show.
“I wanted to make it solvable, but challenging and showcasing,” he said.
Each episode has a contest winner but ultimately only one candidate earns a spot on Microsoft’s payroll.
“You want everybody to win, that's not the way it works. That's not the way life works,” said Woody.
Microsoft hopes each episode is a career-building cliffhanger designed to keep viewers coming back for more.
The winner will be announced during the show on August 21.
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More about Microsoft's reality show story can be found at www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/bethenext.aspx
A new online reality show is doing just that – as candidates compete to land a job at Microsoft.
More than 100 people auditioned for the show, but hiring bosses with the tech company narrowed the field to a lucky four.
“I thought I have to work here. I have to work here,” said Stacy, one of the candidates competing in the online show.
The premise behind 'Be the Next Microsoft Employee' pits real life computer whizzes against one another for a chance to become a support engineer job at Microsoft.
“I think you're going to see a bunch of incredibly passionate people, they love what they do. They know technology backwards and forwards,” said Mark Protus, executive producer for the show.
Protus is the one who came up with the idea for the online job competition.
“It’s completely unscripted and totally real and very much like working at Microsoft,” he said.
Microsoft provided the candidates with luxury accommodations during the taping but the candidates admit it was no cushy ride.
“It makes you squirm,” said one candidate.
During the four-episode series the candidates face tests on their database knowledge in real-life scenarios.
“How many of the products here are sold by more than one vendor? And you'll use this thumb drive to solve the problem?” asked one of the show’s judges during an episode.
As dramatic music plays in the background, viewers can feel the pressure mount among the candidates.
“That was it, I was done,” said Stacy.
Buck Woody was the main judge for the show.
“I wanted to make it solvable, but challenging and showcasing,” he said.
Each episode has a contest winner but ultimately only one candidate earns a spot on Microsoft’s payroll.
“You want everybody to win, that's not the way it works. That's not the way life works,” said Woody.
Microsoft hopes each episode is a career-building cliffhanger designed to keep viewers coming back for more.
The winner will be announced during the show on August 21.
----
More about Microsoft's reality show story can be found at www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/bethenext.aspx
Reason number 1256 why not to apply for work at Microshaft.
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Honestly, I work right in the middle of the campus. Folks do not smile and avoid eye contact on the sidewalks.
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Something is not right.
I can see it now. They announce the winner, who raises his arms in victory! Yes! Then there are some rumblings off-camera...wait, what's that?...sorry, they've decided to give that job to an H-1B visa holder! Better luck next time!
Again, another classic example of wasted time and resources by Microsoft execs.Â
LOL @microsoft. Â
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1) NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH NERDS ON TV.
2) If this test is so stringent and out of 100, they narrow down to 4 then down to only 1 person being hired, why is it at MSFT, there are a ton of useless dead weight in every single department?
3) If only MSFT hired the best of the best, why are they the best at nothing? Â Their stock sucks, their products suck, and they are just not innovative at all.
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Let's see, Microsoft store copies someone we all know. Â Zune copies something we all know. Â Wp7 device just plain sucks and they don't copy anyone but they make a totally lame UI just for the sake of being different and quite useless. Â Let's not discount the upcoming windows fail 8.
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No one wants to see a bunch of computer geeks duke it out for a job at microsoft. Â Get real. Â MSFT's way of doing things is just keep throwing money down the toilet and eventually, there will be a clog of chance.
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 @Jimminy Cricket I could not agree with you more. If this were a job at Amazon or Google, I'd probably watch. But MSFT - once an innovative company that did well because they thought outside of the "box", now has followed in the footsteps of IBM.
The real workplace drama at Microsoft is about keeping your job. They should be ripping off Rock of Love, not The Apprentice.
..and Buck Woody is the Host? Great guy, but sadly this will most likely be a forgettable footnote on his otherwise incredible career.
Run, Buck! Run!!!Â
"....lucky four"?
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More like UN-lucky four...
This shows just how distorted the Microsoft Marketing department is. Instead of chasing the tried and true and worn out, try something new. I can't stand to watch reality shows anymore because every one of them has unrealistic deadlines and goals that any normal person or group of people would never have or put upon themselves. If Microsoft wanted to have an impact on and attract successful people they should be highlighting and using their successful people to provide real life examples to mentor and encourage college kids on real life not a TV make believe world. Microsoft is extorting the worst of people in the worst economy Microsoft has ever seen and trying to put a funny face on it. There is no one winning in this environment, not the employer and definitely not the employee. Grow up Microsoft Marketing.Â
'Be the Next Microsoft Employee' pits real life computer whizzes against one another for a chance to become a support engineer job at Microsoft.
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OMG! Really? People are competing to be a "support engineer"? That's the worst job you can get at Microsoft, the worst division, the worst pay, the most stress. And it's a lousy working environment. Nothing but stress there. That's like people competing to get into prison, with Ballmer as the prison warden.
@Bellevue Scott I have worked at the silicon sweatshop for many contracts and teams from 2000 - 2007, and unless I lose my job and cant find another one, ill never go back. That place sucks. The pay is lousy, hotheads roam the halls, half of the employees have autism or asperger's and have no social or bathing skills.
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Like you said, thats got to be the worst job, period. This company has completely lost it; I would take a chance on a reality show working for Grocery Outlet before I did something stupid like this working for microsoft again
 @northwestsurfer  @Bellevue You're definitely right about the aspergers - at least Microsoft and other tech giants acknowledge this and have programs set up to help their employees and their children. I remember attending several tech seminars with large Microsoft employee participation - the poor presenter can't get through 2 PowerPoint slides in over an hour because a good number of the MSers had to be absolutely pedantic about every single point being made and asked pointless questions about every single corner case (no matter how inconceivably unlikely) and made the rest of us miss the whole big picture of the seminar. I wonder how they ever get any products out the door.
@ChopinBroccoli @Bellevue Check out RomeyRome's comment below; read the article he posted from Vanity Fair - its totally dead on. That place was the place to work back in 2000, when XP was in development. I worked there on two different contracts; it was so much fun back then. I remember sending an email from my microsoft email address for something non-work related, and the guy who received it replied back asking if I actually worked for microsoft.
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My how things change; the magic and novelty effect of that place is gone. Its like working anywhere else; except the key word is "work". When I was there in 2000, I never didnt want to to not go into work; I looked forward to it.
As if trying to get employment isn't demeaning enough.
Next up, nervous breakdowns of program managers MS is trying to make quit. I've watched a few friends endure that made for TV drama. It will be like Gordon Ramsay's reality cooking shows but with more hysterical crying.
People are still trying to get into Microsoft? http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer
"Microsoft hopes each episode is a career-building cliffhanger designed to keep viewers coming back for more. "
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....Tune in next week when our  contestants are asked why a manhole cover is round and the big final question of "How many green M&Ms are in a 1 pound bag?"
@WebGirlie I remember all of those stupid questions from having interviewed for contract positions at Microsoft. I interviewed once for a FTE position and didnt get hired because I couldnt answer questions completely irrelevant to the team and position being interviewed for. I asked why I was being asked questions that had nothing to do with what I was being interviewed for and was told I was not interviewing for the team or position, but for the company.
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Then why do you have to interview for each team you join, if you leave one team to take another position, even if you are already an FTE? I mean, you already work for the company.
You mean this was not a new skit for Almost Live! ?
1st prize - 1-year contract at Microsoft.
2nd prize - 2-year contract at Microsoft.
All that for a support engineer position? Man, and I thought Sony was scraping the bottom of the barrel when they did their own "reality show" for an entry level games tester job...