by Jessica Borsetti
SMC Cloud Specialist
At Microsoft
Placement (10 Months+)
Business
What was the application process like?
The process was fair, assessing individuals’ abilities in a variety of ways. There was no assessment beforehand, a slight waiting time to hear feedback however once you got through to an online interview questions were focused on how you apply yourself.
What was the interview process like?
It was a very enjoyable day! The questions were to challenge you not against the other candidates but to learn more about yourself and how you would handle various situations. Also, what is important to you, your career path and understanding your goals.
What advice would you give to students applying for your role?
Be yourself and show that! Demonstrate your values, who you are and highlight your willingness to learn, grown and achieve. Share external interests outside of technology and the skills that you have gained from them. Be willing to try something new.
How much responsibility do you have?
You won’t start in the deep end you will develop your responsibilities over time. From the start you will be responsible for managing your diary. Over time I had more responsibilities, delivering demos to customers, and managing partner engagement etc.
What do you most enjoy about your role?
I enjoy the flexibility of my role. I have managed/orchestrated events which is great. I have supported customers on maximizing collaboration by delivering demos on Teams. Lastly my team are always willing to help and support making my role even better.
What has been your biggest challenge?
The amount of learning when coming from a completely non-technical background and being able to understand Microsoft products was challenging. But time and dedication to my learning by attending training sessions meant I was able to develop my learning.
How has this experience exceeded your expectations?
This experience exceeded my expectations! I have been able to travel through my role from training weeks in Dublin, to meetings in London and leading customer events. Support by my manager and team allowed me to grow and learn, exceeding what i expected.
What is the office atmosphere like?
The office atmosphere is very friendly! Everyone is willing to have a chat but also focused. There are range of employees from early in career too further on in their career that there are a lot of different perspectives and individuals to support you.
What activities are there outside of work?
There are a variety of activities to choose from like joining 101 teams which focus on demoing HoloLens or supporting girls in STEM and much more. Also Microsoft football teams, which are male and female as well as societies like BAME and much more.
How promising are the graduate prospects?
The potential of getting a graduate role after your internship is a fair process of how you performed over your year. If you make mistakes (that is fine as it natural) but how do you overcome them, to grow and learn for next time.
