QUESTION

Case Study

The richest man in the world, feted by presidents and prime ministers, Bill Gates sees no activity as more important than meeting superior candidates to convince them to join Microsoft. He even targets the graduate trainees, inviting all 600 in groups to his $60 million home. Mingling with the young guests, he answers questions, gives advice and reinforces the excitement of a career with Microsoft.

Recruitment at Microsoft has two main strands. The first is picking the best of the year's 25,000 computer science graduates. Microsoft creates a shortlist of 8,000 CVs which are reviewed to identify the 2,600 targeted for campus interviews. 800 of these are invited to Microsoft's head office at Seattle.

Each candidate is then interviewed by between three and ten ‘Microsoftees'. This lengthy and expensive process provides about 400 graduates each year who join Microsoft.
But this accounts for only 20% of Microsoft's annual recruitment. Most of the remaining 2,000 staff hired each year are the best and brightest people working elsewhere. To identify and track these potential assets, Microsoft maintains a full-time team of 200 recruiting experts. Their job is to head hunt the industry's most talented people and then build and maintain a relationship with them.

The pursuit is relentless, if not subtle. Regular telephone calls at discreet intervals, invitations to informal dinners - anything to keep open the lines of communications with the potential candidate. Mike Murray, Microsoft's head of human resources, says ‘One day he will be ticked off with his current organization. That day, he'll call us.' Mike Murray also makes sure to monitor the performance of the 200 recruiters. When it comes to human resources, Microsoft leaves nothing to chance.

(a) Many firms state that "HR is our major source of competitive advantage". Is there evidence that this is the case for Microsoft?

(b) Apart from the interview, what other selection methods could a company like Microsoft have used for management trainees?

(c) Microsoft uses "poaching" as a method of choice for employee resourcing. What are the benefits and drawbacks of this method?

(d) How can Murray, using a performance management approach, evaluate the 200 recruiters?