Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click here to read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

Hello again!

I’ve been busy this month with various projects including starting a new internal marketing newsletter. It feels really good to be trusted with the responsibility of starting something new, and also allows me to talk to different people from across the business, finding out what they are doing!

Microsoft, and many other companies I suspect, is all about networking – it’s not what you know it’s who you know that counts. I’m lucky in that respect to have met some really credible people across the business, including senior members as well as newly returned grads that give me such a different perspective on work, and generally life! Taking the time out just to chat to people you work with on a daily basis can be refreshing too, as you may not always be listening when you’re busy working. So I’ve had a lot of coffee at the Starbucks on site this month!

Earlier this month I spent a couple of days with my team at an offsite in a nice Hotel in the country which was great to get to know people better and understand what makes them tick, and of course making some good contacts. There are so many different characters from different backgrounds at Microsoft I could talk for hours and still end up with questions!

We had an interesting couple of days with a guy named Mike Pegg who focuses on building ‘super teams’, and challenged us to become creative problem solvers around the 5 C’s: Challenges, Choices, Consequences, Creative solutions and Conclusions. The focus was around what is and isn’t controllable, so when looking for your placement think about what you can and can’t control.

You’ll be surprised about how much is in your control – your C.V, work experience, Grades, Interviews are all in your power of control. So it’s within your power to shape your career and focus on your strengths. He also made us become much more aware of our choices we face and the consequences, often people say ‘I didn’t have a choice’ but people always have a choice. So my message to you guys is: you have lots of choices while at University and where you go on placement so make the most of those choices!