Here's my previous post called "Putting your best foot forward at a Networking Event". I'm starting to send out some invitations to the local finance event that we are holding in a few weeks. If you have sent me your resume but haven't heard back, don't fret. I didn't get too many of the invitations out yet and you will hear back from me either way. I thought that the link to the previous post might be helpful to anyone that stumbled onto my blog after hearing from me about the event. We are reaching out to people that have applied in the past, responded to the event announcement...lots of folks that appear to have strong finance backgrounds.

For this particular event, my goal is to figure out a way to connect people with backgrounds in different finance disciplines with people that work within those same (or similar) disciplines at Microsoft. I'm open to ideas at this point. My thought process is leading me toward creating a listing of Microsoft attendees as well as hot jobs so the people we have invited can figure out whom they want to seek out at the event. We'll also have some Microsoft finance employees get up and share their experience, a little about their work and group, that type of thing. This is not a job fair format. It's a room with some food and drink, some tables to sit and chat. No booths, "Microsoft" uniforms (if you know me, you know how much I like to match other people).Should be pretty casual.

If people have ideas, I'm ready to hear them. I don't have any misconceptions about how these things work. This is a mutual selection process. Our hiring community here can be pretty vocal about what they want to get out of these types of events. So I'd like to hear it from the other side. What exactly makes an event interesting. I suspect, based on feedback I have heard in the past, is that they want to understand the roles and the different groups so they can make decisions about what types of roles interest them. Also, they want to get some face time with the people that make the hiring decisions. The recruiters are there to provide guidance, help with introductions and explain the process. Does that sound about right?