Eileen Wang our Customer-Sat Snr Analyst talks to our potential Microsoft recruit candidates
The last time I looked at anything Hello Kitty it was in 1996-97 at the McDonald's-Hello Kitty Joint promotion where Hello Kitty eclipsed the brand partner, with thousands of people buying burgers and then throwing them away but keeping the Hello Kitty promotional items. There are lines as early at 4AM outside McDonald's for buying burgers and keeping the Hello Kitty dolls. There was a business case study on this too! Infact Hello Kitty is ranked #3 in all Asian Brands (Asia the continent so I am including India and Sri Lanka as well when I say Asia here) - pushing such Big brands as Singapore Airlines, Shangri La, Maggi and even Honda to the backburner, according to this survey which is kind of scary!
Eileen Wang - our Sr Analyst who measures Customer-Satisfaction on Microsoft products is on our recruiting committee incharge of External Recruiting Events. Given a choice to share her mugshot and pick a cartoon character to reflect her persona. She went with Hello Kitty! Here are some Questions I had for her....
So give us a quick summary of your career so far and why you joined Microsoft, The WWESS Team and how you joined the Recruiting committee?
Hmm, career so far...well, my first full time job out of grad school (MS in economics) was at a bank where I estimated losses on a variety of loan portfolios. I realized that delivering bad news to executives was not a very pleasant job. A co-worker at the bank helped me find the job posting for this job at MS, and the short story is that that’s how I came here. The longer story is that the job posting sounded interesting, so I applied, had a recruiter call me the next day, and then in about two weeks, had a job offer. It was a very fast experience and serendipitous. So, I’m now a Sr. Analyst measuring Customer Satisfaction with MSN and XBOX Support. I enjoy the job because there is not only the data analysis aspect, but also the human quotient associated with working with internal business customers and external vendors. I’ve been in this role for nearly eight months now.
I joined the WWESS team as a result of my manager’s manager at the time that I joined, taking sabbatical. Then my manager got re-orged into what became WWESS. The recruiting committee seemed like a fun group that also had some introverts (as opposed to the social committee – all extroverts. Too much competition to be heard. :))
How was your interview process with the Team? What was the toughest question you were asked and why did you think it was the toughest?
The interview process was fast. I was a local candidate, so I had the phone screens with HR, the person who became my manager, then the on site in a matter of weeks. I can’t remember many questions from the interview process, but I do remember my last one of the day with a General Manager. She repeatedly asked me questions about scenarios where I could be mean and really force a point across. I kept thinking “why would I tell someone in an interview whether or not I lash out in anger?” (I don’t usually, by the way.) Later, I found that the reason why she kept drilling me was because someone else interviewing me earlier in the day commented that I might be “too nice” to work at Microsoft.
What kind of work do you do at the WWESS Team?
Not many people know who I am on WWESS, and this is because I pretty much do entirely different work from the rest of the team. Measuring CSAT for consumer support of MSN and XBOX is completely different and usually unrelated to the rest of the team’s focus on managed contractual relationships with large companies and government. I feel like I have my “real” reporting team in WWESS and also my internal customers/functional teams with the MSN and XBOX Support teams. It’s a unique position to be in.
What has been your biggest fun day at work?
Jet skis on Lake Washington for a party of a group on which I’m a virtual member. There was South Pacific island music too. (There are a lot of virtual teams at Microsoft. This just means that you work with a bunch of people who are not directly in your org, but you have common projects or goals.)
Any nightmare-days at WWESS yet?
Well, I like to have a full personal life, so the only nightmarish days are the times I have to spend a weekend day or evening getting caught up. I’m into the work – life balance thing. I like my job, and I put in the effort when I’m here, but there’s a lot going on in life that I value a great deal also.
So are you the tennis champ on the team?
Agh. I’m telling you...once I can serve consistently, then I’ll start playing with the other WWESS tennis players. J I’m back to taking lessons, though. Maybe by the summer.
What are your next big plans to be implemented on the recruiting committee?
Well, I’ve told Eve that I’m taking a more latent role on the committee until we can fill the open position that I’m covering right now. (MSN CSAT analyst and XBOX CSAT analyst should be two jobs.) I’ll get back to you on this one.
To potential recruits who want to join the team – what do you say they should do to maximize their visibility?
I don’t know about this one...in my case, I feel like I had a lot of luck to be one of the tons of resumes chosen to be looked at. How about posting and submitting to this blog? I mean, we talk about it so much in the team and recruiting committee. I’m sure that anyone submitting their resumes here is getting a full review of it