The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Microsoft’s gesture to women engineers

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Friday, Mar 07, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Microsoft’s gesture to women engineers

Plans exclusive recruitment for engineering students

Those selected will get to work at MSIDC in city
8,000 engineers to participate in the drive

HYDERABAD: International Women’s day this year is going to bring cheers among engineering students from the fairer sex with the software giant Microsoft conducting recruitment drive exclusively for them in 100 campuses across the country. Those selected will get to work at the Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) in Hyderabad.

They will be placed in suitable positions and get a chance to do cutting edge product development work at the MSIDC, which is Microsoft’s largest product development centre outside its headquarters in Redmond and does end-to-end development work on several products, featured and technologies spanning all MS businesses and used by millions of people all over the world. “This is our way of recognising the women who have already made a mark in the software sector,” Chitra Sood, Staffing Director, MSIDC. “We have zeroed in on colleges that have large number of girl students.

The idea behind the exercise, she says is also to promote diversity in its workforce. “Microsoft always believed that diverse talent forms the core of success. As a thought-leader in the IT industry, it is committed to the ongoing development of women IT professionals and to increase the number of women in the industry,” Ms. Chitra reveals.

However, there would be no concessions when it comes to testing their skills. They have to undergo recruitment process similar to the regular recruitments. The only concession is that they don’t have to compete with men for the positions being offered now.

But, Ms. Chitra says, the number of women aspirants even in the regular recruitment has been increasing every year. This year, 16 per cent of aspirants picked up from campus interviews are women. In fact, the women strength at the MSIDC is around 10 per cent. She says Microsoft is not just confined to recruiting women. “Apart from supporting the development of women in the graduate community by offering internship placements and various programmes to improve their skills, we also conduct events and workshops where our women employees network with each other as well as senior women leaders in the industry. Networking allows them to share experiences and learn from each other,” she explains.

Nearly 8,000 engineers will participate in the recruitment drive and the largest number of 1,900 aspirants will test their luck in Chennai followed by 1,251 in Hyderabad.

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