Developing Student Talents through Microsoft Academy for College Hires

The Microsoft Academy for College Hires (MACH) is a program that recruits leading graduates with promising potential. Through this program, Microsoft helps to stretch the potential of the participants by providing them with guidance through peer mentoring and training sessions. Taruna Tarachandani one of the MACH participants from Indonesia, has benefited from MACH greatly. Taruna is a marketing student from Binus International and was assigned to create a challenging integrated campaign to highlight how Microsoft technology can enrich a student’s future career.

“With the guidance of my mentors, the project’s success went beyond our expectations.” Ms Tarachandani said. Her two mentors − Manish Chopra from Microsoft Indonesia and Chris Levanes from Microsoft Regional Headquarters guided her throughout the project. Before the campaign, Taruna conducted field research to determine the expectations students had and the job requirements in the market.

Microsoft Indonesia partnered with Jobstreet Indonesia and Binus Career Development Centre to conduct a survey. They found that 68 percent of all the jobs advertised in Indonesia expect job applicants to be savvy in Microsoft technology. Thereafter, a writing competition was held and marketed via social media. The theme of the competition was, “Fly to your dream job with Microsoft Technology” and participants were required to express their opinions on enterprise should consider hiring graduates without work experience. Students from 14 universities throughout Indonesia submitted their articles, which were posted in the October 2011 issue of Jobstreet Indonesia’s newsletter.

The campaign ended successfully with a seminar conducted by speakers, which included the manager of Jobstreet Indonesia, a career specialist from Binus Career and two representatives from Microsoft Indonesia. The success of the campaign has led Microsoft Singapore and Philippines to carry out a similar plan.

“This invaluable experience has allowed me to learn skills beyond the classroom and this opportunity has made me step out of my comfort zone,” said Ms Tarachandani.

With majority of the jobs in Indonesia requiring knowledge of Microsoft technology, the MACH campaign has helped Indonesian students understand the importance of Microsoft technology.

Taruna Tarachandani (wearing black) learned how to maximize her skills and knowledge to obtain her career goal on career coaching session at Microsoft office

“This invaluable experience has allowed me to learn skills beyond the classroom and this opportunity has made me step out of my comfort zone.”
- Taruna Tarachandani, Student, Binus International

For more information, please visit https://careers.microsoft.com/careers/en/id/students.aspx