1. How does orientation differ from onboarding?
2. Why do you think Microsoft implemented the MACH program? Can you see any drawbacks of doing so?
3. How might the program improve Microsoft's employer brand and help it attract talent?
Like many companies, Microsoft has been faced with the challenge of finding ways to accelerate the careers of new hires. The tech firm's executives found that its fast-track program was not especially helpful when it came to onboarding millennial employees. As Leigh Cresswell, a millennial education business manager for Microsoft, put it, too often millennials aren't given challenging work when they are first hired, which can be frustrating for them and lead to turnover. That is what happened to Cresswell at her previous employer, a multinational maker of office equipment. Their onboarding program was "just training; they didn't understand what we wanted, which was to have an impact and a voice straight away." Microsoft did not want to make the same mistake. To deal with this issue, attract top graduates, and begin utilizing their skills quickly, the company launched the "Microsoft Academy for College Hires," or MACH for short. The two-year program is designed to provide top new university graduates hired into the company's sales, marketing, and services divisions with onboarding courses, hands-on training, coaching, and networking opportunities. The main objective of MACH is not only to onboard new graduates so they can start adding value to their teams quickly but to help them more efficiently navigate the corporate culture and politics. Approximately 2,500 individuals have gone through MACH since its inception. One of them, Francesco Esposito, noted that because new grads have small or nonexistent professional networks and are typically entering a large corporation for the first time, they can have a hard time launching their careers.