I just submitted a comment to Heather Leigh's blog on marketing for prospective employees at Microsoft. She wanted to know what "awesome" looks like on a resume. I've posted the comment below but after posting the comment I forgot to mention one point.
In her blog entry she talks about narrowing prospects by limiting them to the top 20 MBA programs. While this is probably helpful in narrowing the search it does leave out some potentials at other programs, especially smaller ones. While getting a Masters degree one is probably not as involved as they would be as an undergrad, however if they were that definitely shows initiative. My point is this, sometimes involvement at a smaller program/university gives a broader and more in-depth knowledge than would be gained at the top 20 MBA programs. Smaller universities can grow into newer technologies faster due to lower costs and involvement of students. At Dakota State University the members Center of Excellence for Information Systems and some others were actively involved in the planning and deployment of the Wi-Fi network across campus. They researched the access points to use and planned the locations of where access points would go to enable better coverage. They also determined whether more access points are needed in an area to handle load. Being able to be involved at this level at larger universities would probably not be as hands on.
## My comment on Heather Leigh's blog ##
I've been watching your blog for some time now and I have to say you have been doing a spectacular job! As far as GPA, I think you hit it right on. When I was an undergrad I found the first two years easier to keep a higher GPA. Then as time went on I found myself more involved with school projects such as volunteering to develop a WebCT/BlackBoard like program and school activities such as being elected as President of the Student Association. Doing these and other activities definitely showed up on my undergrad GPA, compared to high school. A search dealing with leadership in college and involvement with campus projects (like being involved in deploying Wi-Fi across campus or is involved in an open-source project) is probably your best bet on finding someone that knows how to take initiative and will excel in their career. Your other searches also hit on target. One thing that I would take into consideration is the position that you are hiring for. I’m not saying you are not; it just looks like you are looking for candidates in the top 20 MBA programs. There are other certifications that could also be looked at that are also exceptional. For example, National Security Agency’s Centers of Academic Excellence (http://www.nsa.gov/ia/academia/caemap.cfm?MenuID=10.1.1.2). If I was looking for an employee that needed to deal with IT security (programming/systems) then I would use the NSA’s list and then if I needed to narrow prospects down more, then I would cross reference the NSA list with the top 20 MBA programs. Narrowing the search all depends on what you are looking for more in a prospect. In the previous example IT security is a bigger need than MBA knowledge. One other search is involvement in activities or organizations after they have graduated, for instance being on the board of directors of the Alumni association. This ensures that they will continue to take initiative and depending upon the activity loyalty as well.