Blogs such as Steven's and the excellent employment page that Microsoft has go a long way to personalizing this quality employer. During the presentations that I make at HR conferences and trade shows, I consistently cite Microsoft as one of the organizations that does a very good job with communicating to candidates what it is like to work at Microsoft and what their job would entail. Far too many organizations only post requirements and then are surprised when they receive and underwhelming number of applications from a group of candidates whose quality is also underwhelming.

If employers want to hire the stars, then they need to understand that stars can work just about anywhere. They have choices, so employers need to do everything that they can to encourage stars to choose to work for their organizations while, at the same time, doing everything that they can to dissuade unqualified candidates from applying. The name of the game isn't to maximize the quantity of applications. The name of the game is to maximize the quality of your workforce.