A host of announcements at Microsoft’s Ignite conference in Florida this week spells more convenience for users of its software at the workplace. Those not using Office 365 can leapfrog to Office 2019, which will release soon and features more charts and formulas in Excel, and a more powerful PowerPoint. It has also added more AI-powered meeting tools to Teams, its collaborative app that rivals Slack. It will be able to manage schedules better, and has deeper integration with Yammer and Sharepoint and provides you with transcripts of meetings. There’s also deeper integration of Microsoft products with LinkedIn which it acquired in 2016. Those connected on the business networking platform can now use Office 365 to co-author documents. Microsoft has also announced a unified search tool which will make it easy to find something across the Office suite.

Agile hiring

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is re-imagining its campus hiring process, making it more inclusive and democratic. The IT Services firm recently conducted a National Qualifier Test (NQT) — an online campus hiring initiative — on its digital platform TCS iON. Aiming to identify the brightest, most talented engineers for multi-skilled, multi-functional roles in Agile programs (called ‘TCS Ninjas’) the NQT was open to graduates and post-graduates of the 2019 batch, across engineering colleges in India. Instead of physical visits to campuses, using a sophisticated technology platform has broadened the field of campus hiring as it can reach out to more colleges in more locations. It has also made it more democratic as usually only students from premium institutions get a chance. The response was overwhelming: TCS got over 2.8 lakh registrations across 100 cities in 24 states on NQT. Top performers in the NQT qualify for a differentiated, entry-level hiring process called TCS Digital, with an even more attractive compensation package.

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