Karen K. Ngo

Microsoft

CEO Communications Manager

Partnering with the Office of the CEO & Office of the Chief Commercial Officer while managing a virtual cross-functional team of 100+ marketing and communications stakeholders to drive customer & partner storytelling for Microsoft's Quarterly Earnings. Developing comms + social amplification strategies for partnership announcements with Microsoft's most strategic enterprise customers around the world. 

Employee Creator | CommsGives 2023 Champion | Asians in Marketing Finance Lead / Prev. Co-Lead of Career Development | Aspire Leadership Council Member | 2nd Place in Hack for Communications 2022 | Cloud Communications Culture Club Ambassador | Summer Intern Mentor

Communications Manager

Winner of the WW BSO Hackathon 2021 | Winner of the Canada Aspire Small Medium Business Hackathon 2021 | WW BSO Recognition Award 2020 | Top 9 Team in WW Hackathon 2020 - Customer Support | FY21 Gold Club Marketing & Operations Finalist for Canada 🍁

Analyzed and presented performance insights to 40+ senior and executive leaders across Canada. Drove operational excellence through the Business & Sales Operations (BSO) team. Managed national business programs and processes for the Modern Work & Security business group. Trained 150+ sellers and managers in D365 CRM features and Power BI reporting. Led #Evangelize and #Connect pillars for the Aspire new grad community and mentored 4 interns in career development.

Sales Operations Program Manager

KKARENISM

Established a career blog (kkarenism.com) that is ranked #1 on Google + Bing for "Career Walking Decks" and has 160K+ views and 87K+ visitors from 78+ countries. Resume Rescue service has helped 200+ people, some landing jobs at Microsoft, Amazon, Shopify, Salesforce, etc. Spoke and presented to 6K+ people around the world on topics like personal branding, networking, career walking decks, etc. Earned 1K+ newsletter subscribers with a 50% avg. open rate (industry benchmark is 21%). Interviewed 7 C-Suite executives from Fortune 500 companies about career and leadership.

🚨 Follow this page to see which managers/recruiters are hiring so you can network

Career Developer

ResumeWriter.SG

Hosted Career Webinars for 200+ professionals in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Supported the redevelopment of the RWSG website by providing UX/UI feedback.

Digital Marketing Consultant

Husky Energy

Coordinated SharePoint Online Transformation Project across 3 regional offices in the Corporate Responsibility department resulting in 327% growth in users. Delivered best practices workshops to 130+ employees and developed training resources that became promoted across the entire company.

Business Data Consultant

Directed 3 SharePoint Projects leading up to 300% growth in users. Trained 2 Co-op students in reporting and analysis using ServiceNow. Developed IT Service Management (ITSM) understanding through ITIL Foundations course.

Business Demand Analyst

Optimized spatial allocation process by 70% within 1 month of start date. Led 9 co-op students to fundraise $6,470 in 2 weeks. Met with 25+ managers and executives for career development. First IS Co-op Student to become converted to a PT Contractor role.

IS Administrator Co-op Student

making job hunting + career stuff less painful 👩🏻‍💻 kkarenism.com is ranked #1 on google/bing for career walking decks

🎈 My personal philosophy is growing 1% everyday through finding inspiration to share with the world. I am a curious changemaker that challenges and empowers the high performing teams and diverse communities around me. These days, I am learning & growing at one of the coolest companies out there 🟥 🟩 🟦 🟨

👩🏻‍💻 I am passionate about career empowerment + storytelling + innovation and run a blog that is ranked #1 on Google + Bing for "Career Walking Decks" and has grown beyond 150K+ views and helped tens of thousands of students, early-in-careers, and professionals in 78+ countries around the world. I’ve had 400+ career conversations up to the C-Suite level at Fortune 500 companies and share my key learnings to help others succeed. Check out kkarenism.com for anything and everything job hunting and career development related.

🌱 As my career continues building momentum, I am always evolving my teamwork, leadership, and communication skills to build meaningful relationships and drive influence and impact that is recognized by senior executives and stakeholders on a global level. I am writing my own success story… will you be a part of the next chapter?

Customer Communications Manager

No matter your role or industry, here’s a clear path to level up in your career:

I started at Microsoft with little knowledge of our tech & platform. 

Within a year, I earned 5 Microsoft certifications. 

Learning the basics gave me the confidence to innovate and optimize processes on my team.

This then opened up doors to new opportunities that helped me advance in my career.

And it all started with investing in my skills and knowledge.

As Erick Quintanilla says:

→ Start from zero & see yourself level up
→ Every certification is proof of progress

This what your learning journey could look like: 

→ Fundamentals (AZ-900, AI-900) if you’re new
→ Associate (Administrator, Data, or AI)
→ Expert (Architect or Solution Lead)

Not sure where to get started?

Check out Microsoft Learn & AI Skills Navigator which just came out this week!

📌 Repost to help others learn & skill up
👩🏻‍💻 Follow me Karen K. Ngo for daily job & career tips

Microsoft CEO Comms Manager 👩🏻‍💻 helping you stand out in job interviews & land offers with a career walking deck 🌷 sharing all my job search/career learnings on here & my #1 ranked career blog: kkarenism.com

You can't read your interviewer's mind.
But these 8 secrets will tip the odds in your favour:

Save & remember these psychology concepts before your next job interview!

🧠 Name Familiarity & Recognition 
→ We pay closer attention when we hear our names
→ Always greet by name, learn how to pronounce names properly, and don't misspell!

🧠 Weekend Effect 
→ Fridays trigger dopamine & better moods
→ Schedule coffee chats & job interviews to positively associate yourself with the good vibes

🧠 Halo Effect
→ First impressions matter!
→ Make an effort to look good, smile often, speak clearly to project confidence & positivity

🧠 Colour Psychology
→ Colours influence moods & behaviours
→ Tailor your career walking deck & outfit to the colour wheel (e.g. blue = trust)

🧠 Scarcity Effect
→ We want what we can't have
→ Subtly mention any interviews or offers with competitors to show you're a valuable candidate

🧠 Novelty Effect
→ We pay attention to what's new
→ Stand out & make a strong impression by bringing a career walking deck (most candidates don't do this)

🧠 Confirmation Bias
→ We favour info that aligns to existing thoughts & beliefs
→ Get THEM to state why you'd add the most value (then repeat this back to them in your thank you email)

🧠 Likeness Bias
→ We favour people who are similar to us
→ Do your research & subtly mention any commonalities (e.g. alma mater, career paths)

The top 1% of job seekers know how to read the room and show up authentically & strategically.

This is how they build personal connections and make strong impressions. 

Which of these tips will you try out?

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8 Job Interview Secrets

This is how you end any job interview as a top candidate that they'll never forget:

By asking smart & bold questions that give you valuable feedback that you can use to tailor your thank you email.

Pick 2 of these for your next job interview:

📌 Based on what you know about me from this interview, what would hold you back from hiring me for this opportunity?

↳ Hear real-time feedback
↳ Update your career walking deck (address concerns)
↳ Attach it to thank you email

📌 I’ve prepared a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan for this role & would love to hear your feedback on if I am aligned with your vision of success.

↳ Shows you think ahead
↳ Helps them envision you in-role
↳ Update career walking deck based on feedback
↳ Attach it to thank you email

📌 What does good vs. great performance look like on this team? What qualities do your top performers have in common?

↳ Demonstrates curiosity & ambition
↳ Highlight these qualities in thank you email

📌 What does the growth potential look like in this role/on this team for high performers?

↳ Helps you understand growth in-role
↳ Demonstrates ambition
↳ Leverage for future career conversations

📌 What’s the biggest challenge that you want this role to solve that is valuable to the team and company strategy?

↳ Helps you understand the bigger picture
↳ Emphasize this in thank you email

Remember to be brave. Ask these bold questions. 
Be that memorable candidate they can't stop thinking about.

P.S. Don't forget to create your career walking deck -- free template link in my bio :)

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5 Bold Job Interview Questions (ask at the end)

I never thought I’d be here.

5 years ago, I was a new grad with no network… trying to figure out how to stand out in a company of 200,000 people. 

This week, I was flown out to San Francisco as an employee creator to help amplify the #MSIgnite experience to thousands of people around the world. 

From shooting content 🎥 BTS on the VIP Hub Tour to meeting *real* creators & Silicon Valley startup founders, I’ll never forget my first time at Ignite ✨ 

It’s opportunities like these where I feel like I’m living my personal philosophy of growing 1% everyday through finding inspiration to share with the world~

Hope y’all enjoy this 1 minute recap of my fave highlights 💥

Psst... Microsoft Ignite will be back before you know it! 

Save the dates: November 17–20, 2026

That fancy job title & big paycheck may be coming at the cost of what really matters.

I've heard too many stories of friends or mentors who accepted their "dream job" only to realize it was a career nightmare in disguise.

Protect your peace & remember to check for these whenever you're job hunting:

↳ Energy and excitement (instead of dread and anxiety) for what you and the company are doing

↳ Managers and leaders who actually care about you and invest in your wellbeing and success on the team (instead of performative metrics)

↳ Trust and flexibility to set your own work-life boundaries without feeling guilty for "not being online or productive"

↳ Teammates who support you instead of compete with you or throw you under the bus

↳ Work that feels impactful and is relevant to your skills and interests (not just what you studied in school)

↳ Recognition and rewards for the value you bring (instead of empty promises or accolades)

↳ Peace at the end of the day because you're not worrying about finances or healthcare (esp. if you're in the U.S.!)

Regardless of the job market, you still need to look out for yourself.

Otherwise, you'll burn out and have to start all over again.

You deserve a career that gives you life instead of takes away from it!

📌 Save & share to help others rmbr what really matters
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Most job seekers waste away the week & complain.
Ambitious job seekers spend 1 hour/day doing these high-value activities:

→ Ordy is the ordinary job seeker (most ppl)
→ Ambi is the ambitious job seeker (the top 1%)

☀️ Sunday = Strategic Outreach

→ Ordy: writes off the day as a weekend
→ Ambi: gets ahead of the week & connects with other ambitious professionals who are also online

🧠 Monday = Mastering the Mind

→ Ordy: scrambles to figure out what to do
→ Ambi: makes progress in learning & development (e.g. course or certification)

👁️ Tuesday = Tactful Visibility

→ Ordy: treats it as just another day
→ Ambi: knows it's the best day to post on LI & shares a thoughtful post that's related to target jobs / companies / industry / etc

📝 Wednesday = WIP

→ Ordy: continues spam applying to jobs
→ Ambi: Works on career walking deck & catches up on job search / career checklist

🙏 Thursday = Thoughtful Follow Up

→ Ordy: tries to network without real intention
→ Ambi: follows up with tailored updates & insights from the past week to show a go-getter mentality

🤝 Friday = Forming Connections

→ Ordy: checks out early for the weekend
→ Ambi: schedules coffee chats & job interviews on this day because people are in a better mood so it's easier to leave a positive impression

The top 1% of job seekers know how to stand out by ruthlessly prioritizing their time each day.

This is why they're still landing competitive offers in this job market.

I hope this encourages you to be more like Ambi & see better results in your job search!

📌 Save & share to help other job seekers improve their chances

👩🏻‍💻 Follow me Karen K. Ngo for daily job & career tips to grow 1%

The 7 Day Ambitious Job Hunting Guide

Some fun highlights from #MSIgnite 💥 

Really enjoyed exploring these 6 cool spaces in The Hub alongside our creators! 

 — LEGO data center 
 — AI for Good Tree
 — Frontier Street & Hardware Museum
 — AI Caricature from Cognizant 
 — AI Skills Navigator at Microsoft Commons
 — Microsoft Expert Booths

Make sure you check these out before you head home this week.

P.S. Thanks so much Lauren for this special opportunity to attend my first Microsoft Ignite conference & big shoutout to Devon, Temitope, Jacob, Travis and team for sharing your expertise with us!

LinkedIn is too serious sometimes. At least once a week, I'll share something fun that will make you smile or laugh :)

The rest of the week: I'll go back to job search & career tips that I've picked up from 400+ career conversations up to the C-Suite.

Here's my first fun pick:
Anyone find this relatable or is it just moi 😅

Peace is letting people be wrong about you.

We often spend too much time 
worrying about what others think. 

We let strangers steal away
our peace of mind & comfort. 

We fear their perceptions
instead of embracing our own realities.

I hope you take this as a sign to let go.

Find peace in your day.
Find comfort in who you are.
Find acceptance in what you do.

Wishing you peace of mind today ✨

~ Reshare to spread the peaceful vibes with others
~ Follow Karen K. Ngo for more support & encouragement

Please don't ruin your chances of getting a job offer by saying any of these things in an interview:

📌 Save these 6 phrases to avoid and examples* of what you should say instead!

𝗜 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻... 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗮𝘁... 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀...  

↳ Don't waste time rambling about your life story
↳ Pull up your one pager + highlight 3 things in 60 secs

𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀...

↳ Shows you have a lack of self awareness
↳ Identify one growth area AND THEN alleviate any concerns with your 30-60-90 day onboarding plan (part of your career walking deck)

𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀, 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆...

↳ Being a Negative Nancy is not a good look
↳ Come up with a neutral narrative and focus more on where you want to grow on the new team or in the new role

𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴/𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲...

↳ Managers want someone who sticks around
↳ Emphasize how you want to grow & make more impact on the team

𝗜'𝗺 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻...

↳ Some managers may see you as a liability (sad but true)
↳ Focus on highlighting your professional goals & aspirations

𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀... 

↳ It shows lack of curiosity, prep, and research
↳ Ask non-generic questions that will give you valuable feedback to tailor your thank you email

Landing an interview is tough enough in this job market. 
So do everything you can to show up at your best.

*See script examples in the carousel.

Cheering you on!

P.S. I did NOT use AI to write this, it's based on my own thoughts, experiences, and research from 400+ career chats!

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What to NEVER say in job interviews!

I get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
Here's my lil poem (non AI-generated) for y'all:

'Tis the time
To say thanks 🙏🏼

Amazon Prime
Be making bank 💰

Gather round
The dining table 🥘

Gain those pounds
Over Netflix or cable 📺

Avoid the drama
If you can 🤷🏻‍♀️

No need for trauma
With your fam 🥲

It's almost the end
of 2025 ✨

As your LinkedIn friend
I hope you've thrived 🫶🏼

We're letting go of
That corporate lingo 👩🏻‍💻

And just for today
I'm sharing a bingo 👀

-- 

P.S. Thanks so much for being a part of my LinkedIn community! It's been quite the year of learning on here :) 

I want to support more people in the job hunting & career journey. Please lmk if you have any ideas or feedback on how I can be more helpful to you!

Which of these are you thankful for in 2025?
I hope you call a bingo (you still got a month left!!)

Gratitude has given me more opportunities
than any skill or experience ever has.

And it's because people often
forget to say a simple thank you.

So many ask for coffee chats,
but never follow up afterwards.

So many ask for opportunities,
but forget to share learnings & progress.

So many advance in their careers,
but don't make time to give back 
or pay it forward to others.

So I want to make it as easy as possible
for you to send that note of thanks!!

The end of the year & holiday season is such a great time to say thank you to everyone who has been a part of your journey so far.

Please use my personal email templates (which were NOT AI-generated) to write your own thank you notes going forward~

🫶🏼 Repost this to help others nurture their networks with gratitude

👩🏻‍💻 Follow me Karen K. Ngo for positivity & support in your career development

8 Gratitude Notes to Nurture Your Network

Develops operational framework and execution for the monthly All Hands and Town Hall meetings, in addition to on-site and virtual team events including career development and product trainings, advancement of rhythm of business and presentation decks, creation of post event surveys and actioning of feedback, and development and release of strategic internal communications in alignment with business goals

Spearhead complex budget and fiscal cycle processes, tracking, and expense, revenue, and forecasts. Develop roadmaps and process designs to align the Field and Partner team with organizational goals and allocation of resources. Co-lead a team of six business managers, organize weekly budget status meetings, identify risks and mitigation strategies, and present budget status and financial proposals to senior leadership

Oversee Copilot Marketing contracting process, drafting of SOWs and process of high-volume purchase orders in internal system, tracking status of pending approvals and renewals, communicating daily with legal and procurement stakeholders with 100% completion rate

Crafted a comprehensive playbook guide to establish a Center of Excellence in the Field and Partner Marketing division, implementing guidelines on contract and procurement processes, strategies for vendor renewals, protocols for the fiscal year rhythms and invoicing, budget management, and onsite event coordination to ensure consistency across the team

Skills: Business Strategy · Cross-functional Team Leadership · Business Process Improvement · Business Operations · Project Finance · Communication · Project Management · Employee Engagement · Event Coordination

Business Manager

Managed full cycle of high priority profile based hiring events by developing an operational roadmap, leading weekly status report meetings and distributing event recaps, composing original resource guides for stakeholders, closely monitoring the pipeline of vetted candidates to fill engineering roles throughout each hiring stage, coordinated interview schedules for 700+ engineering candidates across numerous disciplines and levels, resulted with successfully onboarding 100 new hires 

Facilitated Diversity Networking events in partnership with external organizations and employee resource groups, leading engaging panel discussions that empower engineers to connect with and recruit from underrepresented communities. Offered comprehensive support for virtual events and conducted thorough post-event surveys to evaluate and enhance the impact and reach of these networking opportunities

Collaborated with a 7-member business team to design, ship, and maintain budget and headcount request management tools, identifying bottlenecks to quickly resolve issues to reduce response times

Developed internal communications and SharePoint sites for 6,000+ person team to improve team efficiencies, created video training tutorials and presentation decks to explain process changes in purchase orders, vendor resource management, new hire onboarding, and implementation of new policy procedures in response to company policy updates

Pioneered Microsoft GIVE events, ingeniously blending compelling internal communications with impactful event summaries, and launched the Azure Data Lunch for a Cause series, driving a 20% annual increase in team volunteering and charitable contributions

Business Program Manager

Oversaw complex and high-volume calendar for Director of Power BI and Leadership team; strategically prioritizing the rapid growth of the product, partnering with global partners across time zones to resolve urgent issues, address business challenges, and facilitate decision making

Created and actively maintained Service Platform team’s rhythm of business calendar and prepare and distribute priority communications surrounding All Hands, morale events, trainings, and learning days

Subject matter expert for team budgeting and allocations; created and renewed numerous multimillion purchase order contracts throughout the quarterly fiscal rhythms, facilitated change orders when business priority shifted

Headcount and hiring management, lead hiring sync meetings 2X week, worked closely with recruiters and hiring managers to ensure the quality of candidate’s experience, managed onboarding for new hires to ensure positive and welcoming experience. 40% team headcount increase 2020-21 and onboarding of 200+ vendors

Spearheaded the creation of a V-team for new hires and interns, launching a Power BI brown bag speaker series to showcase upcoming releases. Initiated diversity panel discussions to foster inclusion and awareness, and established a team-specific wiki page as a dynamic resource for team collaboration and knowledge sharing for new hires

Supervised vendor consultant to bolster the administrative capabilities of our expanding team, providing mentorship and coaching in essential administrative skills for effective vendor account and contract management, business rhythm synchronization, and program scheduling

Business Administrator

Seattle Country Day School

Strategic executive business partner to the Head of School; schedule meetings, teleconferences, presentations, drafting and editing school wide communication, and coordinating travel logistics within budget

Managed the Board of Trustees calendars, arranged committee and ad-hoc meetings, meticulously prepared monthly board packets and visual presentations, composing meeting minutes and recaps, and upkeep the file management system

Developed and executed a faculty learning and development program for a 100-member team, focusing on critical educational topics including diversity and inclusion, alternative and inquiry-based learning, campus safety, and parent engagement, complemented by creating and analyzing feedback surveys to inform continuous improvement for future events

Actively coordinated scheduling, hiring, and onboarding of 18 faculty to the 2019-20 school year to cover all grade levels and subjects, increasing our faculty community by 25% to accommodate increased growth in student population

Created feedback surveys for post educational trainings and events, tracked responses, developed action and improvement plans for future gatherings

Executive Assistant

San José Unified School District

Provided continuous tactical support to the Principal in performing daily duties which included scheduling meetings and travel itineraries; preparing correspondence for the public and students for 1000+ community; handling discipline and educational records; organizing records of school site committees and school councils; and arranging substitute teachers for planning/training days and teacher absences

Directed campus facility usage during and off school hours, vetting and negotiated contracts to include 12 extracurricular programs, becoming the largest comprehensive after-school and summer program offerings within the District; generated supplemental funds to cover cost of art and physical education programs that benefited students in the school year

Served as the school site financial advisor by managing the site budget and processing and approving contracts for supplemental educational programs, assemblies and speakers, and site-funded programs, and approving budget for site purchased items

Redesigned the school’s payments digital platform to collect student fees, online donations, organize fundraisers, resulting in the school receiving payments in a timely manner 

Coordinated employee recognition parties and large off-site events with limited budget, solicited community donations and organized volunteers to support each event

Executive Assistant to Principal & School Secretary 

Chen Residence

Director of Home Life

Elephant Bar Restaurants

Lead Server/Trainer

Housing Choices Coalition

Housing and Homeownership Program Manager

Habitat for Humanity Silicon Valley

Graduate Housing Intern

An accomplished Business Program Manager, gifted communicator, and homemade cookies enthusiast. Meticulous and detailed with providing a holistic approach to deliver key results. Areas of expertise include executive operations/business management, budget, process & workflow creation, and procurement processing. Other projects that were completed are with full cycle hiring and recruiting operations, and development of people and culture programs in both corporations and non-profit environments. 

Lifelong learner of organizational leadership, tech, facilitation, and spiritual formation.

taplio

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Karen K. Ngo

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