[1985 Microsoft Recruiting Packet]

A warm welcome to mid-1980s Microsoft.

This 1985 Microsoft recruiting packet serves as a technological time capsule for the company on the cusp of its IPO and move to the current campus in Redmond, Washington. An interesting mix of promotional literature, informational sheets, and maps provides an ephemeral snapshot of the bureaucracy behind the corporate behemoth.

Within a custom embossed folder are over a dozen different articles for the prospective Microsoft employee. A collection of glossy mags advertises the latest products, including Word, Excel, and Project. The 1985 Spring catalog, an interview with Bill Gates (The Man Behind the Machine?), and The Inside Story of Microsoft are also part of the company’s promo material.

Of special interest is a riff on Saul Steinberg’s iconic view of New York, showing the Bellevue HQ directly connected to Seattle (dwarfing Silicon Valley). Washington is a verdant outdoor paradise, compared to the ‘wasteland’ of the rest of the U.S. (only a few cities are worth mentioning). In 1984, Steinberg sued Columbia Pictures for copyright infringement after a similar parody was used in the poster for the movie Moscow on the Hudson (and won).

More practical elements are also included, such as driving directions from Sea-Tac Airport, an AVIS street map of Seattle and the surrounding area, and the recruiter’s business card. Three stapled packets of typed sheets replicate a press release celebrating record profits, a Microsoft Corporate Background, and Demographics on the city of Bellevue, Washington. “Only 4.2% of the population in 1970 were minorities and 2.1% were elderly. Only 3.2% of the population were in the poverty index and only 1.39% were of the housing is considered dilapidated.”  – pg. 5.