Microsoft’s latest attempt to recruit the next generation of engineering talent has backfired, as its rather awkward attempts at ‘Millennial speak’ have been roundly mocked on social media.
The email went viral after it was shared by Twitter user Patrick Burtchaell, who said his room mate received an email from Microsoft to the upcoming Internapalooza, an annual event for Silicon Valley interns.
My roommate received this email from a Microsoft recruiter today. pic.twitter.com/90Qwr78eGO
— Patrick Burtchaell (@pburtchaell) July 6, 2016
In a bizarre effort to look hip, Microsoft promised “dranks,” “noms” and other buzzwords at a party for “bae interns.”
In millennial speak, ‘Bae’ is a term of enderment, often used for boyfriends and girlfriends, rather than prospective employees.
The email concludeed with the even more cringeworthy line: “HELL YES TO GETTING LIT ON A MONDAY NIGHT”, which would mean that the company approves of everyone getting drunk on a work day.
The email was largely mocked on social media for being inappropriate, patronising and just plain weird.
Next year in Microsoft's HR training:
"Don't call interns your bae"— SecuriTay (@SwiftOnSecurity) July 6, 2016
The email invite to annual Internapalooza event in San Francisco is attended by about 3,000 would-be tech-industry workers, mainly students.
The event features numerous high profile tech frims including Google, Facebook and Microsoft to recruit the next generation of talent — paying as much as $7,500 a month for a quality intern.
Speaking to Business Insider, a Microsft spokesperson said: “The email was poorly worded and not in keeping with our values as a company. We are looking into how this occurred and will take appropriate steps to address it” .
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has been embarrassed around a party this year: Back in March, Microsoft had to apologize after scantily clad dancers at its official Game Developers Conference alienated the women in the audience.
Also in March, the company apologised for Tay, an artificial intelligence chatbot that quickly learned how to be racist and offensive through its interactions with Twitter users.
Back in 2009, the company put out an equally embarrasing ‘Windows 7 party’ campaign, which you can view in all its awkward glory below: