Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Arlene — Mon, 19 Apr 2004 18:55:00 GMT

Wow, Microsoft is my idea of the dream job. But, unfortunately I'm so rooted in TN that I can't leave untill my 5 year old is 18. I've always wondered what the interviews there consisted of. I day dream about it regularly. *sigh* :-)

Thanks for the info! I'll put it to good use in my next interview in my area.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Jeremy C. Wright — Mon, 19 Apr 2004 19:04:00 GMT

Thanks Heather, helpful info as always. I agree with you that preparation is key. When I get my interview I'll be focussing my time mainly where I feel I'd be likely to trip up during an interview: writing code on whiteboards (whiteboarding processes, designs or charts is easy), standard questions (great idea) and questions I want to ask.

Mainly because these are areas that my mind isn't focussing on during an interview, so doing some prep work ahead of time is invaluable.

During an interview I'm trying to be honest, trying to market myself and trying to be very, very aware of the interviewer's non-verbal communication.

Things like progress through the day, questions I have and so on are (more often than not) an afterthought.

I'm sure that, at the very least, I'll be making up a cheat-sheet of questions I'd like to know more about, and as they get answered I can mark them as done.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

ThomasC22 — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 18:14:00 GMT

I have to admit, I’ve always been a little confused by the “puzzle questions” myself. Not that I don’t agree with the idea of testing someone’s intelligence it just doesn’t seem to me like the risk is worth the reward in that it really could scare good people away.

It just seems to me that testing people on task oriented items is more beneficial on both sides than seeing if someone can determine which jar of jelly beans is heavier with only one measurement.

But then again, I could be wrong…

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Heather — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 23:31:00 GMT

Thomas-asking people task oriented questions reallly only qualifies them for the job they are applying for. It doens't predict whether they will be a good employee long term...and it doens't evaluate whether they are smart. I think you have to evaluate both: 1) whether the person is a fit for the job (task questions.functional questions) and whether they are smart and can get things done (that's where the competencies come in). I think the case study questions can do a good job of evaluating the latter (as do the puzzle questions for tech candidates).

At this point, I think the puzzle questions are so well documented that people know what they are getting into if they interview at Microsoft. Besides, we want folks that aren't afraid of a little challenge ; )

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

ABC — Mon, 10 May 2004 02:35:00 GMT

I am up for an interiew in the next few weeks, starting with building #19. What are some of the most 'common' generic mistakes that people make during the interview day?

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Heather — Tue, 11 May 2004 17:30:00 GMT

ABC- I would say the biggest mistakes people make are not doing what I recommend above (for example, people who have not prepared for the interview, can't articulate what they want to do and why they want to work at Microsoft. )

Good luck with your interviews!

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

A. — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 18:05:00 GMT

I failed my interview recently, and single reason why - I had to wayt for recruiter to come dow to me for 30 minutes. I assumed that they did it on purpose and was pissed of before interview even started. And why I failed it - because I did not solve 2 stupidest programming riddles, I was too nervous and tried to rush the answers.
I always was it top 5% at school, at University, and hard to find a single riddle ever I was not able to solve, but when I am nervous ... I think if you know you can get into same state - go bye some pills on internet before to calm down,

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Heather — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 17:39:00 GMT

A-you probably should not assume that the recruiter made you wait on purpose and I'm not sure how this contributed to your trouble with the puzzle questions but I am sorry you had a bad experience. Unfortunately, it sounds like your nerves impacted your success in the interviews. I would not recommend that anyone buys pills on the Internet to prepare for a Microsoft interview. Remember that tens of thousands of people have successfully made their way through the process without buying drugs.

Since puzzle questions aren't as applicable to marketing interviews at MS, I don't think any marketers reading this and considering a career at Microsoft should worry about these types of questions. And they shouldn't buy drugs either ; )

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Nish — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 04:55:00 GMT

Hey Heather

How different do you think are telephonic interviews from real in-person interviews?

Thanks.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Heather — Mon, 02 Aug 2004 15:30:00 GMT

Nish-I would say they are pretty different. The purpose of the phone interview is to assess whether to move you along to the next step in the process which is generally another phone interview or an in-person interview. The purpose of the in-person interview is to assess whether to hire you. The stakes are higher for everyone involved. For the recruiter doing the phone interview, they are evaluating whether they want to put the money and time into considering you further. At the in-person interview stage, it's more important for the recruiter and interviewing team to be extrmeley thorough because of the risk involved. Maiking a "bad hire" is extremely costly to a company, not only in terms of salary paid and the costs assiciated with replacing ghe person (estimated at 2X the annual salary), but also the time it would take another team member to train and mentor the person and team morale.

Additionally, on the phone, you don't have the benefit of reading body language or building rapport in person.

But don't discount the importance of the phone interview though. You have to get through it to get to the in-person interview. I've always tried to be extra through in my phone interviews as a service to my hiring managers. If I can screen out people that aren't a fit for whatever reason, it saves time and money for the group.

But it's hard to say what you are going to get because all recruiters aren't that thorough. I think that wither way, it pays to prepare for the phone interview.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

RajneeshSehgal — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 04:47:34 GMT

Thanks Heather,
The info you have provided is helpful and I really appreciate it.

I was working as a contractor at Microsoft and have received an offer for an oppurtunity to work there, from the group manager. I am told that I still need to go through the interview process.

What is the interview process like in this scenario? Does the fact that they have already seen my work help at all?

Thanks,
RAJ

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

jelly — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 23:00:07 GMT

I have an interview with Microsoft for a MSN Account Manger position. this is my dreaaam job. I would love any advice anyone can offer. Does anyone know what "functional" questions are?

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 23:31:33 GMT

Functional questions are about the core role...in your case, account management.

Good luck!

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

jelly — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 06:18:57 GMT

i am not a business major, what kind of cases should i study? can you give me an example of a functional question? Thank you. You are a big help.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 21:01:58 GMT

If I were interviewing a recruiter I could ask "When a position opens that you need to recruit on, how do you decide where to look first for candidates? How do you plan out your sourcing stragegy and prioritize your candidate generation tactics?"

I don't know anything about college interviews, myself since I don't recruit in that space, so not sure I could help identify cases, but I would guess that you would be looking for cases that are the most relevant to the group or position.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Melanie — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 10:21:16 GMT

A lot of great advice. I am going to use your pointers on my Product Manager interview tomorrow.
Hopefully I will return with some good news:)
Thanks,
Melanie

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Pradeep Udtha — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:46:53 GMT

good information and great advice. It's was very helpful.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Solomon — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:12:55 GMT

Hi Heather,

What is the best preparation way for Microsoft's telephonic interview.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 18:47:24 GMT

I'd say that the advice above applies to the phone interview as well. Good luck!

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Solomon — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:14:17 GMT

Thanks Heather for the answer.

Could you also provide some useful links for the preparation of the interview.

Cheers,

Solomon

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Like — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:13:12 GMT

Hi, Heather,

I will have an on-campus MS interview for SDE summer internship (I'm a phd student). Is the intern interview the same as the normal SDE position? Any difference?

Besides, many people have said PhD degree might be overqualified for software engineer position. How about MS? Does a PhD degree have any negative effect for applying the SDE position (the full time position, not the intern)?

Thanks. This is really a great blog.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:51:12 GMT

Like - I'm not sure i'm the right person to answer your questions since I recruit for marketing. You might want to check out jobsblog. My guess (and it would only that) is that the internship interview would be similar to the SDE interview. We have many phDs around here, specifically in Microsoft Research. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Good luck with your interviews!

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

John Michael — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 16:48:18 GMT

Hi Heather,

I'm in the process of scheduling an onsite interview in the NYC office for the AdCenter product. What is the process when Microsoft is interested and makes an offer? Will I find out at the end of that day of the interview or will they contact me days later?

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Gina — Sat, 12 May 2007 22:32:22 GMT

Thanks for the info, Heather! I am a contractor and looking to land a FTE position in marketing. I made it through 2 phone interviews for an outstanding position and have my all-day interview next week. I'm trying to prep as well as I can and even my boss has been really supportive and is trying to help prep me, so I appreciate all your info. I'm going to take extra time to "google the heck" out of the group and its offerings and be superprepped. Any other marketing-specific interview info you could share too would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks again!

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Tue, 15 May 2007 02:05:09 GMT

I'd just look at the space the position is focused on (an audience, product, industry, etc) and understand some of the competitive challenges in that space. I'm all about anticipating tough interview questions. I'll be thinking good thoughts for you!

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

rithik — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:34:08 GMT

Good day Heather,

I am so much passionate about MS and its products, and have been applying for few positions, now that I have heard from MS (so excited!!!), and this time it is not for a particular position, but the telephonic interview has been setup for a general insight of me. So what kind of conversation could I possibly expect? I am aware of general stuffs like about myself, my work experience, what do I want to do at MS and why? Would that preparation be enough? Kindly advise me about additional info I can gather. And Heather this is the opportunity I was waiting for more than 3 years. I want a wIN situation here. Kindly help me. Many thanks in advance. Have a nice day!

- Rithik

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

rajj — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:54:55 GMT

This week microsoft arrange a GM round for me and i want to know what type of question they normally asked for the support engineer post

Thanks

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:35:02 GMT

Sorry, I have no idea what kinds of questions they will ask in an interview for support engineers.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

vivek — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:52:29 GMT

coming Thursday microsoft HR would arranged a GM round for me and i want to know what type of question they normally asked ??

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Chan — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:39:00 GMT

Hi Heather ,

That's a lot of great advice, thanks Heather.

I have few questions regarding "Program Manager Intern" position and would be glad if you can answer them .

The questions are : "are PM's asked any questions on coding and algorithms If yes, how significant role do these questions play towards the final decision of accepting/rejecting of a candidate?

Regards

Chan

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Greg — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:11:32 GMT

Hi Heather ,

I am interested to work in MS and have 5 years exp in IT services.But i have small problem ...i am a stutterer.Would this be a problem/hurdle in my selection?Do you guys also pay attention to this

Thanks

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:19:23 GMT

Hi Greg, we focus on the candidate's ability to do the job. I'd be really happy to get your resume into the right hands if you want to send it to me. I'm at heathham@microsoft.com.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Vick — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:50:06 GMT

Hi Heather,

I had appeared for a phone interview recently after which recruiter told me that there is no matching position available right now but the company is interested in my profile and will contact me in future (maybe in 2-3 months). Does company really go back again to a candidate when you have tons of new applicants every day? Any suggestions to remain alive in the potential candidates list?

thanks,

vick

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:12:33 GMT

Yep. All candidate resumes are retained in the same database. If you asl your recruiter, they may even forward your resume out to other recruiters. You might try finding the job codes of some interesting roles on our careers site, send them to the recruiter and ask that he/she forward your resume to their appropriate peer. Hope that helps.

Microsoft?… Me?… Really?? « Confessions of a Microsoftie

Microsoft?… Me?… Really?? « Confessions of a Microsoftie — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:26:56 GMT

PingBack from http://tkelleher75.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/hello-world/

Microsoft?… Me?… Seriously? « Confessions of a Microsoftie

Microsoft?… Me?… Seriously? « Confessions of a Microsoftie — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:16:21 GMT

PingBack from http://tkelleher75.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/microbie/

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Kaur — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:46:15 GMT

Hi heather,

I have telephonic interview with microsoft....I really do not what i will be asked..Can you please kindly tell me what kind of Question they ask in telephonic interviews?

I have applied for SDE full time position and a Master student in engineering.

Thanks in advance

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:55:15 GMT

Kaur - I can't tell you specifically, but I'd make sure that I understand the technologies listed in the job description and/or that you have discussed with the recruiter so far. I'd expect some coding questions. Also expect to answer a question and then have some variables changed and then you have to think through the impact. Unfortunately, I don't know as much about the technical interview as I do the marketing interview but I am working on it.

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

Daniel — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:03:50 GMT

I worked at MS from 93 to 01; in the last half of my time there I performed many, many interviews of job applicants.

This article is pretty much spot-on. You're going to be interviewed by people who are really good at what you're applying for. They won't expect you to be the total expert but they do expect you to have a solid grounding in what you profess to be your forte and to be teachable.

The puzzle questions are more about seeing how you approach a problem, especially ones that seem unsolvable ("how many gasoline pumps are there in the state of Wisconsin?"). If you can get the answer, great and more power to you. But you have to try even if it sounds silly.

Sadly, MS is not what it used to be in terms of being a great place to work (which is why I left). Has to do with being a large company with metric-oriented management

re: Preparing for an interview at Microsoft

HeatherLeigh — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:07:30 GMT

Aww, Daniel. You had me until the last paragraph! Boo! :)

I didn't join until 99 so I suspect that some of the things you didn't like by that point are some of the things I did. I have struggled with the merics issue myself. The type of work I do impacts the works of others significantly but it's really hard to isolate my piece for the purpose of measurement. I guess you do the best you can with customer sat and use the downstream metrics to weave together a story.

For most roles, I feel like the numbers driven culture was a necessity to get us to the next stage of growth. But I don't know anyone, at Microsoft or elsewhere, who has done a great job of metricking (??) some roles. So I guess observation and storytelling are important and frankly, that is a whole different skill set.

So yeah, I'm not going to say that you are wrong about the metric-oriented management. I think most folks who come here are accustomed to that kind of culture and expect it. And those of us in weird roles probably get a little more creativity and satisfaction than the others and have to work harder to demonstrate the value we bring.

The measurement part is hard. But I don't know anywhere else I could be doing this for a living. I'm sure there are places, but I love working here. Anyway, the numbers thing is one of many factors I use every morning when I decide to get out of bed and what kind of attitude I am going to have about work that day.

Thanks for your comments, Daniel. Hope you are doing something you love right now!