What the Microsoft Interview is like - with sample questions
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- I've worked at Microsoft for 13 years, with most of that time as a Program Manager, and I've both interviewed and conducted interviews throughout my years. I walk through what a typical interview day looks like, how many interviews you'll have, give some sample questions, walk through a good way to structure a response, and talk about how I assess a candidate.
How I got my job at Microsoft: • How I got my job at Mi...
A good way to structure an interview question response using the STARS format:
• Situation - What's the background?
• Task - What were you responsible for?
• Activity - What did you actually do?
• Result - how did things turn out?
• Self-aware - what would you have done differently?
Competencies and sample interview questions:
Communication
• Tell me about the most challenging situation that you have experienced, when you had to persuade someone to accept your point-of-view.
• Please describe a situation where you led a cross-functional task force or project team.
• Please describe a situation where you needed to convince a teammates to adopt a plan, strategy, or point of view.
Customer Empathy
• Describe the strategies you have used to gather information that increased your understanding of current and future customer needs.
• Describe a time when you were involved in the resolution of a complaint from either an internal or an external customer.
• Describe the strategies you have used to gather information that increased your understanding of current and future customer needs.
• Tell me about a time when you fell short of meeting a customer's needs.
Detailed Design
• Tell me about the most unusual or creative idea that you’ve come up with.
• Tell me about a time you were assigned a project you had to complete very quickly, yet you did not have all the information you needed.
Coachability and Teamwork
• Describe a time when you worked on a challenging cross-functional team that produced an exceptional deliverable.
• Tell me about a time when you experienced conflict with a team member.
Self-Criticalness
• How would you have handled [the customer/the conflict/the delivery of the product or service] differently?
• How would you evaluate your performance in that area? On that project?
Design/UX instincts
• Tell me about a product you like. Why do you like it?
○ What would you do to improve it?
○ You have 3 months to do it, what would you do first?
○ How would you measure the improvement?
• Imagine you had to build an elevator system for a tall building. How would you go about doing it?
○ Imagine you have less time now. How would you evaluate what to change?
○ How do you measure the success/failure of your design?
Dealing with ambiguity
• Tell me about a time when you had to change your priorities in response to the demands of a changing situation.
• Describe a time when you had to complete a project in which you were provided with very little information or guidance.
• Describe a time when you proposed a major change in your work process or job duties. How did others respond to your proposal?
• Tell me about a time when you had to change your priorities in response to the demands of a changing situation.
Partnering / Conflict resolution
• Describe a time when you worked on a challenging cross-functional team that produced an exceptional deliverable.
• Describe how you have collaborated with others outside of your immediate team to resolve a critical issue.
• Tell me about a time when you experienced conflict with a team member.
• Tell me about a time when your attempt to collaborate across teams was unsuccessful.
Drive for Results
• Tell me about a time when you successfully removed an obstacle that interfered with your ability to complete a task effectively.
• What has been the most difficult assignment or task in your career so far?
Influencing for impact
• Tell me about the most challenging situation that you have experienced, when you had to persuade someone to accept your point-of-view.
• Describe a time when you had to persuade someone to complete a task, but had no formal authority over their work.
Planning, Organizing, and Executing
• Tell me about a time when you aligned multiple stakeholders to achieve an objective.
Tell me about a time when you did not meet a planned milestone.
Writing your resume? Check out the following video with tips on how to write a great resume: • How to Make a Resume f...
I did 2 interviews at MS. Failed the first, rocked the 2nd and got hired. He's totally on point here. Take notes. Know yourself, the good and bad. Show your thought process and articulate it.
Hi! Really interesting, was this for the same job or two separate roles?
Thanks
@@cataxo444 same role.
@@cataxo444 one of the interviews gave me the best advice after the fact. A no from MS doesn't mean never. Just be an open book and don't hold back.
@@natazer I have honestly got the lowest expectations at the moment, not a whole lot of experience, glad to know the door doesen't close
@@natazer how far apart did u apply/interview?
You can see sample interview questions in the description. Hope you enjoy! Writing your resume? Check out the following video with tips on how to write a great resume: ruclips.net/video/9eEv6bCtLmc/видео.html
It took me weeks time to get to a video like this!!! This was really generalized but gave me an idea how to frame my responses and talk. Thanks so much for the video Kevin!!
@@himamythilirouthula5614 of course! let me know how the interview goes. Also, be sure to check out sample questions in the description. If you prep good stories for those, you'll be golden. Cheers!
Hey Kevin! I have watched this video so many times prepping for my final interview and ended up getting an offer from Microsoft! Thank you so much for the insight and all the help!
hey! thanks for sharing your experience. can u share some more insights like how many years of work experience you had. I have 8 years of experience as a .net developer and planning to apply for Microsoft, however I have to go a long way in terms of finding a way to break the ice. Please if you can share the stage and you work experience based on which you got recruited. thanks in advance.
Thank you for this! I have an interview in 2 weeks and wanted to understand how to prepare. This video gives very great detailed explanations.
did you get the job?
How it went?
yeah, please respond us
Thank you so much for this video! The questions in the description came up in my 5 rounds of interviews at Microsoft and I was prepared thanks to you! Keep doing what you’re doing!
Were you hired?
what position?
Incredibly well articulated, Kevin. Thank you so much for the openness and transparency! Still helps, even now when interviews are via Teams :)
my interview is today, just saw this and it was extremely helpful!
@Alvin Amone i got the job!!!
@@nicolemitchell2841 congratulations :) i'm interviewing tomorrow.
@@nicolemitchell2841 any tips on applying for internship?
Thank you from Paris ! I’m having my first interview within a week and this helped me a lot to understand how Microsoft interviews work
good luck! I was just at the Paris office back in June.
Kevin Stratvert Update : I just got hired as a Partner Marketing Manager (Surface) for my final internship. You contributed a lot in this so thank you again !
Yann-P Komo Hi friend, could you share some experience please, I want to apply for the marketing internship. Thanks 🙏🏻
Just got internship offer from Microsoft. Your video really helped me🎉🎉. Thanks
Thank you, Kevin. This is immensely helpful in preparation for my interviews!
good luck on the interviews! let me know how they go!
How did it go?
How did it go?
i want to give some advice for vets i watched this and went to the interview thinking of how to bring military situations to things like "Group projects" and "deadlines" when i got there i really gambled and just said
"look i know what the interview process is for its to look at how you work under stress and your leadership potential when projects go wrong ive been wracking my brain trying to think about relevant situations to your questions but i'll be honest its two different worlds at the end of the day i was in the military for a decade you are just not going to get nowhere near the amount of stress in the civilian world as in the MIlitary in the Military if you make mistakes you die if you do not coordinate you die
personally under stress i just crack on with the job throughout the military i have always had the mentality of "you can rest when its over" when i was over seas i was shot but to give a relatively new guy confidence and not make him anymore scared than he already was i only showed it once the firefight was over when i was instructing another instructor had been up for almost two days and was struggling with a lesson plan so i stayed up all day and night on my two days off and did it for him
when one of my men went through his rations too quickly and did not bring adequate shelter i gave him my food myself not eating for a day gave him my shelter and slept in the rain
when a trench we were digging filled with water and was covered in ice i was the first one to jump in and start bucketing the water out with my helmet
i don't know if any of these situations are even relevant to a corporate IT world but i hope it answers how well i perform under stress"
surprisingly it worked they just said fair enough and got the position i start in February
that's awesome, thanks for sharing your story. I can see why they decided to bring you on board!
doesnt really seem like particularly stressful stories, just being a buddy.
Cringe
I had a 4 person interview. It was a bit of a weird experience seeing as how I was interviewing for a position I was already working as a contractor. 1 was technical with someone on my team I was already working with. Needless to say that was a piece of cake. After that 2 personality type interviews with people from different types of business orgs. And the last was with a VP level person.
Thank you for sharing your experience Damon. How did your interview go overall?
How is the contractor level interview? Please give me some advice
Oh man, I immensely appreciate how succinct and to the point you were as well as helpful! This vid got me thinking a little past just data structures and algorithms for interviews. Thanks for the video!
Kevin, thank you so much for this video. I just made it through the interview gauntlet, jeez. I could not have done it without those questions and this is for a Program Management position.
Hey, Indigo_Babe I have an interview with MS the day after tomorrow for the position of Business Program Manager... can you please guide me and let me what are the typical management scenario-based questions asked in the rounds?
@@arghamukherjee7258 I am sorry I missed your message. Did you already have your interview?
Thank you very much for this valuable insight in to the Microsoft Interview process. It is very informative and clear.
Thanks for the insight. I have an interview with Microsoft next month and I think reviewing and practicing these this will prove beneficial. Talking to other Microsoft interviewers I’ve been told that after they ask, “Why do you want to work at this company?” pretty much decides their overall opinion. Does this resonate with you as well?
Sure thing! There are always exceptions within a big company, but generally one question won't determine how the interview goes -- unless of course it's a really bizarre and strange answer. When I've conducted interviews at Microsoft, I evaluate the responses across all of my questions. You'll also typically interview with multiple people and the outcome will depend on how the interviewing group evaluates the interviews. Some interview loops will be a clear yes or no and sometimes there's lots of discussion that happens amongst the interviewers. Good luck!
Kevin Stratvert Okay cool. I appreciate the help and thank you!
James were you hired?
this gives me anxiety just watching this. When I interviewed someone at this startup I worked for, we didn't have to give them such extensive questions. We trust ourselves to know there ability based off of the basic questions needed and he was fantastic. I understand employers want to hire the best candidates possible but seriously, just feels like the process always gives me insane anxiety when they go through things like this. Prayerfully my interview with MS next week will be simple for whatever reason. I am so tired from my regular job I dont think I have it in me to prep for this one. I would need like a week off. Thanks for this video though.
Just out of curiosity ,how did your interview go ?
@@rehabmansour384 Not well. I can't seem to crack there coding interview
Thanks Kevin for the helpful tips. I got the offer!
Turn the first switch on, leave it up for 10 mins. Switch it off, turn the second switch on, go in touch the other 2 bulbs that are off, the one that’s warmer than the rest is the first switch and the that’s on is the 2nd switch and the one that’s off is the third switch.
Have a phone interview next week for a finance internship. Wish me luck!
This is great info! I'm looking forward to using this with my next interview!!
I'm having a remote interview today, third round with three people via teams. :) Great points!
I am 11 years old but I wanna work at Microsoft I love technology so I think its a job for me
Hey me too
Great video kevin ..gives a 360° perspective ...this will definitly help me in preparing for interview .going to watch your videos on resume ..excel ..ppt ...
Thanks so much for the advice Kevin. I have my final round interview in 2 days, this will help immensely!
Update - I got the position! I took your advice on self-reflecting, and I believe that played a huge part in the process. Thanks again!
@@emanuelperez1898 still in Microsoft? i am preparing now for final round in 3 days... based in Tallinn
@@mm5019561 Yes I am. Best of luck during your interview 💪🏾
This is very helpful..This gives us anxiety just watching this video.Thank you!
Brilliant advice... experienced the same questuins here in the UK👍
It's very useful for me. Thanks Kevin.
Thanks Kevin. This was great prep work.
Thanks Kevin! Wish me luck!
Kevin I have my interview scheduled for azure cloud engineer at Microsoft, do you have any idea on how to prepare for the interview
I’d love to know about how your interview went and what was asked
Great tips for the behavioral section but was hoping you’d mention the technical portion
I have interview today for Azure Support Engineer. I have Masters in IT and about 6 Azure Certs. This is my 6th interview for Microsoft. Can’t crack it.
Thanks for telling us about it!
Thanks this is good information
Thank you so much! That helped a lot.
Quite similar to my Amazon interview. 4 interviews which were 90% behavioural.
You should do a video on what the SQL side of things are. They handed me a piece of paper and asked me to query lol
STAR methodology ( Situation, Task, Action, Result)
.. and S (self-reflection) at the end to make it "STARS methodology"
I have an interview for an Explore intern position tomorrow. It's my first interview in the tech industry!
Best of luck!
hi, how did it go? I also have my explore phone interview a week from now.
Johnson Durant It’s in 30 minutes :) I’ll let you know
@@johnsondurant9905 It went way better than I thought it could. The interviewers were really helpful and understanding of how early you are in your career! Have good questions to ask and know how to show good qualities about yourself like this video.
LifeWithKaren Yeah sure! I’m pretty busy this week until Friday afternoon and the weekend though
Thank you Kevin. I have 2 interviews day after tomorrow on Microsoft Teams Meeting for a Project Manager position in Doha, Qatar. I did my degree in Computer Sciences but most of experience in Project Management is related to Telecom and Event Management. On top of it, i have been doing some entrepreneurial work to build websites and mobile apps for some of the major clients in Qatar (including the first unicorn startup in the middle east). Do you have any tips on how I can reflect my experience to prove that I can be a great fit for Microsoft? I have always been passionate about moving back into the Software Industry and be part of this innovation era. Really dont want to miss this opportunity.
Who else wants to be interviewed by him?
I would like to know what are the best questions to ask on those 1:1 with the team, I never know if I asked something very personal or very general. I always ask How those the team work? how PM and others get involve or how they handle stressful times but not sure if those are correct questions or not :(
Is this the same approach for service delivery manager roles in the UK? ( this is great video for people trying to get an insight in to interviews)
Thank you for the informative video. I have an interview in 5 days
best of luck! I'm sure you'll kill it :)
How did it go?? I have mine in about 3 weeks
Unfortunately I wasn't successful. I hope your interview went well.
@@TyrantTrader118 sorry to hear that. What role was it for?
Man you look like Superman 😎
Thanks for this video Kevin.
It was great video, please make a video about developer interview
Thank you for the detailed explanation Kevin. This is very helpful. I'm currently a second year MBA student and have an upcoming on campus interview with Microsoft in two weeks for the program manager role. What other kind of questions can I prepare for the interview other than behavioral, such as Product design, estimation questions etc.
Best of luck! Check out the Design/UX instincts sample questions. Those lead naturally to asking about product design, estimation, opportunity size, etc.
@@KevinStratvert Thank you :)
@@KevinStratvert Where can I find them? pls point me
If for graphic design , will they test you and ask you make something during interview?
Hi Kevin. Where can I find the sample interview questions mentioned in your description?
My interview is this Thursday.. I’m really nervous
how did it go ? what was the position?
Yea...how did it go? Hope it went well
How'd it go?!
Marvin were you hired???
Went well?
Sir I have Microsoft content writer interview coming up next week under contractual role. Is the difficulty level same in this case? Please guide me.
Well, I must admit that I am not good at brain teaser questions and also not good at algorithm questions. I need lot of hints to solve the problem in algorithm and sometimes cannot understand the question at all :(.Hence afraid to give interviews at these giant companies.
Thank You Kevin!!
Thank you! I just landed a (new grad) full-time software engineering role at Microsoft :D
Would you recommend a new grad live in Seattle, Bellevue, or some other area? I am leaning towards Seattle as it seems to have more things to do from what I've read, but would love to hear another perspective on this!
As a new grad, I think you would enjoy Seattle the most. It's more walkable, better nightlife, more restaurants, etc. Plus you have Connector buses that take you to campus, so traffic and commuting aren't really issues.
Hey Nathan, I'm going into interviews for SWE roles and I'm super nervous. Any tips? What were the coding questions like?
@@KevinStratvert Thank you! Good point about the Connector bus service. I'll definitely take that to avoid dealing with the traffic myself haha.
Hey @@kofiforson1386, I was super super nervous too. I am sure you've heard this before but I would say make sure to practice on Leetcode and be confident in the language you choose for the interview. (They let you pick whatever language you want.) I didn't do as much Leetcode practice as some recommend but I think it still really helped. But it is equally important to make sure you think out loud and ask questions about ambiguities, edge cases, etc. I did get stuck on one problem but I kept talking about my ideas and the interviewer was able to guide me. Another thing that helped is to talk out various solutions before even writing/typing any code at all. They are looking to see how you think and solve the problem, and how you communicate with them. Good luck, you can do this!
Thanks Nathan. I've been doing Leetcode and practicing my approach to problem solving. I'll have my interview in a few weeks and I'll swing by to give you an update. I hope to see you on campus!!
Thank you really good video
I am going to have my interview next week, I have a lot question Kevin
Hi Kevin ,
I'm interviewing tomw a technical interview for a Support engineer (For Microsoft Defender for endpoint) I passed the HR interview . Do you have an idea what kinda of questions ?
Hi Kevin, I just had my 6th and final interview at Microsoft. This one was with HRBP. Does an interview with HR guarantee you are about to get an offer?
Thank you so much!!
thank you for this video
Does Having Bachelor Diploma Play Role In Applying To MS?
I'm having an interview on Monday.
This is SO helpful and valuable! Thank you so much Kevin sir
My MS interview is in 6 days - wish me luck!
Best of luck!
How did it go? Video helped?
Thanks alot for this. Am from Cameroon and will be having a phone interview in 2weeks. Am really nervous 😬... You didn't say something about technical questions.
I work as a Program Manager and the interview doesn't focus on technical questions. What role are you going for?
did u get a position?
Can someone who had got job offer from MS please provide good answers to this question? Why you want to join Microsoft? Thanks
If I have work experience (2 years) can i still talk about college projects?
This is great Kevin, thanks. Could you touch upon phone interviews a little? I have my phone interview tomorrow and I want to use the last few hours to be the most efficient. The position is for Data Scientist at Redmond and I'm a graduate student.
Phone is always a little more difficult since you can't see how the interviewer is reacting to what you're saying, but all-in-all, the same should hold for phone interviews as well. How did things go?
Kevin Stratvert they went well. My on site is coming up. Fingers crossed. Thanks for all your tips. Please do keep them coming 🙂
@@mansimehrotra8051 which questions did they ask 🥺
anyone know how to prepare for technial specialist/ technology solution professional roles? I have three interviews (hiring managers, technical (dynamics 365 crm and power platform), behavioral with hr), 6 people in total, location: germany
Thank you for this video. Can you please let me know if you have any idea what are the sample questions that someone as a director in MS can ask, this is my first interview with MS after submitting my resume and so I got my first interview with MS director, do you think would it be more technical or more general?
How did the interview with the director go? I have mine coming up soon with a director too
Please how did your Director interview go?
@Kevin I have an interview with Microsoft for the role Cloud Solution Architect. What type of question can I expect. I'm preparing in all the ways possible but, I'm bit nervous. Could you help on this.
Check the description for some sample interview questions. Run through those and think of answers to all those questions and you should be in good shape.
Hi Kevin thanks so much for the info I always wanted to work for a tech company. I am a java developer with 13 years of experience my target path is to see myself as a technical architect in the coming years for which I am not clear of the path to be taken . I have a product design in my mind to discuss as well . How can I start my preparation towards achieving this goal as a solution architect in Microsoft
Can I check with you your email so that I can discuss with you on my idea
What about the Datacenter Technician position? Do you have any idea? I have an interview tomorrow :D
Thank you
I'm not familiar with data center technician questions, although my hunch is that many of the same types of questions should apply there as well. Best of luck!
Kevin I have a question. If Interview process is so thoughtful then why interviewer expect that candidate should able to solve any coding problem that is thrown at them? Sometimes, some may not able to provide optimised solution. And its quite normal, isn't it? It happens many times to even the senior software engineers have good numbers of working experience. But still its expected that you should be best in 45 minutes x 3/4/5 rounds.
Interviewee should be judge on how he tackle the problem rather than looking that if interviewee is able to complete the problem in 45 minutes and is able to provide optimised solution or not. In day to day role as Software Engineer, we have many resources available online that anyone can use to come up with great solution. I feel if any candidate is able to address the problem and is trying to tackle in correct way, and is able to write clean code, I will be fine with that irrespective of optimised solution or time/space complexity or completed coding etc.
Does the interview for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 365 specialist going something different?)
it depends on the specific role, but I would guess most of it is in line with what I talk about in this video
@@KevinStratvert thank you) do you know anybody from different non-English speaking country and with different then Dynamics CRM (another CRM expirience) will be joined into Microsoft in US for Dynamics 365 CRM role?)
PS: I do a CRM Bitrix24 implementation in Russia. And what join into Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is US :)
PSS: I'm like a Senior CRM Consultant /Technical
@@MakarkinPRO unfortunately I don't. I don't work very closely with folks in Dynamics.
Microsoft is notorious for ghosting applicants even at the final offer stage
3:21
Actually it is something what you should do in the stock market if you are following Momentum strategy :)
Beside above - really great video!
I think leetcode algo/ds style question is even worse thank Brain teasers
Hi Kevin, I have an interview for the role of data center technician on upcoming Monday. I understand there's a design and puzzle question. May I know an example for both questions?
How did it go?
@@Jessicadesena didn't get it. They get another candidate instead
Hey could you elaborate on the questions? I have my interview coming up soon. :)
So how tough is it to get your foot in the door? i've always wanted to work for a bigger company and I think Microsoft would be my dream job; but with everything going nuts right now I feel like I graduated at the worst possible time.
I’d rather have brain teasers rather than algo ctci leetcode style questions
Nice, but please try to speak slowly ) It's too difficult to understand if you're not a native Eng speaker.
Do they still interview like this?
It's all leetcode these days!!!!
Go through all this shit just to sit in a cubicle
Lol
Agreed, ... however, depending on the salary and perks you get to trade for your skills it could be a very expensive cubicle indeed ...
Linux.
Would you like to give me reference at Microsoft?
Loved and subscribed channel.
careers.microsoft.com is the best place to get started. What's your background?
Boi your profile picture is Tux the Linux Penguin.
Pbbperera
with regard to their nasty insidious emails about contracts when I bought MY pc some time back in 2010s I was Certainly not made aware of any of this contractual BS or I would have chosen some other OS now this PC & the OS are mine So away & shite with youse
If for graphic design , will they test you and ask you make something during interview?