What the Microsoft Interview is like — with sample questions

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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.

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.

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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.

natazer
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Incredibly well articulated, Kevin. Thank you so much for the openness and transparency! Still helps, even now when interviews are via Teams :)

altvctr
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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!

TheChocobreeder
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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!

peachespickless
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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.

mephistopheles
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Thank you very much for this valuable insight in to the Microsoft Interview process. It is very informative and clear.

Strokecity
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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!

abbyjustine
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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 ...

Limauser
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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.

sweet_southern_gal
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Thank you, Kevin. This is immensely helpful in preparation for my interviews!

kathrynharris
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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

winnielaaaa
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This is great info! I'm looking forward to using this with my next interview!!

RosaMartinez-bswu
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Brilliant advice... experienced the same questuins here in the UK👍

NaeNae
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I'm having a remote interview today, third round with three people via teams. :) Great points!

dubbified
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my interview is today, just saw this and it was extremely helpful!

nicolemitchell
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Thanks Kevin. This was great prep work.

sutenTaHotep
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Just got internship offer from Microsoft. Your video really helped me🎉🎉. Thanks

bola
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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.

damonaniton
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It's very useful for me. Thanks Kevin.

leonlee
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Thanks Kevin for the helpful tips. I got the offer!

manassaini