What is the hiring process at Microsoft?

The hiring process at Microsoft isn't as structured as other tech firms like Amazon - but it's evolving, and in the past couple of years, it has been updated to include phone screenings and on-site interviews.

The process varies depending on whether you are applying for a technical or non-technical role, and takes between three to six weeks.

If you make it to the on-site interview at the Microsoft location for which you are applying (Seattle, Redmond, or the Bay Area), all associated expenses will be paid for by the company.

At Microsoft, there is no fixed interview process or format. It varies between product groups and teams. The process for each candidate, however, typically follows the same pattern.

The hiring process for non-technical positions has a median length of 22 days. It involves a phone screening with a recruiter, a phone screening with either the hiring manager or someone from the hiring team, an on-site full loop interview with four to five interviewers, followed by an offer and negotiation, if the candidate is successful.

As with any standard phone screening, the Microsoft phone screening involves walking through your resume. The recruiter will also ask behavioral questions to gauge your curiosity, openness to learning. and leadership qualities.

When you go to the on-site interview, you will meet with each interviewer one-on-one. The sessions take around one hour each, for a total of four to five hours. While the questions are specific to the job that you are applying to, Microsoft does look for specific qualities in how its candidates respond.

Microsoft has six core competencies that it will assess you on during the interviews:

• Adaptability: How capable are you at dealing with ambiguity? A sample question evaluating this may be, "Tell me about a time when you were given a task but, at the last minute, your manager wanted you to pivot or go in a different direction."

• Collaboration: How well do you work with others? A sample question evaluating this may be, "Can you give me an example of a time where your team or business unit had to work cross-functionally with another organization at your company to accomplish a goal? Describe the situation and what your role was in that effort."

• Customer Focus: How well do you see the bigger picture? A sample question evaluating this may be, "Tell me about a time where a customer wanted one thing but you felt that it was better for them to go a different direction."

• Drive for Results: Can you get things done? A sample question evaluating this may be, "Tell me about a time when you've set a goal for yourself (and others, if applicable) and then pursued those goals with enthusiasm and energy."

• Influencing for Impact: Do you have leadership qualities? A sample question evaluating this may be, "How do you influence people who do not report to you? How do you get them to do things even if they don't want to or need to?"

• Judgment: How good are you at making quick decisions? A sample question evaluating this may be, "Describe a situation in which you've had to make a big decision. How did you come to your decision, and what were the results?"

Here are some well-received questions you can ask the Microsoft interviewer:

• How does the role impact the mission of the business as a whole?

• What are the qualities in the candidate that would make them successful in this role and at this organization?

The interviews for technical positions at Microsoft tend to focus on testing the analytical, problem-solving, and technical skills of the candidate. The hiring process for technical positions has a median length of 32 days. It requires job-specific assessments to be completed in advance of the standard phone screen or technical interviews.

The CoCube or online coding round consists of five to six competitive coding questions with a time limit of one hour to 90 minutes. Questions deal with the subjects of arrays, string, single-linked list, double-linked list, and other concepts that an employee may encounter in a technical role at Microsoft.

For developer or engineer roles, the phone screen is slightly longer (45 minutes), and consists of technical questions about data structures and algorithms. One coding question will be administered through a shared editor, and you will have 30 minutes to develop a solution, similar to a remote whiteboard exercise.

While C# is Microsoft's proprietary programming language for the Windows.NET framework, developers aren't required to know any specific language.

An applicant should be well-versed in the domains of competitive coding, data structure and algorithms to clear the round. A few sample problems that may appear on the test are:

• Implementation of Deep Copy

• k most frequent words from a file

• k (or most frequent) numbers in a stream

The subsequent technical rounds consist of face-to-face interviews. Questions asked are generally taken from projects, internships, and training in the applicant's work background and in the Microsoft CV. An applicant should understand subjects like data structure, algorithms, operating systems, networking, and database management.

The final technical round consists of a system designing project, where questions regarding various domains are asked, such as Cloud Computing, Microsoft Azure, Dropbox, and various other Microsoft-driven engines.

Following this, a successful applicant interviews with HR, answering questions such as:

• Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years, 15 years and 25 years?

• What is your family background?

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?

• Questions specific to the applicant's CV