Interview tips for all roles 

Don't stop at understanding the position you’re interviewing for. You should understand what's happening in the tech industry, what Microsoft is doing well, and how we can make ourselves stand out from the competition. Make sure to prepare questions to ask during your interview. This is also a chance for you to make sure that the opportunity is what you are looking for.

The interviews will include competency-based questions, as well as questions about your resume. Keep the core competencies in mind. Think of examples you can share or incorporate into your conversation. These are our core competencies: 
 

• Collaboration. Communicating effectively within the team and across teams.

• Drive for results. Working tenaciously to deliver on commitments, constantly seeking bigger challenges, holding yourself and others accountable.

• Customer focus. Our mission at Microsoft is to empower every person and every organization to achieve more. 

• Influencing for impact. Successfully persuading and influencing others with effective communication.

• Judgment. Effectively scoping complex problems and using business acumen to make knowledge-based decisions.

• Adaptability. Ability to deal with ambiguous and uncertain situations or problems with agility.

At Microsoft, we believe that living our culture is key to achieving our mission. Selecting people who have the right skills and mindset is important, not only for the company we are today, but also for the company we aspire to be.  
 
Our growth-mindset culture is designed to drive innovation and collaboration. Being a learn-it-all instead of a know-it-all fosters curiosity and prompts us to be inclusive and seek new and diverse perspectives.  
 
For our interview process, we focus on these key aspects of our culture: 
 

• Growth mindset. True learners who can acquire new skills rapidly and connect with others to help bring big ideas to life.

• Diverse and inclusive. Being open to learning about your own biases and changing behaviors accordingly. Value differences, seek them out, and invite them in. 

• One Microsoft. Actively seeks collaboration with others and looks for common ground across differences, contributes to and builds on success of others, and prioritizes for customer and team within their role. 

• Customer obsession. The ability to learn about customers' perspectives, show empathy to their experiences, and incorporate these insights into their decisions and deliverables.

• Values. When we come together, we treat each other with respect, we act with integrity, and we are accountable to one another for our words and actions.

• Manager expectations. Our managers help bring our culture to life. As they model, coach, and care, they help reinforce our culture and create an environment where everyone can do their best work.

 
Learn more about Microsoft culture

We encourage you to have a vision beyond the role you’re applying for. At Microsoft, you can build a career across a variety of teams and disciplines. Go to Microsoft Life to learn more about how Microsoft has helped employees make a difference in their lives, communities, and careers.

We value authenticity and unique perspectives. We invite you to come as you are. So, you don’t need to dress up to impress us. Wear whatever makes you most comfortable.

We want to see not only what you know, but also how you think. Be prepared to share your thought process and explain the rationale behind your decisions. When asked to solve a problem or develop code, ask clarifying questions, state your assumptions, and be prepared to share your opinions or explain your choices. 
 

Throughout the assessment process, we aspire to assess fundamental knowledge, capability, and learning potential. We don’t expect you to know everything. When you get stuck or don’t have experience with the subject matter, we encourage you to ask clarifying questions that show your integrity, collaboration, and ability to be resourceful.

We recommend you use the STAR(R) model when answering questions. This will help you create clarity and structure your response. 

• Situation

• Task

• Action 

• Result

• Reflection

At the end of the interview process, ask the hiring manager or recruiter when you can expect to hear back about the next steps or the hiring decision.

Your recruiter will follow up with you about the outcome of your interviews as soon as a hiring decision is made. Feel free to send a thank you email to the recruiter, who will forward it to the hiring manager and interviewers.

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