I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Microsoft (Seattle, WA) in Aug 2023
Interview
The first phone interview focused heavily on behavioural questions, I think I only got one Product-focused question at this stage. The onsite interview was quite interesting, I didn't get any estimate questions which was surprising and quite disappointing because I spent a lot of time practising those. The onsite interviews were a mixed experience. I had four onsite interviews, all with different people. Some of the interviewers were nice and tried to make it more conversational, others were pretty straight to the point.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How will you explain what an OS is to your grandmother? Design a microwave for college students How does DNS work? Why do you want to do Product at Microsoft? Some of the resources I used were Microsoft Annual Report, Microsoft Strategy tear down by CB Insights, Microsoft Mission and Vision by Panmore Institute, Wikipedia Article on Interviewing at Microsoft. These resources gave me a firm understanding of the company on a micro and macro level. It also allowed me to align a lot of my answers to what Microsoft will expect. Product Alliance’s Flagship Microsoft course. This is like a cheat sheet because it shows you everything that may happen during the interview, and gives you a framework for answering a lot of the questions. It was a particularly great investment because it streamlined my efforts. I used Blind and Glassdoor extensively to read about the experience of the people there right now.
2 week after applying online the recruiter called, we set up a phone screen, after that completed a 3x back to back interview with an hour break in between. Not too bad overall and very manageable
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a difficult stakeholder and how you handled the situation
Interviewed at Microsoft but I did not get an offer. Team was nice and there were free drinks and some snacks on site which was a plus. I would love to apply and interview again!
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA)
Interview
Typical behavioral interview process. STAR format style interview questions. Why do you want to work at Microsoft, tell me about a time questions, greatest strengths, greatest weaknesses. Consisted of a recruiter screening, and three back to back interviews with senior and principal PMs.
Product Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Microsoft with 3.2 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 60% positive. To compare, the company-average is 66.4% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Product Manager roles take an average of 28 days to get hired, when considering 264 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Microsoft overall takes an average of 30 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Microsoft as a Product Manager according to 264 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 32%
Phone interview: 23%
Skills test: 11%
Group panel interview: 7%
Background check: 7%
Presentation: 6%
Personality test: 6%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Drug test: 3%
Other: 2%
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