I got an interview through an employee referral through email introductions. I met up with the hiring manager in person instead of doing a phone screening to learn more about the team and what they were looking for and got an onsite interview. A typical designer's interview process consists of: - 60 min presentation - 60 min design challenge white boarding - 60 min lunch interview - 60 min each 4-6 1:1 interview The presentation is fairly easy if you have work to show. I showed 3 works and in depth talking about the problems, my design process and the challengers I faced and how I overcame them and the results of the project. At the end people we ask questions and mainly for clarifications. I made sure I put effort into the look of my presentation and added some personal touches to it such as photos and talked a bit about myself so they can relate to me. The design challenge I thought was strange. They gave me a sheet or requirements and they stressed they were looking at how "creative" I was. Keyword here. I couldn't really ask questions before hand regarding the challenge because it took me a while to read (1 page) and left me alone for 60 mins so you have to state your assumptions and make your case clear and walk through your design. I was asked to design a calendar with XYZ requirements. After 60 mins they (I had about 5-6 ppl) will come in and ask a lot of questions and a lot of "what ifs". Unfortunately I know my solution wasn't as "creative" as they would've wanted because it isn't the way I solve problems (especially in a vacuum with no collaboration and under pressure). They really wanted someone who was innovative even though I knew the role I applied for required someone who could balance all the requirements which I believe I did according to the sheet. I really enjoyed our discussion and bantering afterwards and made me solve the problem in a different way but in reality I know I wouldn't have solved it that way because I like designing things that I know is shippable and maintainable in the long term while achieving business, technical and user goals. It really helps being collaborative (if they had allowed it in the beginning..). If you're an out of the box thinking you may do well. They wanted to see more breath than depth and more conceptual ideas than actually getting the job done (which I am better at). After that I had lunch with the hiring manager, he was really digging into why Microsoft and why this team, why did you leave your last company etc. and asking really tough questions. He really wanted to extract as much red flags as he could from me. I felt like I was being set up for failure during that interview. I could tell he already didn't feel I was a good fit and was looking for not design skills but more of the soft skills of dealing with difficult people and influencing them. After lunch I was told I wasn't senior enough for the role but I should try other roles and that was the end of my interview loops. Throughout the whole interview process, they were very nice and clear to me what they wanted to see and really wanted me to succeed and was very obvious what answers they wanted out from me, unfortunately I didn't go that route because I also wanted to make sure I wasn't saying things just to please them in order to get the job, I chose to respond as honestly as I could because I also wanted to make sure Microsoft and the team was a good fit for me. At the end I believe Microsoft wasn't a good fit for me and this has been a positive experience.