Read Part One: How to prepare and what to expect here.
Read Part Two: The anatomy of the big day here.

Based on some of the comments we’ve seen, as well as your prior questions to the JobsBloggers, I suspect this may be one of the more popular segments in the three part series. I’ve tried to think of the various things I bring up when preparing candidates for the interview at Microsoft. If there are other things you’re curious about, please ask in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them.
 
Nerves
Interviewing can be nerve wracking. I’ll share with you some insight I received on being nervous from a facilitation training program I’ve taken. “You’ll either be nervous, or you won’t.” To expand on that, if you’re nervous during an interview, that’s ok! It’s expected even. I find that beating myself up for being nervous, or trying not to be nervous, makes it worse.  If you notice you’re nervous…  great… notice it and move on. You can answer questions, and be nervous at the same time. If you start to worry about being nervous, instead of focusing on what the interviewer is asking, things could go downhill. So remember… you’ll either be nervous, or you won’t.

Listen
I’ll be the first to admit I can be a frequent interrupter. I’m much better than I used to be, but sometimes I get so excited by an idea I have or an answer to a question that I cut off the person I’m speaking with in order to share what I’m thinking. In such an instance, you should do your best to reel it in.
 
As an interviewer, it’s extremely frustrating to be interviewing a candidate who answers a question before you’re done asking it. Not only am I now irritated that you’ve cut me off, but you’re likely going to give me an answer I didn’t ask for.
 
One thing I’ve done when interviewing, or am in a meeting, etc., is if I think of something I want to add or a question – I jot it down and save it for when it’s my turn to talk.
 
Be careful not to assume you know everything already. I’ve had a candidate interrupt just about everything I was saying as I was preparing him to interview here. He came across as impatient and that he felt I had nothing to offer him. It didn’t leave me with a good impression. Even if you do know it all, try not to let it show.
 
Ambiguity
A key quality we look for in all of our positions, regardless of discipline is the ability to manage ambiguity.
 
I’m going to use our engineering disciplines as an example. One of the ways we will investigate your skill in this area is to give you a coding or testing problem that may seem obvious how to proceed, but upon further investigation, the answer may be far from what you thought.
 
A testing question could be, “How would you test a soda machine?” While it’s certainly easy to come up with several test cases by making assumptions, you don’t have the information you need to effectively answer the question. What do I mean? Some questions you might ask before providing test cases are:

• What country is the machine going to be used in?
• Does it dispense cans or bottles?
• Does the machine accept credit cards?
• Does the machine accept cell phone payments?
• Does it have buttons or a touch screen? 

It’s critical that you gather all the necessary information before you start listing out test cases for an interviewer. Failure to do so will almost always result in an incorrect assumption about what you’re testing.
 
Another example of managing ambiguity could be in the form of a coding or development question. If you were asked, “How would you develop a survey for employees in a company?” some of the questions you might ask could be:

• How many employees are in the company?
• Are all the employees participating?
• Will this be online or via email or other technology?
• Could this survey, or a similar survey, be used again in the future?
• Are there multiple answers to the questions?

If you jump in to your solution, you may describe an online survey that is valid, but is not what the interviewer is looking for.
 
The ability to gather requirements and understand the problem is critical in all of our positions. In marketing, you want to have as much details on the audience or product as possible. When you’re asked a, “how would you…?”  type question, pause and ask yourself if you have all the information you need.
 
Who’s right?
There are often many ways to solve a problem – and sometimes there may be more than one optimal solution. This scenario will often come up around coding problems, either a verbal walk through, or coding on the whiteboard, but could come up in other scenario-based questions as well.  I’m mentioning this because as you start to think of a solution for a problem you’ve been presented with in an interview, it could be a valid solution, but it may not be the one the interviewer is looking for.
 
Bear in mind, that the interviewer likely believes they have the ideal answer for the problem they gave you. As you read through the rest of this section, consider the interviewer is looking for you to come up with their ideal answer – any hints or suggestions you get while you’re coding, are likely to assist you in arriving at their solution. I’ve had more than one candidate tell me the interviewer’s answer wasn’t the best – theirs was. This can be a fine line in an interview.
 
It’s important that you express your ideas and thoughts throughout the interview, but there comes a time when it may be wise to give your opinion that your answer is better than what they’re looking for, and give them the answer they want to hear.
 
I’ve had candidates argue with interviewers that their answer was the right one – and those candidates are not often hired. As you might imagine, someone who goes at a problem this way, can raise a number of concerns such as the ability to work with others, ability to listen to others’ points of views, ability to learn and receive feedback, etc.
 
What I tell candidates is if you find yourself in that situation – do bring up your thoughts, but do so in a way that fosters conversation. You could say something like, “I hear what you’re saying, and the reason I was going at this way is X…” and back it up with why you think your way is ideal. This gives the interviewer an opportunity to consider your solution by understanding your reasoning. If they still are prompting you to go another direction in your solution… ask yourself, would you rather be right about your idea, or would you rather do well in the interview?
 
Coding on the whiteboard
For you technical folks, if you’re interviewing for a SDE or SDET role, and sometimes a PM or other roles, you will need to be able to code on the whiteboard. This can be pretty intimidating for a lot of people. If you’re positive you will be unable to come up with a good solution on a whiteboard, ask if you can use a piece of paper instead.
 
Of course, the first thing you do when given a coding problem is to gather all of the requirements and make sure you’ve not made any assumptions.  Before you start coding, let the interviewer know how you’re going to approach the problem and what language you’re going to use. Generally, the preferred language is C#, but most interviewers will let you use the language with which you’re most comfortable.
 
When you start writing your code, talk your way through it. I suggest this for a couple reasons. As you’re talking your way through the code, you may hear yourself make a mistake or realize there may be a better solution to the problem. You’re not expected to get it perfect on the first pass, just mention that you’ve caught a mistake or have thought of a different approach, and make any changes as necessary.
 
Secondly, as I mentioned before, your interviewer probably has a particular solution in mind to the problem they gave you. If, as you’re describing your code as you go, the interviewer may hear you heading towards a solution that would work, but may not be the one they’re looking for. If that’s the case, because you’re talking as you go, they have the opportunity to steer you another direction.
 
An interviewer’s attempt to guide you to a different answer can sound a couple different ways. It may be a straight-out suggestion like, “Try using an array instead of a Linked List.” It could be a question like, “What happens if your code uses a null value?” If it’s a question like this, it likely means that if your code uses a null value, it will break. Take some time to go back through your code and check. A hint could also be, “Tell me why you’re doing it that way?” Perhaps you’ve come up with a great solution and the interviewer wants to hear more about what you’re thinking, or perhaps the interviewer is confused by your approach and wants to understand your reasoning so they can help point you in the right direction.
 
Receiving feedback and criticism can be hard enough in your regular life. With the added pressure of an interview, such feedback can be even more difficult. Remember that a suggestion or criticism is often just a hint. Don’t think, “I just failed the interview!” Don’t do that! A hint is just that, a hint.
 
Be curious
I touched on this in one of my earlier posts, but it’s important to show a passion for technology and be curious about the position and group for which you’re interviewing. Do your homework – know about the product and show up with questions that will give you some insight in to the position and the group.
 
Additional Resources
Here are some additional resources I’ve recommended to candidates in the past.
 
Add some pow to your resume
This is an article I wrote for JobsBlog. It talks about your resume – but it will give you an idea of how to think of what you’ve done in past positions that you will want to call out during an interview.
 
Workplace Coach: Interview 101
This has some good general interview tips.
 
Top 10 Interview Blunders
How not to interview on about.com.
 
Behavioral Based Interviewing
I guarantee you’ll get some of these questions – take a look to find out more about them.
 
Phone Interview Tips
While focused on phone interviews, also has some helpful information.
 
Programming Interviews Exposed
For those of you wanting sample questions our interviewers ask here at Microsoft, while this will likely not have the exact questions – it will give you some good sample ones to practice with.
 
The Seven Deadly Sins of Interviewing
This is one of my favorite sites – it has some extreme cases of interview mistakes, but has some valuable information as well.
 
Bing
Do some of your own research! I’ve found in the past articles of current and former Microsoft employees offering their thoughts on our interviews, as well as blog posts of people’s experience interviewing here as well.
 
I hope you’ve found this three part series helpful and look forward to seeing your comments!

–Ryan

‘Softie in question: RJ Naugle

Job title: Senior PM Lead, Risk Reduction Team.

I'm also the co-lead of Microsoft's Military Veteran Outreach and Recruiting Program – "We Still Serve."

Did you join the military before or after college?
I graduated from Western Michigan University in '03. 9/11 had obviously happened in the meantime. I come from a military family and am very patriotic. I had a good job offer on the table with a subsidiary of GM, but I decided to enlist in the army in order to serve my country.

I started as a supply specialist and then volunteered to go to airborne school and become an airborne paratrooper. I was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, with 1st Special Forces Group, Airborne. That's where I met my wife. She’s a helicopter pilot. So - as the joke goes - she flies ‘em and I jump out of ‘em.

I later became an officer. We moved to Maryland and Kentucky where I worked as a civilian during the day, building quality assurance and process improvement systems, and was an active reservist in the 63rd Theater Aviation Brigade.

I understand that the transition from military to civilian life and career can be quite difficult. Tell me about the process for you.
I was offered to go to flight school to become a pilot, but I would have had to stay in Kentucky. My wife is from Washington State and we had always planned to move back here. I started putting out my feelers to Microsoft and other companies in the Seattle area. I networked with a few veterans who could help me transition into the civilian sector, but there were no official veteran services here at Microsoft.

As for leaving the military: it is tough to give up something that you are so passionate about, especially your sense of service. Now, I fulfill that sense of service by helping to facilitate a smoother transition for other military veterans.

How did you get involved in that process?
I engaged some folks who had started an affinity group for veterans here at Microsoft. It’s called “The Microsoft Military Community,” focused on the support of our 500 plus members and committed to developing programs like the US Military Veteran Outreach and Recruiting Program – “We Still Serve”. 

What are some of the things that you’re doing for veterans inside and outside of Microsoft?
“We Still Serve” is designed to support and assist transitioning veterans through the Microsoft recruiting process. We connect them with other veterans at Microsoft who act as advisors and can communicate what it means to be a Program Manager, Software Developer, etc. at Microsoft in correlation to military skills and specialties.

We also sponsor veteran holiday events for Wounded Warriors  and foster partnerships with the USO, United Way and other non-profit organizations committed to helping veterans. 

Links:
Visit our site at: www.westillserve.com
Join our community at: http://westillserve.ning.com/

Watch video about Microsoft and the military below:

Find more videos like this on We Still Serve
 

Last Friday at NCCE Seattle we announced that our next homepage photo contest will kickoff on March 29 and this time there’s a twist. We’re asking students in the United States to submit photos to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the winning photo will be displayed on the Bing homepage on April 22, Earth Day itself!

In addition to the grand prize winner seeing their photo on Bing.com, we’ve pulled together some great prizes for both students and their schools.

Winners across the four age groups (ages 5-10, 11-13, 14-17 and 18+) will win a trip for two to the Microsoft Campus to take part in a Bing editorial team meeting where we pick images for future homepages. Additionally, each winner will receive equipment from HP and Canon to help build digital photo resources at their school. Prizes for individual winners and their schools across the four age groups will total over $70,000.

· 1st place prizes: Individuals receive an HP Pavilion desktop and monitor and a “Digital Photo Lab” for their school.

· 2nd place prizes: Individuals receive an HP Pavilion desktop and monitor and a “Digital Photo Kit” for their school.

· 3rd place prizes: Individuals receive an HP Pavilion desktop and monitor and a “Digital Photo Starter Set” for their school.

And here’s the “everyone wins” part. There’s a great opportunity to help other classrooms in need during the voting stage from April 13th to the 19th. Bing will give a $5.00 GivingCard for DonorsChoose.org to the first 20,000 people who vote each day. Voters can then decide what classroom projects (like math, science, art, reading) will benefit from Bing’s donation. If you do the math, we’re talking up to $100,000 a day to help schools across the country. Each day you can return to the site to cast another vote and have an opportunity to pick up another GivingCard.

Bing helps students explore the world with our rich homepage imagery every day, so we’re excited to see what the country’s students think we might all want to discover.

To find out more about the contest, including the submission and voting process and prizes for the finalists, visit http://earthdayphotocontest.com/. Teachers will be able to order free posters for their classrooms in the coming days, as well as take advantage of other contest resources on the site.

Liz Tassey Gerber, Bing

Read Part One: How to prepare and what to expect here.

Now that you’re prepped and rested, you’re ready for the big day!

First thing’s first
Not to sound like your mother, but  – even if you’re not a breakfast person (like me) – make sure to eat something before you start your day. You will likely have a chance to refuel at a lunch interview, but it’s important to be at your best during the morning sessions. Being hungry and anxious for lunchtime can distract you from your interviews and affect your performance.

For all you coffee drinkers (myself included), be mindful about how much caffeine you have. I find that if I need to do a presentation or something similar, the more coffee I have – the more anxious I get, and it impacts my confidence level.

Transportation & arrival
For those of you who haven’t visited the Puget Sound area and aren’t familiar with our campuses here… we have a few. There are over 40,000 employees in over 100 buildings in four cities. Our Redmond campus is the largest and, even for me, can sometimes be difficult to navigate (I heart my Garmin). Fear not, however. Your interview scheduler will send you a link to Bing Maps for you to plan your route.
 
For those of you interviewing in Redmond, your interview day will probably start in our recruiting building. Please plan to arrive 30 minutes ahead of time to account for traffic, getting lost and checking in with reception. If you are early – we have a new candidate experience lobby for you to explore while you wait for your interview time to roll around. Be sure to get your picture taken and tell us about yourself on the HP computers… You’ll end up as part of a video mural on our wall!

Meet your recruiter
Your recruiter will come down to get you and take you to their office or one of our many focus rooms for your first interview. Each of us recruiters is a bit different in our approach, so not every candidate will end up with the same experience.

I’ve typically had phone interviews with my candidates before a decision is made to bring them in to interview. That being the case, I only ask a few questions of my candidates. The rest of the time, I walk candidates through their schedule, explain what to expect from the day, discuss compensation and benefits and answer their questions. Before I end the interview, I schedule a call with candidates one to two days after the interview to go over feedback.

Where to go
Most interviews take place in only two buildings: the recruiting building and the site of the group with which you are interviewing. You won’t have to worry about trying to find your way though. We have a shuttle service on campus to get you from place to place. Your recruiter will fill you in on how to use them.
   
As you ride in the shuttle on your way to your next interview, take the time to gather your thoughts, review your resume and your talking points, jot down some questions you want to ask the group, etc. When you arrive, let the receptionist know you’re there to meet with your interviewer and relax.

Let the fun begin
When your interviewer comes down to get you for your interview, bear in mind that they don’t interview people as often as your recruiter. If you need something to drink (we have a variety of beverages available in all our kitchens), or need to hit the restroom – don’t be shy: ASK! They might not think to offer. This applies to both on your way to your interviews and on the way back to the lobby in between interviews. The reason I mention this is that unlike our recruiting lobby, most of our buildings do not have access to restrooms or refreshments unless you have a badge (access card).

In between each interview, you will be taken back to the lobby where you will have five or ten minutes until your next interview – unless you need to travel to another building, in which case your schedule will give you 15–30 minutes of travel time. Our interviewers understand it is a long day and they want you to be able to be at your best. If you find you need a bit longer of a break, please ask.

I’ll tell on myself here. I’m a diabetic and during one of my interviews (either for the position I have now, or my contract role, I don’t remember), my sugar started to drop. It’s an odd feeling… imagine having consumed 10 cups of coffee. The person I was meeting with was one of the big decision makers and, as I was on a roll, I didn’t want to jinx anything so I kept going. I made it through the interview, grabbed a soda, and headed on my way home. I immediate begin to develop concerns that my low blood sugar came across as being nervous or anxious and that I might not have won him over. Obviously, I got the job, but if I had it to do over again, a simple, “I’m so sorry, do you mind if I grab a soda. My sugar’s a little low,” would not have impacted the situation or influenced his decision. Not to mention save me some of the stress I experienced while waiting to find out if I got the job. Moral of the story – if you need something: ask.

On some occasions, due to scheduling issues, you can have up to an hour break in between your interviews. While this can extend your day, it can be a welcome break for you and a chance to reflect on your prior interviews. When assessing your performance, look back and see which questions (or coding problems, for technical folks) you could have answered better. Interviewers share feedback with their peers and, often times, if you didn’t hit the nail on the head the first go around, another interviewer may ask you a similar question. Showing that you are self-aware and can have a new answer/solution to the question/problem can go a long way when the team makes a hiring decision.

Lunch
As I mentioned in my prior post, you will likely get lunch. The lunch interview can be a bit more casual and relaxed than your other interviews. Additionally, it tends to be longer – usually 90 minutes, though sometimes it will only be an hour. Your interviewer will take you to one of our 39 cafes. There are a variety of food choices and local restaurant choices available in each of our cafes. We offer Vietnamese, Indian, Mexican, Italian, Egyptian, Chinese food and more throughout all of their locations (choices vary by location). All of the cafes tend to have a grill (burgers, etc), salad bar, sandwich bar, pizza bar, soups, entrée bar, and an espresso stand serving Starbucks© Coffee. It is cafeteria style, so if you’re like me, make a full loop around the café and see what looks the best before making a choice. Once you load up your tray, find your interviewer so they can pay for your lunch. Grab a free soda out of the coolers and head off to find a table.

Most interviewers will primarily talk about their team, projects, technologies, etc. for the first half hour or so. This gives you time to eat without having to worry about answering a lot of questions in between bites. Now, I will give a disclaimer and say, again, most interviewers do this. If you get one that dives right into some tough questions, do your best! One strategy you could try is to ask a very vague, open ended question so they do the talking and you can start shoveling in that food.

After you’re done eating, expect the intensity to increase a bit as they will dig in with some of the tougher interview questions. Some interviewers will even take you back to their office for additional questions if they have time to do so.

How long will the day last?
I know that some people have asked, “Is it true the longer the interview day goes, the better I am doing?” In the words of our Legal and Corporate Affairs attorneys, “It depends.” There are several reasons that can impact how long your day goes, including some of the following:

•    They may decide you’d be a better fit on a different team or in a different job discipline and bring in other interviewers.
•    You’re doing well and they want you to meet with more senior members of the team.
•    There are contrasting opinions for the interviewers you’ve met with and they’re looking for others to give their opinions as well.
•    You may have demonstrated an unanticipated strength in an area someone on the loop is not familiar with, so they may add someone who is.

And, yes, if the team decides you’re not a good fit, your interview day may tie up after a few interviews. However, there are other reasons this could happen such as scheduling issues with people on the team or an urgent problem that requires the team’s attention. In some cases, we may have to reschedule some of your interviews for another day.
 
I want to stress that a decision not to move forward with a hire is not necessarily a bad thing. As I mentioned previously, I did not get hired after my first interview. And frankly, I’m glad I didn’t... for a couple reasons. I learned a lot about what it was like to go through an interview here, and was able to better prepare for my next interview. Secondly, after a person was hired in the role I didn’t get, and I saw what she ended up doing – I realized I wasn’t as qualified as I thought I was and likely would have struggled in the role. I’m much more successful in the role I have today, and, as I’ve grown, I’ve been able to take on some projects and responsibilities that role has – but at a pace where I can be set up for success.

The conclusion
When you are finished for the day, your last interviewer will let you know that you are free to go. Hop in a shuttle and return to the recruiting building. You will not need to meet with your recruiter – just find your car and head on your way. Whether you’re off to the airport, a hotel, or home, treat yourself to a great dinner – you’ve earned it.

Now comes the worst part, at least it is has been for me: the wait. Depending on the number of candidates being considered for the position, it can take anywhere from a day to two weeks before you hear anything. Give your recruiter at least two days before you check in – frequently, we need to talk with the hiring manager who is often waiting to circle back with all of your interviewers.

As I mentioned, I schedule calls with my candidates to go over feedback one to two days after their interviews. Even if I don’t have a final decision, I like to at least touch base and try to set expectations as to when I might have a definitive answer. I’d encourage you to make a point of asking your recruiter to setup a similar call if they don’t offer. If I don’t have a final decision the day of my follow-up call, I like to use email to keep people updated and do my best to call you once I know the final decision. There have been times I’ve emailed people when I had a decision and didn’t have the time to call. I suspect that most of peers work the same way.

I understand that some of you are, no doubt, curious about what kinds of questions are asked during the interviews and what hints, tips or suggestions may be available. Well, you’re just going to have to wait for Part Three! Look for it on JobsBlog late next week.

–Ryan

Try a new approach to finding out more about a company and their open positions with... online career events. Regardless of if the event is with Microsoft, other companies or hosted by a third-party recruiting company, online career events are a great way to network and find out more about open opportunities. 

If you are in the job market, it is worth checking out these events since a company will likely host or participate only if they have a larger number of openings within a team or across their company. Online events are still limited in frequency since employers are trying to see if the events a good way to reach talent – but they are definitely gaining in popularity. 

To find an online career event – try the following:

• Visit the specific company’s career site – sometimes these are advertised directly on the site.
• Join the community that the company has created across various social media sites such as Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter/etc. We often use these sites as a medium to advertise.
• Read recruiting blogs maintained by the company (obviously, you have already found this site, which is a great start).

On that note, I want to quickly share with you the following: 

Microsoft Services will be hosting an international career event on March 8th. The Services group encompasses the consulting, technical support and customer service teams who help customers and partners discover and implement high-value Microsoft solutions that generate rapid, meaningful and measurable results.

To find out more on this event, Microsoft Services opportunities internationally (positions outside of the US) and to participate in online chats and webcasts with Microsoft representatives, click here. 

For those that do participate, let us know your thoughts on the event!

-Anne