Preparing for an interview with Microsoft is daunting. However, understanding the questions they will probably ask you during the interview can ease your worries. Review the following 20 questions and answers to help you get prepared and increase your chance of getting your dream job.
1. Why Do You Want To Work For Microsoft?
This question is asked in an interview with Microsoft to help the hiring team understand what draws you to the company versus their competitors. As you respond to this question, demonstrate your passion for the role as well as the working culture of the company.
Sample Answer
“ Ever since I was young, I have always wanted to be part of Microsoft company. I love how Microsoft fosters collaboration and teamwork to come up with the best products on the market. I believe that given a chance, I can utilize my skills in making the company achieve its goal. Also, working with like-minded people like your employee will provide me an opportunity to grow in this field.”
2. Describe Your Experience
This is a common question asked by the hiring manager to determine if your past experience relates to the needs of the company. To better answer, this question, provide a summary of your work history and match it with the job posting.
Sample Answer
“I have been working in a similar position for six years now. During this period, I have gained a lot of skills, expertise, and knowledge in Constructing data structure and algorithms; exploring innovative technical solutions; testing and debugging code; writing quality code; examining feature feasibility as well as estimating development time; contributing to feature definition and design, and working with a team to meet deadlines. Additionally, I have also developed strong skills in creativity and innovation; C/C++/C#; passion for writing code; complex problem solving; broad knowledge of computer science fundamentals; drive for results; and the ability to think outside the box. Should you hire me for this role, I will use the experience, skills, and expertise I have gained over the years to make a success in this role.”
3. What Are Some Of Unique Qualities Do You Have That Can Help You Thrive In This Role?
Here, the interviewer wants to get your well-rounded profile to determine whether you are the best match for the role. Having in mind that your interviewer is looking for character representations, highlight a quality that will be helpful to the role at hand.
Sample Answer
“I have strong communication and interpersonal skills. Over the years, I have learned that communication is key to coexisting productively and peacefully. My strong communication skills have made me an effective employee and a team player. Besides, I am a problem solver, critical thinker, hardworking, and result-oriented professional who can work effectively as an individual and as a team with minimal or no supervision. I believe in meeting deadlines as well as offering the best service to the end-user.”
4. Kindly Describe Your Accomplishments.
This is a common question that helps the interviewer to assess your accomplishment and qualification. Bearing in mind that Microsoft seeks top-notch candidates with the most impressive accomplishment, use your response to highlight your strengths in relation to the role at hand.
Sample Answer
“My greatest achievement took place in my previous role as an application developer. Having worked for two years, I was tasked with leading a project developing a fitness app. This app led to the growth of the company as well as its revenue such that it became one of the topmost successful applications the company has ever developed. This was a great accomplishment for me not only for the application’s success but also for the fact that it was my first time to lead a team.”
5. Tell Me About A Long-Term Project You Have Ever Managed.
This question is asked by the hiring manager to understand your management style, self-awareness, and past work experience. The best way for responding to this question is to narrow down your leadership details to the most relevant information.
Sample Answer
“I began working as an associate but I managed to climb way up to a project manager position. One of the successful projects I managed was of an upcoming clothing brand. I was leading a team of 10 to design a marketing strategy. For three years, we worked with clothing to create a wildly successful brand that saw profits in the millions. I believe that open communication on our team is what led to the success of this project. That is why in every project I lead, I bring the mindset of collaboration with my team.”
6. Have You Tried Something, But Failed?
Here, the employer wants to see how you handle a discussion regarding your failures and mistakes. Share one of your shortcomings and try to bring it back around to how the experience helped you to improve your overall performance.
Sample Answer
“After graduating from college, two of my classmates and brought in our ideas together and we decided to develop a fashion suggestion software app. However, we thought that this opportunity would grow by itself and we ended up relaxing. Within a year, this project had failed. From this experience, I got valuable insights into what it means to succeed and how to arrive at success.”
7. Microsoft Is An Innovative Company And Seeks Innovative Employees. What Is The Best Idea You’ve Had In The Past Year?
By asking this question, the hiring team seeks to understand whether your creativity is important to their values. Ensure that the idea you provide is relevant to the role you are seeking.
Sample Answer
“My best idea this year was offering the marketing team I was leading an extended schedule and flexible benefits to help improve productivity as well as motivation. I allowed them to work from home for two days a week. I believe that for a company to achieve high productivity from its employees, then, it must offer a comfortable and flexible schedule to them. I consider it as the best idea since it led to the increase of the company’s profit by 7%.”
8. Have You Dealt With A Conflict At Work In Your Last Role?
By asking this question, the Microsoft interviewer is assessing how you will handle discussing a difficult topic such as conflict. The interviewer will also understand your conflict management skills. Discuss a real conflict you have experienced at work, how you dealt with it, and demonstrate how everything ended in a positive resolution.
Sample Answer
“ Yes, In my previous position. I had a supervisor who would micromanage the team. This was interfering with my productivity since I thrive in a collaborative environment which was I was lacking. I am a person who produces best when given the freedom to do so. Since I found this an issue, I decided to discuss it with the supervisor. Though I was fearing for the outcome of the meeting, I prepared what to say in that discussion. The meeting went on well and my relationship with the supervisor improved due to my open communication.”
9. How Do You Keep Maintain And Update Your Skills?
Having in mind that technology keeps changing, the interviewer asks this question to get a grasp of the efforts you are putting in to keep yourself up to date with the relevant skills.
The best strategy for answering this question is to illustrate your system for learning current techniques in your field and why you believe it works.
Sample Answer
“I believe that it is imperative to remain updated with the latest development including new and available resources in this field. Having this in mind, after every six months, I enroll in an online course that is relevant to my role so as to enhance my skills. I like using these courses since it is flexible to learn them online.”
10. How Do You Build And Maintain Functional Relationships With Colleagues Working In Other Locations?
Microsoft recruiter asks this question to find out whether you can effectively and easily coordinate with colleagues including those that are far. In your response, demonstrate your teamwork, interpersonal, and leadership skills.
Sample Answer
“I believe that communication is very important to building and maintaining professional relationships especially if one is working with colleagues from a different location. To effectively communicate with my colleagues, I connect with them through different platforms. I make use of collaboration software to engage with coworkers especially through sharing documents, having an off-the-cuff discussion, etc.”
11. Which Of The Microsoft Products Do You Like?
The hiring team asks this question to assess whether you are familiar with their services. Find one example of a service they provide as well as one that will offer you an opportunity to detail your skills.
Sample Answer
“My favorite Microsoft product is OneDrive. As a prior freelancer in software development, I needed business organization. OneDrive enabled me to easily collaborate with contract employers, improve my productivity, and create the best work possible. I wouldn’t use any other software to handle freelance team projects.”
12. Briefly Explain Ways You Would Protect a Windows Computer
The interviewer wants to know whether you know how to safeguard a windows computer against hackers and malware. Mention at least two or three safety measures you would apply.
Sample Answer
“I would update the machine to the latest Windows version and also set the operating system to update automatically whenever there are new updates. I would make sure to encrypt critical information, and create a local account and ensure to use it unless when administrative operations demand that I use the admin account. I would also enable system restore so that Windows can revert to a previous state when a problem that demands such an operation arises. Other ways include using Windows defender security, enabling Windows firewall, and installing an antivirus and ensuring it stays up to date. “
13. What’s Rich Text Format?
This is another technical question testing your background knowledge in this industry. To answer this question, define what Rich text format is.
Sample Answer
“Rich Text Format (RTF) is a file format that allows you to exchange text files and graphics between different word processors in different operating systems. For instance, you can create a file using Ms. Word in a certain window say like windows 98, save it as rich text format and send it to another user who is using a different platform such as WordPerfect 6.0 on Windows 3.1, and he or she will open the file and read it as it is.”
14. What’s A Template?
Here is another technical question gauging your knowledge on different terms used in this field. Having received training in this field, you should easily define the term to demonstrate your expertise.
Sample Answer
“A template can be referred to as a skeleton or a foundation document. It is a document with guides that are used in creating something. For example, a research paper template may emphasize the needed styles such as boilerplate text, prebuilt headers, and footers, etc. A researcher may choose to use the template as a foundation on which he or she can develop the actual research paper.”
15. What’s An “include” File?
The recruiter wants to test your knowledge on different files used to keep information in this industry. To answer this question, go ahead and explain what an include file is.
Sample Answer
” An include file contains information that will be incorporated into a program file when it executes. This file contains parameters or commonly used code. Even though, include files should not contain sensitive information such as passwords.”
16. Highlight Some Known Windows Version Along With The Codename
This question is asked to test your expertise, skills, and experience in this industry. Demonstrate that you are the best fit for the job by listing a few window version and their codename and relate to the job posting.
Sample Answer
“Windows XP – Whistler; Windows 98 – Memphis; Windows 7 – Vienna and Blackcomb; Windows Vista – Longhorn; and Windows Me – Millenium.”
17. What Comes Into Your Mind When You Hear The Term COM?
Here, the hiring manager wants to find out whether you are familiar with different technologies used in this industry. The best strategy for responding to this question is explaining this technology.
Sample Answer
“COM stands for Component Object Model. Component Object Model is a Microsoft technology which developers use to make reusable components and services offered by Microsoft. This technology includes DCOM, ActiveX, and COM+.”
18. Why Should A Company Consider Using TCP Protocol Instead Of Others?
This is a technical question that the interviewer asks to test your expertise in this field. You must use the knowledge you have acquired over the years to respond to this question.
Sample Answer
“In my opinion, TCP is one of the best types of internet protocol suites. With TCP, it is easier to recover any failure, unlike other protocols. Additionally, many people prefer using TCP protocol due to the following:
o It’s an independent platform and does not rely on other platforms to exchange communication things. It can be good for users who like maintaining privacy at work.
o It is faster to handle errors of transmission control protocol as compared to other accessible protocols.
o In case you want to decrease or add networks, it does not interrupt the existing services.
o The TCP protocol is fast and accurate
o It provides a good failure recovery.”
19. Have You Ever Had A Conflict With A Boss? How Was It Resolved?
The interviewer is seeking to know how you deal with conflicts. They understand that many employees fail in how they handle conflicts. The best strategy to answer this question is by talking briefly about the conflict and focusing on the resolution. Discuss how the conflict came about, the actions you took to resolve it, and the result.
Sample Answer
“Well, I cannot remember having a conflict with my boss. However, if one occurs in the course of working, I would seek an appointment with my boss to discuss the conflict. I am a person who admits mistakes and apologizes for my failures. I believe that respect, strong interpersonal, problem solving, and communication skills can help us solve any disagreements.”
20. Which Steps Will You Take To Convince Any Customer To Start Using Microsoft products?
The employer asks this question to test out your convincing power, presence of mind, and communication skills. Answer this question with honesty and stay calm.
Sample Answer
“I have experience and knowledge of handling different clients. My strong interpersonal and communication skills help me to convince customers towards using products. The first thing I will do is to explain the features of Microsoft products. After a customer has understood the feature, I will then go ahead and explain the benefits of adopting the Microsoft products. I will explain this in layman language to foster understanding. Once they buy the product, I will follow up to find out if the customer is having any problem or is in need of assistance in installing or using the product.”
Conclusion
Ensure to prepare well in good time on the question provided in this article together with other technical questions to increase your chances of standing out from the crowd. For instance, if you are preparing for a software developer with Microsoft, be up to speed with your technical competence.
