Do you have any questions?
There's only one trick question in the Microsoft interview process that I can guarantee you'll be asked. It's alarmingly simple, but don’t be fooled, for it's the granddaddy stumper of them all:
“Do you have any questions?”
You will be asked this question routinely in your interview process, and you will eventually get to the point where you are tired of hearing it and will have had most of your most pressing curiosities answered. And in your exhaustion you might be tempted to say, “no, I don’t have any more questions." And I can uniformly tell you that you should never-never-never-never-never say “no”. We evaluate your interest and passion for Microsoft, the job, and this industry by the questions you ask, and no question is off-limits.
I suggest that to prepare for your interview, you make an exhaustive list of questions and have them ready. It's ok to write them down, or just mentally put them on file. But make sure you have enough, and keep asking them until we cut you off…
Got it?
Any questions?
- Jenna
22 Comments
Malia said:
If I could...could I add just one more, related suggestion?
It's ok to ask different people the same question. In fact, it's a great way to get different perspectives on the same issue. For instance, "What's great about working in this group?". Ask several people and you'll generally get quite different answers, or maybe different shades on the same theme. All of that will give you more information when it comes time for your decision.
Of course, as Jenna says, make sure you have lots of questions in case one person (*cough* recruiters *cough*) gives you lots of time for them.
said:
I disagree with this advice to a certain degree esp. when the company is as well known as MS. With blogs, videos etc., it's no secret how much of a prospective team is put together, that apart from clarifying exactly what the job entails etc., there's not really that much that can be learned from questions that probably wouldn't be misleading without actually working there.
That's a bit convoluted. To make ti more concrete I'll talk hypothetically: if I wanted to work for MS in a position I think I'd be good at, I'd already know, to a somewhat obsessive degree, what MS is doing in this area, I'd know the key players in the area, their career histories and past achievements, I'll have read their blogs, seen their interviews (if any), etc. There wouldn't really be a question I could ask that could be sensibly answered, because the only remaining questions are:
1) What exactly would I be doing
and
2) What the future experience of working there will be like (and I mean this experientially, i.e. next to impossible to describe)
Brendan said:
Do you think this should still be the case when your list of questions have already been answered either due to the other party answering it unprompted (ie during a description of ____) or you took advantage of earlier conversations and injected your questions then?
I ask this because I’ve always made it a point to ask questions as they come up so as to avoid a laundry list at the end and to show my engagement and attention to the current discussion.
Anya said:
This seems to me really a very silly and arbitrary way to disqualify an applicant. If this is the reason I'm going to be disqualified rather then my skillset so be it, who wants to work at such a nonsensical place.
There is nothing more distasteful then a person who feigns passion and energy. If you want actors you should go into the entertainment business. As if the interviewer won't be able to tell!
It seems pointless and counterintuitive to the developer mindset to talk for the purpose of talking. You go in, get things done and get out.
Respectfully Jenna I disagree with you.
Anonymous said:
I don't think this is a good way to see if someone is interested in the company or not.
Jenna said:
Wow- people are pretty heated about this. Some replies:
This is not how we "disqualify" people as noted above, but it does give us hints to your passion- and passion matters. And we wouldn't want anyone to "act"; we want to know that you genuinely want it.
Regarding "not having enough questions to ask"- I will keep this debate going and tell you that I have worked here nearly 10 years and I STILL have tons of questions.
When you think of the questions to ask, they don't have to be just about the job. I have had people ask about our competitive strategy, the mistakes we made in the past, the areas of growth etc. The best questions aren't the easy ones...
user said:
I will disagree on this one. What about those people are are well prepared and did lots of research on MS or the team? What about those who were referred or have friends working in MS? They would obvious know a lot about MS and may be more than the interviewer. I used to think about this a lot when I had my telephonic round. The fact is that I know a lot of things already and I do not want to ask questions for the sake of it. I can show my passion in the way I answer during the interview and not necessary reserved this at the end...
oops! said:
I said 'no'.. I got lucky - I got hired! oops!
Programmer said:
Yup . gr8 post . Jenna i have a question for ya! I m currently in my 4th semester . I am planning to apply for microsoft when i will be in my 7th semester during the trip to Dubai . Well my question is that as i have mentioned above that i will apply for microsoft in my 7th semester , so i wont have much experience
except for 1-2 internships . So how should i prepare myself , and what should expect in my interview as a potential collage hire ( not a experince guy). Secondly , i m pretty bad in solving Puzzle stuff . So how much importance you people give to the puzzle questions and should i keep on concentrating my programming skills or i have to give a little time on the puzzles.
Waiting for your reply !
said:
Jenna, the problem with:
'This is not how we "disqualify" people as noted above, but it does give us hints to your passion- and passion matters.'
... is that it measures the wrong kind of passion.
I'll point you to a related article: <a rel="nofollow" target="_new" href="http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/02/dont_ask_employ.html">http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/02/dont_ask_employ.html</a>
The more I think about it, the more I think your suggestion is a deeply misguided metric: it's far better for prospective employees to be invested in their own specialties and excellence, than in an abstract entity like a company.
The way you get the best team is by allowing each team member to excel, and be brilliant individually. Thus it's the individual's passion for excellence that matters, not their passion for the company.
John Golf said:
This is simply a b*l* sh**. Of course you do ask questions but not FOREVER, its even not sound right that you keep asking question and waiting to get cut off. If thats the case MS should hire Toodlers or Kids they are the one who have the natural ability of asking questions until you snap off or piss off.
I just can't believe if MS is evaluating individual interest or passion by this stupid question.
LFP said:
I believe asking questions should have the same purpose for both sides: To learn more about the other person. I recently interviewed with five different people for a position at Microsoft in Redmond. And I did ask questions every time; however, my strategy was to evaluate my "future team" and "future supervisor" as much as they were evaluating me because at the end of the day, it really is all about the people. Questions are good - so long as you have the right strategy.
At the end of the process, we mutually agreed that it was a good fit so I've accepted the offer.
Daisy said:
Hi, I'm agree on part of them, maybe we can see this question from two sides: firstly, some guys say "no", it does not enough to prove that he has not interesting in this position, because this depends on different personality, some will be introvert, some will be nervious, some even will be shy. However, if he actually has a lot of questions, it must can improve that he is very interesting in this position. So, we could not use this rule simply. In my opinion, we can balance it, or based on the position, such as devloper and market should be treated different!
LFP said:
It's not about the quantity; it's about the quality. Don't ask questions just for the sake of asking questions. So long as your questions are intelligent ones, ask away.
Kofi... said:
Hello,
What is the different between the phone interview and the second round interview?
Thanks
Crystal said:
Sorry to go completely off topic here, but, I give kudos where kudos are due. :)
I posted a question in comments back in early December. I didn't have time to come back and check for replies immediately, and just saw a fantastic one from MSFT recruiter Joshua, on Janelle's team.
I think there is enough meat in that answer to make a huge difference. So just had to get up here where I knew someone might see, and offer my sincere thanks. If one of you reads this and sees Joshua, can you pass on my appreciation?
Now I'll respectfully bow out so y'all can get back to the question of questions...
Brett said:
Hey everyone, I must say I'm very surprised about some people's perspectives about MS making a point of wanting you to have -many- questions. I believe several people's opinions in here sound quite close minded. If you aren't creative enough to ask questions, how do you expect to excel at a job which requires this quality of you? That is the exciting thing about problem solving or just exchanging ideas, it takes a lot of creative critical thinking.
I am in the process of scheduling my trip out to Seattle for my second round of interviews and am so excited and just being in this process is a dream come true. I have had to edit my emails to take the 'excess excitement' out. The point is when you really want something, of course you'll have more than a day's worth of questions. This is a career, what will make you get up in the morning. It might be a goal, or a means to another goal, but I would just say the important thing is to make it clear to them that you have determined yourself and will exceed their expectations and that you acknowledge you don't know it all, or that you are a 'boring'-listener.
Best of luck to all! (and to me :P)
April said:
if I receive an offer, can I negotiate for a higher compensation package? If yes, should I talk to the recruiter, or the hiring manager?
John said:
Kofi, you may want to check <a rel="nofollow" target="_new" href="http://www.technical-interview.com">http://www.technical-interview.com</a> for more infromation
jayson knight said:
I have a question...how many questions are too many to ask the interviewer?
Gursharan said:
I dont know if they feel excited, but my personal experience is that some of those interviewers are really not concerned about what you ask and narrate their own story. That kills your interest and enthusiasm to ask more questions and for a mistake not done by you, you are not hired. Its all about fancies of the interviewer, nothing else.
Larry Uribe said:
Hi!
I recently I raised my postulation jobsite of Microsoft, I I am in Chile, I am 23 years old, and they have never called to me for an interview of work of Microsoft.
In Chile this is different?
I love a Microsoft, on my 16 years old, I have a record Latam for more young MCSE+I !!
This compañy is more special for me, and really want to a job with us!!