At this point you might be wondering what your chances are. The good news is that Microsoft hires an increasing number of engineers and PMs every year. At the time of writing this article, Microsoft hires about to new PMs per year.
Note: the total number of employees at Microsoft decreased in , , and , which explains the dip you can see in the number of PMs at the company for these years. Microsoft needs more and more PMs every year which might lead you to believe that getting hired isn't that hard.
But this actually isn't the case. Microsoft received 2m applications in across all its departments but only ended up hiring 7k employees in the same year. The success rate is therefore 0.
The good news is that cracking PM interviews is actually really manageable once you know how to prepare. So, let's take a look at the different types of questions Microsoft will ask you. For extra help, take a look at our list of 15 top PM interview tips. The main difficulty with PM interviews at Microsoft is that you will be asked a wide range of questions.
We've grouped them in five buckets and analyzed how frequently they were asked by Microsoft interviewers using questions reported by former candidates on Glassdoor. Let's step through each type of question, discuss why Microsoft asks these questions, and take a look at a few examples in each category. As in most interview processes you'll need to answer behavioral interview questions.
Microsoft places a heavy emphasis in this area, and the questions asked tend to fall into three categories:. These questions aren't particularly hard compared to some of the others listed in this article and are sometimes overlooked by candidates. It's worth spending time to prepare answers for them to build a small edge against other applicants. For more information, check out our article on how to answer behavioral interview questions , which focuses primarily on Facebook behavioral questions but can be applied to any company.
Exercise: Pick one of the questions above and answer it in the comments section below, without looking at other people's answers. This is a great opportunity to gain some practice for your Microsoft PM interviews.
A core task for PMs is to help design new product features and improve existing ones. It's therefore not surprising that design questions are a part of Microsoft PM interviews. These questions assess your customer empathy, creativity, and ability to use a structured approach to design products. Here are a few questions Microsoft has asked in the past.
For more information check out our articles on how to answer product design questions , product improvement questions and the favorite product question in PM interviews.
Microsoft expects a fair amount of technical knowledge from candidates. Microsoft PMs tend to be more technical than average, usually having a degree in computer science or significant previous experience with software and engineering.
As a consequence, you'll typically need to answer a few technical questions during your interview process. As you can see below these questions are not a test of coding expertise in a particular language. They are centered on whether or not you understand and can offer simple explanations of certain technical concepts — especially algorithms. For more information, check out our article on how to answer technical interview questions.
PMs are responsible for setting the product vision and roadmap to deliver it. In other words, they're in charge of product strategy. In your interviews you'll therefore be given strategic questions to discuss with your interviewer. These questions assess if you're comfortable thinking about the wide range of aspects good PMs need to take into account when making product decisions. This includes competition, pricing, marketing, time to market, etc. Thinking through all these aspects requires creativity and a structured approach.
For more information, check out our article on how to answer strategy interview questions. Good PMs are critical thinkers and can make confident and swift decisions. Making these decisions often requires analytical and estimation skills which Microsoft will test you on in the recruiting process. For more information, check out our articles on how to answer metric questions and estimation questions in PM interviews.
Now that you know what questions to expect, let's focus on a few key preparation steps. We delivered the portal on time and within the budget. The client was so pleased with the user-friendly interface and functionality that they had us create phone and tablet applications, too. They key to success was constant communication and managing expectations throughout the project.
Each company will have a different set of project management software. Explaining the tools you have used will demonstrate your software experience, especially if you have advanced technical skills with a certain platform. Check to see if the job listing includes the tools they use and whether you have relevant experience with them. If not, discuss the programs you are most familiar with and explain your eagerness to learn. Each stakeholder was able to add ideas to the online board and select the best to address the issue or challenge at hand.
I also use Trello for managing the team's time and assign tasks. An escalation path is how you handle a project issue when it arises. Your answer should demonstrate your critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. You can answer with a specific time you encountered a problem while working on a project and how you handled it. If I feel the issue involves a sensitive matter, requires high-level approval or I simply need additional input on my decided course of action, it is important for me to work with my sponsor on solving the issue.
No matter the problem, I feel it is always best for the team and for my own professional development to use every resource available to get as far as I can in solving the issue before bringing in others.
I was once working on a project where the sales team promised the client a feature our program could not support. Ultimately, I had to involve the project sponsor. She agreed that it was impossible to deliver the feature. It was a difficult conversation with the client, but we managed to reach a compromise.
We started working on a way to support the feature, and will offer it to the client free of charge once it is ready. There are several project management styles, like Scrum and Waterfall, that companies use based on the project.
Your style will determine how you will best fit the company's current methods. You should talk about the style you use or if you use a variety depending on the project. With Agile, I can create shorter delivery cycles so the client can see my team's work and give us constructive feedback.
It creates a more collaborative environment where I can work to create goals with my team based on their feedback. I have also studied the Lean method in my own time and tried to incorporate some of it into my style. I try to eliminate waste in time and budget in all of my projects and always find ways to improve the process.
An essential part of project management is making sure a project stays within the original budget and deadline. Scope creep includes anything that changes within the project that could cause you to miss your targets. Your answer will help the interviewer gain insight into the way you manage resources and handle obstacles. You can use an example of how you were able to manage scope creep in one of your projects. I once had a massive project that included building an entire website, plus applications that would work on all phone and tablet operating systems.
We needed to deliver everything in a year, and it was a multimillion dollar project. I decided to split the project up into small portions that we could work on month by month. I planned weeks ahead as we approached a new month based on client feedback from what we had already presented to them. The project constantly changed based on needs and feedback, and it could have easily gone far over budget and time. With strict time management and communication, we were able to deliver a complete project in 12 months.
Managing a team is an important part of project management. Microsoft Expand child menu Expand. Microsoft Office Expand child menu Expand. Programming Expand child menu Expand. Testing Expand child menu Expand. Java Expand child menu Expand. Mobile Expand child menu Expand. API Expand child menu Expand. Business Expand child menu Expand.
Data Analytics Expand child menu Expand. Business Intelligence Expand child menu Expand. Interview Guide Expand child menu Expand.
Job Hunt Guide Expand child menu Expand. Career Guide Expand child menu Expand. Interview Tips Expand child menu Expand. Must Read Expand child menu Expand. Tricky Expand child menu Expand.
0コメント