Top Microsoft Interview Questions in 2023

Microsoft’s worldwide employment headcount is around 189,984 with US alone having 107,344. In fact the employment rate has drastically increased after 2020 and according to a recent survey, Microsoft’s total number of employees in 2020 was 163,000, a 13.19% increase from 2019 and in 2021 it was 181,000, a 11.04% increase from 2020. With that said, why wait? Let’s get right ahead in this Microsoft Interview Questions blog, and see how we can crack the interview process in Microsoft.

This blog here will help you answer all your doubts about Microsoft and will help you prepare with the most asked Microsoft interview questions and answers!

We will be covering the following topics in this blog:

About Microsoft
Microsoft Core Competencies
Microsoft Interview Process
Microsoft Behavioral Interview Questions
Microsoft Technical Interview Questions
How to Prepare for Microsoft Interview

If you’re not into reading, here’s a quick video on Microsoft Interview Questions.

About Microsoft

Before applying for Microsoft it is very important you know about the work policies and work ethics of Microsoft. Microsoft believes that a diverse and inclusive workplace leads to better products and services for their customers. As their workforce evolves to reflect the growing diversity of their communities and marketplace, the ability to leverage different perspectives for innovation and problem solving becomes increasingly important.

Some of the main products & services offered by Microsoft are computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and other related Services. Basically, the Microsoft Windows, operating system, Microsoft Office Suite, Internet Explorer, and Edge web browsers are among the company’s most well-known software products. The Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface range of touchscreen and personal computers are the company’s major Hardware offerings.

Why exactly does one need to choose Microsoft? No doubt Microsoft is a well-known tech corporation but along with that the impressive company culture that focuses on work-life balance through offers like robust benefits package and high salary is one of the reasons one should opt to choose Microsoft. Benefits such as education reimbursement, paid time off and flexible availability, fitness center reimbursement along with employee resources are some of the benefits which you would be provided as a Microsoft employee.
Cracking the Microsoft interview is not just about how good you are at your job, it is also about how well you will fit in the company culture. Following are some Microsoft’s core competencies that they will be testing you on, when you appear for their interview.

Microsoft Core Competencies

• Collaboration: Communicating effectively within the team and across teams.
• Drive for results: Working tenaciously to deliver on commitments, constantly seeking bigger challenges, holding yourself and others accountable.
• Customer focus: The mission at Microsoft is to empower every person and every organization to achieve more.
• Influencing for impact: Successfully persuading and influencing others with effective communication.
• Judgment: Effectively scoping complex problems and using business acumen to make knowledge-based decisions.
• Adaptability: Ability to deal with ambiguous and uncertain situations or problems with agility.

Now that you understand what is expected from you in the interview in terms of cultural fit, let’s go ahead and understand how you can apply at Microsoft!

Microsoft Interview Process

• Apply for Microsoft: It is always suggested you apply on the official website of Microsoft Careers  pertaining to the job role you are looking for. You can also look for opportunities on LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor among many others. It is also advised connect with existing Microsoft employees to get referrals for job positions. Once the recruiter finds you fitting for the role they are looking for you will be contacted for the online interview.
• Online Round : Microsoft is closely following Covid19 directions and promoting candidate and employee safety. They have shifted all in-person interviews globally to be held virtually until further notice. In this round all interviews are held via Teams or any other platform. Your recruiting contact will inform you of the platform and send an email instructions and interview details. Be prepared to demonstrate how you meet the qualifications of the job by sharing specific examples from your past or ideas about how you would accomplish a specific task. Be sure to share how skills you have gained throughout your career will translate to the role for which you are interviewing. For some of our openings you may be asked to write code, share a creative portfolio, or provide examples of your work in other ways. This round includes the behavioral questions also.
• Technical Round: Technical interviews are problem-solving–based and cover technical excellence and core competencies. You’ll be assessed on your knowledge of technical principles and methods, as well as on how you approach problem-solving, your technical agility, and your ability to think strategically to solve complex problems. The interview will also include other competency-based questions and questions about your resume. Based on the role you are applying for and the experience you have, you will having multiple number of technical rounds.
• After the interview: At the end of the interview process, ask the Hiring Manager or Recruiter when you can expect to hear back about next steps or the hiring decision. Your Recruiter will follow up with you about the outcome of your interviews as soon as a hiring decision is made. Feel free to send a thank you email to the Recruiter, who will forward it to the Hiring Manager and interviewers.

Next in this Microsoft Interview Questions blog, let’s go ahead and look at some behavioral interview questions that will be asked to you while you apply at Microsoft!

Microsoft Behavioral Interview Questions

1. Tell me about yourself
   It’s important for you to focus on your strengths ,skills, qualities and experiences you have applied for will match your particular role in Microsoft. Now, as we all know, Microsoft itself is a very high achieving organization and hence showing your positivity and enthusiasm is highly recommended. Answer should be upto the point and of examples. This will prove that you can add value to the already established team.
   Example:
   “I’m highly motivated. And goal-oriented person who strongly believes that significant progress in an organization like Microsoft can be achieved, only if everyone in the team is working in the same direction.”
   Here,  you have positively spoken about the company also, you have focused on your strengths, which is goal oriented and highly motivated. Combining all these efforts into the team that you’re going to be hired, will always give you a way into the company.
   “In my previous experiences, I have learned and understood the skills that perfectly fits with the job description. Adding on my reviews, on my performance, by my previous managers showcase that I am an apt candidate who is willing to give the best to an already established and highly achieving organization like Microsoft.”
   Here, you have also pointed out that your experiences with the previous company have been highlighted and being recognized by your managers. And hence you are an eligible candidate. Now to add on to this you can speak about your personal experiences and goals.
2. Why do you want to work for Microsoft?
   Do good research before attending interview of any company, this will bring out the best answer to give to the recruiter. Now, make sure your answer is crisp, genuine and unique.
   Example:
   “Working in Microsoft, will benefit for me, for many reasons. Some of them includes a long-term association with the company as Microsoft will shape my career in a great way. The history and achievement of Microsoft over the years, has inspired me to be a part of their upcoming achievements. Adding on, the kind of product that Microsoft creates will always have me take a thing or two from each of its uniqueness to understand and implement for my future to grow to a greater heights.”
   Now here, you might think that here I’m being extremely selfish. Well, to be honest, completely this is what the recruiter is looking for. As I’ve Individual, you will definitely not think only about the organization that you will be working for. but think about your personal growth. Hence being honest will make the recruiter believe your answer and eventually chances of getting hired is more.
3. What do you think are the 3 qualities to work at Microsoft?
   There is no perfect or correct answer for this. All you have to do is do an extreme research on Microsoft. Make sure you jot down three important values or points after your thorough research. Whatever answer that you give, make sure you present it in a most appropriate way to your recruiter. Also make sure to give an example answer for this.
   Example:
   “I could say after I’m going to research, One has to be a good team player and show immense passion towards the work. They are recruited for understanding and supporting the team and to have equal respect for everyone they work with. The Microsoft values are to achieve the desired goals in which they treat each and every individual of their company as equals. Now, it is important for one to hold and understand this to implement further in your work if you’re hired. The next thing is, with a positive attitude and partnership with the co-workers to welcome and consider, everyone’s ideas to establish. A happy environment, is one of the main goals of Microsoft which helped them reach to a height to where they are to be today.”
   Here, you have pointed out the popularity of Microsoft and why actually they have reached where they have reached. This way you have shown them three good qualities of Microsoft and also told that you kind of possess these qualities and hence you should be hired.
4. Tell me about a when you took risk at work
   Firstly, do not start with the negative scenario in most cases here. Generally people tend to start of answering to this question with a negative scenario, this is a big red flag. This way you’re putting out your drawbacks to the recruiter, which you do not want to do. Consider your strengths that you have and how it works best for you. Additionally you might also use one of the colleague or co-worker and have you all about them in a particular situation.
   Example:
   “While I was working on a project that had a tight headline and an issue was to be solved by one of my coworker. I put extra time over the weekends, to learn the requirement and understand to meet the project deadline. I not only could close the project for the desired deadline, but also prevented my coworker from facing trouble and prevented a huge loss to the company.”
   Here your strengths, with respect to that of your co-workers. Also, you have told that this benefited company in a huge way. This way you’ve answered to the point with no negative scenario.

Next in this Microsoft Interview Questions blog, let’s look at the Microsoft interview technical questions which will be asked to you when you are applying for a technical role!

Microsoft Technical Interview Questions

Microsoft follows a method, which is known as STAR method, meaning Situation, Task, Action and Result. Now, this is a formation method which they will implement, not only for main interviews but also for the mock interviews in certain cases of technical rounds. First thing is, they will conduct a mock interview. When you ace the mock interview, you will be qualified for the next round. STAR method.  When you qualify using the STAR method in the technical round, the following qualities are been looked upon:
Situation and Task is being used to understand your understanding and scope in your interview. While Action and Results are being used to test your coding and testing knowledge.

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
void kLargest(int arr[], int n, int k)
{

sort(arr, arr + n, greater<int>());

for (int i = 0; i < k; i++)

cout << arr[i] << " ";

}

int main()

{

int arr[] = { 1, 23, 12, 9, 30, 2, 50 };

int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);

int k = 3;

kLargest(arr, n, k);

}

class A
{
private:
int data;
public: void fun()
{
}
};

class PythagoreanTriplet {

static boolean isTriplet(int ar[], int n)
{
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
for (int j = i + 1; j < n; j++) {
for (int k = j + 1; k < n; k++) {

int x = ar[i] * ar[i], y = ar[j] * ar[j], z = ar[k] * ar[k];

if (x == y + z || y == x + z || z == x + y)
return true;
}
}
}

return false;
}

public static void main(String[] args)
{
int ar[] = { 3, 1, 4, 6, 5 };
int ar_size = ar.length;
if (isTriplet(ar, ar_size) == true)
System.out.println("Yes");
else
System.out.println("No");
}
}

class complex{ 
private: float r, i; 
public: complex(float r, float i)
{ this->r=r; this->i=i; } 
complex(){} 
void displaydata(){ 
cout<<&rdquo;real part = &ldquo;<<r<<endl; cout<<&rdquo;imaginary part = &ldquo;<<i<<endl; 
} 
complex operator+(complex c){ return complex(r+c.r, i+c.i); 
} 
}; 
int main(){ 
complex a(2,3); 
complex b(3,4); 
complex c=a+b; 
c.displaydata(); 
return 0; 
}

int value=newint;                  //allocates memory for storing 1 integer
delete value;                          // deallocates memory taken by value

int *arr=newint[10];            //allocates memory for storing 10
intdelete []arr;                    // deallocates memory occupied by arr