Microsoft Hard Landing

When people find out I had an interview with Microsoft for a marketing position, they always want to know what it was like. So here is the story.

A little over a month ago I interviewed at Microsoft. Let me briefly take you through that story. I submitted an application over three months ago at this point. About a week later I get an email from someone claiming to be from Microsoft and wanting to set up a phone interview. I say 'claiming' because I was very skeptical and thought it could be some sort of prank. The list of people who could have gained access to my email account and knew about my Microsoft application flew through my head. "Who would play such a cruel trick?" I thought to myself. I responded to the email, of course, more than willing to take a chance.

The phone interview happened rather quickly. The lady on the phone was based in California and seemed to have already made up her mind that I was going to be passed on to the next round and the interview was mostly a formality to ensure I wasn't insane or lied on my resume. She spent an unusual amount of time during the interview trying to keeping her dog quiet. She was working from home. The next couple weeks were a flurry of activity with the recruiter contacting me and travel arrangements set up.

Finally, I get to Redmond and am led through a nondescript maze of an office building. Even the interviewers were getting lost leading me to the interview rooms. One redeeming feature was a Microsoft Surface in the lobby which I could play around with. I went through a series of three interviews before lunch. The exact content of those interviews will be addressed in a separate post later - they are everything you have been led to believe - and this was for a non-technical position. Breakfast and lunch were provided and everyone was very nice. However, after lunch I was told by my recruiter to follow him and he walked me to the door, thanked me for coming in, and told me they would have a decision by the end of the week. Refusing to believe the worst, I tried to convince myself the liked me so much they didn't need to see more of me. Wishful thinking as I didn't get the position. Further emails to the recruiter as far as how I could improve in the future went unanswered.