Microsoft Interview Process

Submit Resume

This is the first step of the process where you submit your resume to Microsoft site and if you are short listed the process starts.You can submit resume in Microsoft using the online tool

Positions
There are three general technical positions that Microsoft hires for. They are: Program Manager, Software Design Engineer in Test, and Software Design Engineer. Descriptions of each position can be found on Microsoft's College Careers website, which also includes interviews with current employees:

• Program Manager
• Software Design Engineer in Test
• Software Design Engineer

Microsoft also hires for non-technical positions and those who have an MBA:

• Non-Technical Careers
• Post-MBA Candidates

HR Phone Screening
After submitting the resume in Microsoft Career site it can take months to get your phone screen call.  The phone screen consist of a lot of psuedo-technical questions. which are somewhat technical questions for which recruiter doesn't actually understand the question. For instance:

• How long would it take you to write the code to reverse a link list?
• How would you declare a pointer to char in C?
• What's the difference between clustered and non-clustered indexes in SQL Server?
• How would you rate yourself in C++ at the rating scale of 10 and 10 being highest.

The question can also contain Riddles or Thinker where the recruiter does not need to be technical.

I want to mention here is that "failing a phone screen doesn’t mean you’ve lost your shot with a company.  It just means you’ve probably lost your shot for that particular job opening, particular group, or particular recruiter- at this particular time."

Technical Phone Screening 
This step is usually conducted for people living outside the geographical region so that before the company decides to fly you in, they have some level of confidence in your technical abilities. You can find common technical questions here

 If you survived the initial phone interview(s), the next step is probably an in-person interview(s) which contains Recruiter and Technical Interview. In the following sections I am describing both of them.

Typically, a short-listed candidate are invited in for some initial discussions, progressing through up to four interviews. These interviews 1:1 or by panel. Interviews are usually one hour in duration. Microsoft Recruiter remains 'point of contact' throughout the process and provide you with interviewer feedback and information regarding your progression. 

In-Person Recruiter Interview

In person recruiter interview is pretty simple and question will most probably of the type HR Questions.

Focus of this interview is to explain candidate the whole interview process, how many interviews will candidate have? What will be candidate's day look like? The recruiter might also provide lots of tips and tricks. In my opinion at this point you can ask as many question as you have. Afterall, "Your interview day is also for you to interview the team/company, not just for you to be interviewed."

In-Person Technical Interview

Now the Fun starts - you will be meeting probably 3-5 different people for one hour each(some times there is one interview at lunch) who will ask mostly technical questions, some of Microsoft Interview Questions are listed here

Good Luck!!!!