Microsoft Premier Field Engineer Interview

Interviewed Jun 2009 (took 4 weeks)

I initially was contacted because another employee had submitted my resume to their manager at the company on my behalf. I was then contacted via email by a vendor recruiter and asked to fill out a lengthy questionnaire on experiences and background and some behavioral type questions like: "Explain how you handled a difficult situation at work and what did you do to satisfy the customer?" I was also asked to go online to the company careers site and apply for at least 3 positions that I was interested in. I was told that this recruiter would follow up with me in 2 weeks time.

Before the two weeks were up, I had been contacted by an internal company recruiter - I answered some more questions about my work history and background and was told on the phone that they would like to proceed with scheduling me for a technical phone interview.

Next was the technical phone screening - I answered in depth questions about the technology I would be supporting and most importantly for me, had the chance to ask questions of a person that actually does the job I was interviewing to do. This was great because it really gave me a sense of what the job actually would be like in the field and whether or not it was something I would like or dislike.

Note: I highly recommend having a page or two of questions ready to ask whomever you are interviewing with at that time. One, because they are going to ask you if you have any questions and it shows that you've put some thought into getting the position and what that would mean. And two, part of your job is going to be soliciting information from customers in order to resolve their issues. If you can't show them you know how to "interview" them, how are they going to envision you dealing with customers? Pick and choose the questions you are asking any one interviewer - you don't want to interrogate them but you want to get good feedback. I usually stuck with 2-3 questions for each unless they asked if I had any more questions and then I'd ask another.

After the phone screening I was notified by the recruiter that all went well and next came an entire day of multiple in-person interviews. The first two in the morning were technical and the next three were behavioral type questions. Things like "how would you handle" or "give us an example of how you" - mostly how would I deal with awkward customer situations. One interview in particular focused solely on how I would deal with grumpy customers through some role playing exercises.

At all times I was treated very professionally and politely by all members of the company I had interaction with. They provided me lunch in between morning and afternoon interviews. This was not a lunch interview and I was left on my own to relax for about an hour. This was a nice break and allowed me to go over what had happened so far and allowed me to rework some of my questions for the next 3 rounds of interviews in the afternoon.

The last step of the interview day was a tour of the facility. I think it was mostly a formality since it was quite quick although very interesting.

Advice on interviewing with MS: Just be yourself and be confident in what you know and don't be afraid to admit you don't know something. I don't think they are looking for perfection, I think they are looking for someone in driving pursuit of it, that knows they'll never quite get there, but are happy to take the drive because they enjoy the ride.

Timetable of events:
1. Initial contact by vendor recruiter (Day 1)
2. Contacted by internal recruiter for HR interview (Day 7)
3. Technical phone screen (Day 14)
4. In-person interviews at the local company site (Day 22)
5. Recieved offer (Day 36)
6. Started new job two and a half weeks later.