Microsoft Senior Manager Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Sep 2011 in Redmond, WA (took 2 months)

I have worked at Microsoft for 3 years as a vendor, so I'm accustomed to the culture and the PROCESS involved with everything. The interview process was no different. It included a rather challenging phone screen with Recruiting (very specific acronyms specific to the role I was interviewing for), then a wait for 3 weeks before an interview loop of 6 Director level or higher members of the team/extended team I'd be working on. Then, another 3 weeks of waiting before being invited to interview with the GM. The rest of the process was as I would have expected, but I was disappointed in the 30 minute final interview. The GM was completely unprepared, had not looked at my resume and had no meaningful questions to ask me. This was disappointing since I had had SO long to prepare and could have answered anything that came my way. When I followed up with Recruiting I was told it would take at least 2 weeks before I'd have an answer. Fortunately, the HIring Manager (whom I had worked with previously) set up a meeting with me the following week to let me know why they had gone with another candidate. I was relieved rather than disappointed! The entire process did nothing to excite me about working at Microsoft.