The outsourced HR/Recruiting staff is abysmal, committing all sorts of offenses ranging from misspelling of my name to outright failure to communicate interview timing. I was extremely underwhelmed at first, but found that if you can make it past them the Microsoft employees themselves are far more competent. Most interviews (except with the management staff) were very technical in nature. Expect to do some whiteboarding, and also expect that you won't be able to answer every question. One of my interviews seemed to be designed to push and push me to the point where in the last 10 minutes I said a whole lot of "I don't knows," and was absolutely sure I bombed it. To my surprise, I got an offer anyway. So don't get yourself down if you don't know everything.