I applied in-person. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in May 2009
Interview
The researcher sent an email to my advisor and my advisor forwarded it our lab, I sent him my resume and got a phone interview several weeks later. He asked me several questions about my past research experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
No technical questions, I think he was mainly concerned about my communicating skills
The interview is about research, takes about 1 h, after that I didnt hear anything back even with followup emails. The recruitment portal is useless, and it never got updated. There is even no HR just with one of the team member from that group.
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA)
Interview
After I sent the initial email to the recruiter expressing my interest in the position, I received a detailed reply three days later. We have now successfully scheduled an introductory meeting via Microsoft Teams to discuss the opportunity further.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Most of the questions are based on personal resume
The Microsoft Research interview focuses on deep discussion of past research, probing technical understanding, experimental design, and reasoning. Expect open-ended problem solving, possible light coding, and evaluation of research maturity and motivation.