- Algorithms and data structures – you’ll be asked to solve a coding or design problem using commonly used data-structures and well-known algorithms.
- Coding – in most cases you can choose the language you want to code.
- Systems design & architecture – for candidates with prior experience.
- Problem solving – you’ll be given a day-to-day programming problem to solve, design and code, considering time and space complexity.
- Special skills depending on the team – for example if it’s a low-level role, you may be asked some networking questions while for more web focused roles, you may be asked about web related experience.
- Comfort zone – covering recent project you worked on.
Awesome
perks
We ask our employees to give us their best daily, and we're committed to doing the same. It's why we offer world-class benefits designed to empower you and your family to live life well.
At the Israel R&D Center we take a holistic approach, making sure we provide support to our employees’ everyday needs, going beyond day-to-day work. With our unique Employee Service Center, helping with all work-related issues in one location, as well as providing services such as: printing and lamination, discounted dry-cleaning and laundry, sending/receiving packages, and more!
We also make sure that the working environment and overall employee experience is top notch with lots of extras: On-site barista, fully stocked kitchenettes, lunch card, shuttle service, game and music rooms, fully equipped fitness center, employee discounted convenience store – and dog friendly policy
Get & stay healthy
Be your best with programs and benefits designed to boost your health, both physically and mentally, like dental care, gym allowance, medical exams, and more.
Care for your family
We happily offer extended paid maternity leave for new parents and family caregivers so you can enjoy time away to focus on the people who matter most.
Take your time
Seeking a hybrid work environment with the possibility to work from home? You got it! But that's not all. We also offer flexible work schedules, and generous vacations and holidays to spend with family or pursue your interests outside of work.
Give back
Giving is essential to being a global citizen. We help you volunteer, take advantage of matching programs, and make a difference in the lives of billions around the globe.
COZ Communities
A hub of purpose communities that aim to connect employees with shared interests seeking to make a change in their lives. Using co-creation methodology in experiential and inspirational spaces, we motivate social, environmental, and cultural development.
Continue your education
We'll help you find the resources you need to expand your knowledge on a variety of topics, stay current in your field, and continue to learn as your career progresses.
Our
interview
process
Interviewing can feel nerve-wracking at times. In order to minimize this feeling, and as part of our culture which embraces transparency and clarity, we’ve put together some information to help shed some light on what you should expect throughout the interviewing process, and help you prepare to the fullest.
A bit about the process: After hitting the ‘Apply Now’ button on our career page, your resume will be reviewed and if found suitable, you’ll be contacted by our recruitment team to get to know you a bit better, tell you about the role you’ve applied for, and how it’s like to work at Microsoft. Next, you’ll be invited to a few technical interviews to check your technical skills (you can find more about how to prepare for the interviews in the links below). Finally, you’ll be invited to an interview with one of our managers, or potential teammates, to assess your overall fit with the team and Microsoft.
Keep in mind that we have numerous job opportunities on our career site. You are more than welcome to begin a parallel process for up to two different teams. After passing an interview in both teams, you’ll be asked which team you prefer, and continue the process from there. Good luck!
We'll chat about you, us, the role you’ve applied for, and a bit about life at Microsoft
To evaluate your technical skills required for the role you’ve applied for
To assess your overall fit for the team and Microsoft, and learn more about you
*Expect an update from us on the next steps within 48 hours
*Expect an update from us on the next steps within 48 hours
Tech Interviews (up to 3)
Expect to be tested on the following:
Tips:
- Before answering, take a minute to think about how you can solve the question.
Don’t jump straight into a solution. We would like to see the way you think and not necessarily if you solved the problem correctly. - While writing it on the board, walk the interviewer through your thought process. It’s very important for the interviewer to understand why you’re making certain choices in your approach, and that they are logical.
- Throughout the interview the interviewer may be commenting on your code or giving you some hints. Consider this feedback carefully as you may be going the wrong direction and the interviewer is just trying to put you on the right path. Going in the wrong direction isn't bad, however, ignoring feedback and forcing your solution despite it being wrong, is not what we’re looking for.
- When you’re done with coding, remember to test your code. Be able to enumerate good tests that will prove your code is solid.
- If you arrive at a working solution that’s great. But if you don’t, it doesn’t mean you'll be automatically rejected. It's how you thought through the solution and the processes you adopted that are important.
- To help prepare for the interview in the possible way, go to: Crack the code, LinkedIn Learning
The final interview:
Yay! You’ve passed the technical interviews that prove you’re a perfect match for a specific position at Microsoft. It’s time for your final interview, which finalizes the process and will assess whether you’re a match for Microsoft in general, according to our company's values, motivations and culture. During this interview, you’ll be evaluated on a set of motivations, like; collaboration, impact, leadership skills, customer focus, drive to result, and adaptability, which will help us predict how successful you’ll be at Microsoft. In addition you may be asked a technical question in order to cover all tech aspects we might have missed in previous interviews. You’ll be asked questions that will let us understand your motivations, aspirations and past experiences. You’ll be asked to deep-dive into projects you’ve owned, elaborate on challenges you’ve encountered, and share success stories you’re proud of.
You’ll be evaluated on how much passion you have, how collaborative you’ve been in previous roles, and how you express creativity. Since Microsoft believes that having a diverse environment is what drives the company to success, we’ll evaluate your unique attributes, and envision your impact based on what you shared with us.
You may be asked a theoretical and behavioral question, which will require you to present day-to-day examples. We're looking for driven, genuine, and authentic people. We believe in creative thinkers who seek out end-to-end innovation, and of course, technical excellence.
* This interview may appear at times in an earlier stage of the process
Professional Interviews (up to 3)
Expect to be tested on the following:
- The interviewer will explain about Microsoft and the group itself, if you have any questions please feel free.
- Comfort zone – you’ll be asked to introduce yourself with emphasis on big-chunked problems that you faced and how you solved it, and what was your responsibility.
- Plan a feature and explain why it’s a good one and how it will get done (detail design).
Tips:
- Take the time to learn about Microsoft and the product team you’re interviewing for.
If you can, talk to someone who works at Microsoft. - Come prepared with specific situations or challenges from previous jobs you’ve had, where you can demonstrate your product skills strongly.
- Focus on the work you did while you tell us about yourself.
- Share with us your thinking process.
- Make sure you give enough context, talk about the goals, describe YOUR solution and what was the final impact/results/success. Use data to support your answers.
- It’s not really about WHAT you did, it’s mostly about HOW you did it.
- Try to focus your answer to the question you’ve been asked.
- Structure your answers. Start by stating the problem, the user, the impact, and from there, move on to the solution.
- Think out loud. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
- Communication is the key for a successful interview. Be sure to ask for clarifications to make sure you understand the question fully.
- To help prepare for the interview in the possible way, go to: Crack the code, LinkedIn Learning
The final interview:
Yay! You’ve passed the technical interviews that prove you’re a perfect match for a specific position at Microsoft. It’s time for your final interview, which finalizes the process and will assess whether you’re a match for Microsoft in general, according to our company's values, motivations and culture. During this interview, you’ll be evaluated on a set of motivations, like; collaboration, impact, leadership skills, customer focus, drive to result, and adaptability, which will help us predict how successful you’ll be at Microsoft. In addition you may be asked a technical question in order to cover all tech aspects we might have missed in previous interviews. You’ll be asked questions that will let us understand your motivations, aspirations and past experiences. You’ll be asked to deep-dive into projects you’ve owned, elaborate on challenges you’ve encountered, and share success stories you’re proud of.
You’ll be evaluated on how much passion you have, how collaborative you’ve been in previous roles, and how you express creativity. Since Microsoft believes that having a diverse environment is what drives the company to success, we’ll evaluate your unique attributes, and envision your impact based on what you shared with us.
You may be asked a theoretical and behavioral question, which will require you to present day-to-day examples. We're looking for driven, genuine, and authentic people. We believe in creative thinkers who seek out end-to-end innovation, and of course, technical excellence.
*This interview may appear at times in an earlier stage of the process
Professional Interviews (up to 3)
- You’ll be asked to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your PhD/MSc/Project you’re most proud of.
- The purpose of this interview is to check how deeply you can go into topics and what your scientific maturity level is.
- Problem Solving interview – typically we also check business acumen, meaning how the algo serves the business problem.
- Elementary coding interview – mostly in Script languages (not R or Matlab).
- General questions – on ML and Basic Algorithm questions.
Tips:
- Practice your coding skills.
- Make sure that you can drill down into details and explain your projects.
- To help prepare for the interview in the possible way, go to: Crack the code, LinkedIn Learning
The final interview:
Yay! You’ve passed the technical interviews that prove you’re a perfect match for a specific position at Microsoft. It’s time for your final interview, which finalizes the process and will assess whether you’re a match for Microsoft in general, according to our company's values, motivations and culture. During this interview, you’ll be evaluated on a set of motivations, like; collaboration, impact, leadership skills, customer focus, drive to result, and adaptability, which will help us predict how successful you’ll be at Microsoft. In addition you may be asked a technical question in order to cover all tech aspects we might have missed in previous interviews. You’ll be asked questions that will let us understand your motivations, aspirations and past experiences. You’ll be asked to deep-dive into projects you’ve owned, elaborate on challenges you’ve encountered, and share success stories you’re proud of.
You’ll be evaluated on how much passion you have, how collaborative you’ve been in previous roles, and how you express creativity. Since Microsoft believes that having a diverse environment is what drives the company to success, we’ll evaluate your unique attributes, and envision your impact based on what you shared with us.
You may be asked a theoretical and behavioral question, which will require you to present day-to-day examples. We're looking for driven, genuine, and authentic people. We believe in creative thinkers who seek out end-to-end innovation, and of course, technical excellence.
*This interview may appear at times in an earlier stage of the process
First Round Interview
After hitting the ‘Apply Now’ button on our career page, your resume will be reviewed by one of our recruiters.
Based on the discipline you are applying for, you’ll be invited for either a technical online test (75 minutes), a phone/an online interview (20 minutes), or both.
Final Round Interviews
Once we know you better, and if you pass the above stages successfully, we look forward to routing the Final Round Interviews to a relevant business group. Here, you’ll receive a phone call from us inviting you to up to three online technical interviews that will take place on Teams.
- After every stage, you’ll receive an update regarding your status.
- In both the first & final round interviews, you will be assessed on your technical skills, passion, and cultural add.
- You’ll receive an invitation to your calendar with a link to the Teams meeting. You will not have to download the Teams App to join the meeting- you can join via Web Browser (Edge/Chrome).
- Do not hesitate to reschedule your interview if you don’t feel prepared or if anything else arises.
Preparing for Your Technical Interviews
Before your technical interviews, be ready to:
To help prepare for the interview in the best possible way, check out: Crack the code, LinkedIn Learning
Click here for more coding interview tips.
- Review your core courses and answer related questions.
- Show us your coding ability.
- Apply practical application of the theories you have learned.
- Discuss a previous project you feel confident with.
To help prepare for the interview in the best possible way, check out: Crack the code, LinkedIn Learning
Click here for more coding interview tips.
Additional insights
- Remember, experience is not the main thing we’re looking for – we want to hear all about your initiatives, extra curriculum, volunteering work, social activities, and more.
- If you are in an advanced process of interviewing for other companies, feel free to share this information with us.
- Make sure you understand the questions and focus your answers on what has been asked.
- First impressions are important – your interview process and evaluation all begin with the first 'hello'.
- Remember that it's your chance to get to know us better. Feel free to ask questions that demonstrate your interests and your passions.
- Although this is a virtual interview, prepare your settings and ensure your camera and microphone are working, and you have a quiet space.
- Be transparent and authentic. If you feel stuck, don't hesitate to share this with your interviewer.
- Take time to structure your thoughts and communication, and walk your interviewer through your thought process step by step - for all the problem-solving tasks.
- Consider any comments from your interviewer - they may be giving you hints and getting you back on track if you are off point.
- We recommend that you read and familiarize yourself with Microsoft. A bit of knowledge could take you a long way!
- A good candidate experience is essential for us; we'll do everything to make you feel comfortable and bring yourself during the process, and we hope you'll enjoy it!
Microsoft is committed to an inclusive hiring process.
To request accommodation for your interview, please reply to this e-mail.
Join
us
Learning &
development
At Microsoft, growth isn’t just a buzzword or a bonus - it’s one of our core values. Microsoft’s industry-leading L&D programs allow you to advance and develop your skills daily, with a wide range of sessions and courses to level up your personal and professional skills.
ILDC’s Engineering Excellence Academy offers employees the chance to expand their technical knowledge with various tech courses and skills workshops. Our internal professional communities provide an ongoing knowledge-sharing platform for various product groups across different disciplines. Additionally, new employees receive an immersive, hands-on onboarding experience with Azure tools to get up to speed with the latest technology and best practices.
Personal
Development
We offer a wide range of opportunities focused on Career Development and personal growth, led by internal and external experts. You can also join countless online courses, MOOCs, lectures and more, or join our company-wide mentorship programs to build valuable relationships and learn from one another.
We offer dedicated programs for our manager community, including basic management skills, best practices to address current management challenges, coaching and mentorship opportunities, community gatherings throughout the year, and much more.
