MockRun

How to prepare for a Microsoft behavioral interview

Microsoft’s interview tips ask you to prepare specific examples that explain the situation, what you did, the outcome and what you learned, and to structure answers with its STAR(R) model, which ends with Reflection. Microsoft says its interviews focus on parts of its culture: growth mindset, diversity and inclusion, One Microsoft, customer obsession, its values and what it expects of managers.

By Updated 3 min read

An open black notebook with cream paper steps rising to a seedling in a yellow pot.

What Microsoft says its interviews focus on

Microsoft’s interview tips for all roles say the steps vary by role and may include meeting teammates and cross-functional colleagues (Microsoft’s interview tips). For the interview process, Microsoft says it focuses on these parts of its culture:

  • Growth mindset: learning new skills quickly and connecting with others to bring ideas to life.
  • Diverse and inclusive: being open to learning about your own biases and changing your behavior.
  • One Microsoft: seeking collaboration and common ground, and building on the success of others.
  • Customer obsession: learning customers’ perspectives and using them in your decisions.
  • Values: respect, integrity and accountability for your words and actions.
  • Manager expectations: managers who model, coach and care, and so bring the culture to life.

The same page asks you to think about how you have applied feedback, worked with others and adapted your approach, and says you may be asked how you would handle a role-related scenario. Microsoft adds that it doesn’t expect you to know everything, and that clarifying questions when you’re stuck can show integrity, collaboration and resourcefulness.

How to prepare your stories for Microsoft

  1. Start from the job description. Microsoft suggests finding the skills most relevant to the role, then preparing examples that show them.
  2. Prepare a feedback story. A time someone told you something hard about your work, and what you did differently afterwards. It speaks directly to growth mindset.
  3. Prepare a story across teams. A time you looked for common ground with another group whose goals differed from yours, which is what One Microsoft describes.
  4. Name the customer. Say who the customer was and what you learned about them before you decided.
  5. End every story with Reflection. Microsoft’s STAR(R) model adds Reflection after the result. Use it for what you learned and what you would change.

Which MockRun practice areas match Microsoft’s culture

MockRun organizes practice by Amazon’s Leadership Principles, which cover these themes too. The principles are Amazon’s, and this match is ours, not Microsoft’s:

  • Growth mindset: Learn and Be Curious.
  • Diverse and inclusive, and Values: Earn Trust.
  • One Microsoft: Ownership and Earn Trust.
  • Customer obsession: Customer Obsession.
  • Manager expectations: Hire and Develop the Best.

Read the details interviewers listen for, or start a practice session on learning, trust and customers.

Practice questions for Microsoft’s culture areas

MockRun wrote these prompts around the areas Microsoft lists. They aren’t Microsoft’s interview questions.

  • Tell me about feedback you acted on, and what changed.
  • Describe a skill you had to learn quickly for a project.
  • Tell me about a time you worked with a team whose goals differed from yours.
  • Describe a decision you changed after learning more about a customer.
  • Tell me about a mistake you owned and how you told people about it.
Fictional example: a growth mindset story with Reflection
Situation
I led a small data team. In a review, a product manager said our weekly reports arrived too late to change any decisions.
Task
I wanted the reports to be useful before Monday planning without adding work for the team.
Action
I asked three product managers which numbers they used and found they read two of our twelve charts. I cut the report to those two, automated them and sent them on Friday afternoon, then asked for comments after each of the first four weeks.
Result
The report went out three days earlier, and two teams started using it in planning.
Reflection
At first I took the comment as criticism of my team. Now I ask the people who use our work what they need before I defend how we do it.

Written for this guide in Microsoft’s STAR(R) shape. The team and figures are invented.

Practice out loud before your Microsoft interview

MockRun’s STARI feedback ends with Improvement, which does the same job as Microsoft’s Reflection: what you learned or changed. You answer one question out loud, answer follow-ups about the story you told, and see which parts had evidence behind them.

MockRun’s debrief notes on how to make the story clearer: Situation and Task, each marked Explained, with the quoted words from the answer that support them.
A fictional practice example. Each STARI note quotes the words from the answer that support it. Open the full-size example

MockRun is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft, and its questions are not Microsoft’s. To shape the story, read the STAR interview method. To choose which stories to prepare, read how to prepare behavioral interview stories.

Common questions

What is the STAR(R) method in a Microsoft interview?

Microsoft’s interview tips recommend answering with STAR(R): Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection. The same page asks for examples that include what you learned, so use Reflection for that.

How do I show a growth mindset in an interview?

Tell a specific story where you learned something quickly or changed your approach after feedback, and say what you did differently afterwards. Microsoft describes growth mindset as learning new skills rapidly and connecting with others to bring big ideas to life.

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