From our research
What this interview looks like
For campus hiring Microsoft India typically runs an online coding test, sometimes followed by a group-fly or problem-solving round on campus, and then a loop of typically three or four interviews on the same day: two coding rounds, a design or problem-solving round, and a final round with a senior engineer or manager, often called the 'as appropriate' or AA round, that covers fit, motivation and growth mindset.
Lateral software engineers typically see a recruiter screen, a coding screen and a virtual loop of four interviews covering coding, design and behavioural questions, with system design weighted more at senior levels. Product manager candidates typically see product sense, execution, technical understanding and customer-obsession interviews and the same final leadership conversation.
Microsoft's culture language matters in the loop: growth mindset, customer obsession, diversity and inclusion, and 'one Microsoft' collaboration come up as real questions, not slogans. Round counts, their order and timelines vary by team, office and year, and Microsoft does not publish cut-offs, so treat what you read online as a pattern.
ExamPilot compresses the loop into a 17-minute panel: an HR screen, a hiring-manager conversation on your past work, a coding or design or product round in your chosen specialisation, a growth-mindset behavioural round in STAR form, and a closing on expectations, scored on role knowledge, problem solving, communication and attitude.
How it is weighted
Product sense and execution rounds carry the most weight in practice. The technical round checks that you can reason with engineers about a cloud or productivity product, and the final round tests growth mindset and collaboration.
Generic frameworks without a real user problem, and answers that never mention a customer, are common reasons for a no. Here each round is scored against the corporate rubric (role knowledge 30, problem solving 25, communication 25, attitude 20).
Who this is for
Candidates who have cleared Microsoft's recruiter screen or campus shortlisting for product manager roles, the title Microsoft uses for what was earlier called program manager. The loop typically covers product sense, execution, technical understanding and customer obsession, with a final leadership conversation. Microsoft does not publish a fixed loop; the pattern here is what candidates typically report.
The panel focuses on
- Product sense for Teams, Outlook, Copilot, Windows or Azure with the customer problem stated first
- Execution: spec, MVP, scope cuts and ship or no-ship decisions with data
- Metrics for enterprise and consumer products and the guardrails against gaming them
- Technical fluency: APIs, cloud services, latency and reliability in plain words
- Strategy and competition, including how AI changes a workflow
- Growth mindset: disagreement, feedback and leading without authority as specific incidents
Step 1
Pick your domain
The expert on the panel probes these areas at the level of this role. Optional here; you can choose during setup.
Step 2
Choose how you want to be interviewed
1:1 interview
One interviewer runs every round and adapts the focus as you go. Lower pressure; ideal for a first attempt.
Mr. Siddharth Menon
Hiring manager
Panel interview · 3 members
Most realisticEach member leads their own round and hands over to the next. They hear each other, so a weak answer will be revisited.
Mr. Rohit Deshmukh
HR member
Mr. Siddharth Menon
Hiring manager
Ms. Ananya Krishnan
Technical lead
What to expect
5 rounds · 17 minutes
A private-sector hiring loop compressed into one sitting, the way most Indian companies run it: HR screen → hiring-manager round on your actual work → role/technical round led by a lead → communication & behavioural (STAR) round → closing on expectations and your questions.
Works for software, product, sales, finance, HR, support and campus hiring by swapping the role bank.
- Round 1
HR screen
· 3:00Understand background, motivation for this role and company, and basic logistics; check that the resume story holds together.
Mr. Rohit Deshmukh2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 2
Hiring-manager round
· 4:00Assess ownership, judgement and how the candidate actually works: what they shipped, closed or ran, their specific part, and how they would approach this job.
Mr. Siddharth Menon2–3 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 3
Role / technical round
· 5:00Test role knowledge and problem-solving in the chosen specialisation: fundamentals, one scenario to think through aloud, and trade-offs.
Ms. Ananya Krishnan3–4 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 4
Communication & behavioural round
· 3:00Assess collaboration, conflict handling, resilience and clarity of expression through Situation–Task–Action–Result examples.
Mr. Siddharth Menon2–2 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 5
Expectations & closing
· 2:00Cover practical expectations and let the candidate ask questions; close professionally.
Mr. Rohit Deshmukh1–2 questions
Meet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this role.
Mr. Rohit Deshmukh
ChairHR member
Campus talent-acquisition lead, IT services
Energetic, encouraging, checks fundamentals of attitude.
Male voice · 4 languages
Mr. Siddharth Menon
Hiring manager
Head of Product & Business (hiring manager, non-tech roles)
Structured, numbers-first, quietly demanding.
Male voice · 3 languages
Ms. Ananya Krishnan
Technical lead
Head of Product, consumer fintech; earlier senior product manager at a payments company and a product owner in an IT-services delivery team
Curious, calm, allergic to buzzwords, pushes for the user and the metric behind every statement.
Female voice · 3 languages
Languages
Answer in the language you think in
The panel asks in your chosen language. Switch mid-answer if you like.
- English
- Hinglish (Hindi + English)Hinglish
How scoring works
A report you can act on
Every round is scored on the rubric
Each interviewer scores only the criteria their round covers. Weights add up to your overall score out of 100.
Only what you actually said counts
Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.
Communication is always measured
Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.
Pass mark, then a plan
You see the pass mark for this interview, your gaps, and the courses that close them fastest.
Scored on
- Role knowledge30%
Depth and accuracy of role/domain knowledge; understands the tools, concepts and trade-offs of the job; grounds claims in real work.
- Problem solving & structure25%
Breaks problems down, asks clarifying questions, reasons about trade-offs and edge cases, structures answers (context, action, result).
- Communication25%
Clear, concise, confident; listens and answers the question asked; adapts the explanation to the listener; professional register.
- Culture & attitude20%
Ownership, honesty about limits, coachability, collaboration, motivation for this role and realistic expectations.
Pass mark 65 / 100 · Corporate interview — HR, hiring manager & role round (panel)
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