How often do Microsoft interview questions change?

I did have a handful of thought-problems I might pull out if I thought they would help me investigate the way the candidate handled uncertain situations. I know from talking with my peers that these were different from questions they used.

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Each interviewer has their own questions. Most have a) more questions than you could answer in a day and b) the ability - it’s not hard - to spin off new questions based on whatever you’ve just said. (They’re smart folks, as are their peers at Amazon, Google, etc.)

I estimate I interviewed between 500 and 1000 candidates over my time there. I did have three questions I used a lot:

  1. How’s your day going?
  2. Do you need anything? Coffee, soda, bathroom break?
  3. Tell me a bit about yourself.

Both 1) and 2) were as straightforward as they sound. I suppose 3) technically is not a question, but close enough. It was really an invitation for the candidate to position themselves in light of what they’d learned from talking with other interviewers, since I was usually at or near the end of the interview loop. And the real point of this question: Do you listen, learn, and adapt?

Beyond that, I did have a handful of thought-problems I might pull out if I thought they would help me investigate the way the candidate handled uncertain situations. I know from talking with my peers that these were different from questions they used. And I did repeat these, when I used them, because I didn’t want to waste the candidate’s time, my own time, or an opportunity to get good information by screwing around with an un-thought-through problem.

Mostly, I tried to listen and learn myself, and find ways to dig into whether the candidate was both exceptional and a great fit for Microsoft and for the job. I didn’t always succeed, of course, but asking rote questions would have been an easy way to assure bad hiring practices.

And I considered it an hour ill spent if I didn’t learn something new (and I don’t mean, say, the color of the candidate’s hair). If I wasn’t engaged in the process and legitimately curious, how could I give an honest evaluation of the candidate?