Disclosure: I am a Microsoft employee but am only speaking about my personal observation of our processes. This is not the company's opinion. I believe I am not disclosing any proprietary information.
Microsoft doesn't always get it right, but the process is designed and intended to provide a top-notch candidate experience (sometimes at the expense of the interviewer's time, company's budget, etc.). I primarily have experience with the college recruiting side of the house. Industry candidates come through a different pipeline.
* We have people dedicated to logistics: scheduling the loops with engineers, air transit, hotel, rental cars, etc.
* A separate group of dedicated people handles the candidate's side: Email them details ahead of time, meet them at the beginning and end of the day, and keep them informed throughout the process.
* Although we have an official tool for documenting interview loops, the more important aspect is a strong culture of "warm handoffs" from interviewer to interviewer. What was covered, where did the candidate do well, where could we use a deeper dive to understand the candidate's skills?
* Training at multiple levels for interviewers: Before you can begin interviewing, you have to attend a training. Many divisions have historically required additional training. Want to go to campus? There's another training for that. Also, the training now emphasizes how useless "trick" questions are and how to formulate good questions.
There's more, but it veers into proprietary details of the process that I don't feel comfortable disclosing.
When I was in school I was always amazed at how lavishly Microsoft spent at my no-name tech school. A full time local Microsoft recruiting rep (don't remember if regional or assigned solely to that school), quarterly Microsoft events with giveaways, prominent booth at the career fair. Google probably didn't even know the place existed, but especially at the time they were such a sought-after company that they probably didn't need to expend any effort on recruiting.
Microsoft doesn't always get it right, but the process is designed and intended to provide a top-notch candidate experience (sometimes at the expense of the interviewer's time, company's budget, etc.). I primarily have experience with the college recruiting side of the house. Industry candidates come through a different pipeline.
* We have people dedicated to logistics: scheduling the loops with engineers, air transit, hotel, rental cars, etc. * A separate group of dedicated people handles the candidate's side: Email them details ahead of time, meet them at the beginning and end of the day, and keep them informed throughout the process. * Although we have an official tool for documenting interview loops, the more important aspect is a strong culture of "warm handoffs" from interviewer to interviewer. What was covered, where did the candidate do well, where could we use a deeper dive to understand the candidate's skills? * Training at multiple levels for interviewers: Before you can begin interviewing, you have to attend a training. Many divisions have historically required additional training. Want to go to campus? There's another training for that. Also, the training now emphasizes how useless "trick" questions are and how to formulate good questions.
There's more, but it veers into proprietary details of the process that I don't feel comfortable disclosing.