How I received an offer at Microsoft for the position of Senior Product Manager
Preamble
First of all, I would like to expand on the topic of the peculiarities of interviews and negotiations in the European / American markets.
I will share my experience, tell you about cases, features, differences from the CIS market.
When the interviews began, I had already lived in Portugal for half a year.
The very south, sunny Portimao. Someone told me that the Algarve has more than 300 sunny days a year. I didn't count, but it's very similar to the truth. The day starts early and ends late. In winter you can go outside in a regular tracksuit, but in summer you become the color of milk chocolate in a month.
The ocean is cold almost all year round. But a wetsuit bought in the first month does the job. The waves are gorgeous – you can surf every day. I didn’t abuse it, but I treated myself 1-2 times a week.
Half a year of living in Portugal was enough to understand all the features of life in this country. I managed to resolve all the issues regarding the documents, received my license, signed a 3-year lease…
When all issues regarding accommodation and documents were resolved. New acquaintances have been made, and the country as a whole has become understandable and familiar – it’s time for the next quantum leap 🙂
My friend and I call a quantum leap a radical change of work, which entails a large X in the rate, new areas of responsibility, sometimes a new unfamiliar industry, and so on. In general, a lot of stress, great growth, new challenges.
If you are constantly in your comfort zone, or even worse – when your daily work tasks become clear, predictable and obvious to you (routine) – for me this is one of the surest criteria that growth has stopped and it’s time to change something.
In general, a quantum leap always involves a large expenditure of time resources and sometimes nerves, so I prefer to do this when there is no (and not planned) no other external stimuli. In short, at that time the time was very suitable.
This was not the first experience of passing interviews in the European / American markets. Previously, I did this for fun with the goal of testing myself, but without serious intentions, so I wasn’t particularly involved emotionally and in terms of preparation. This time I was already serious, so the approach was different.
Friends previously shared their experiences, so on this shore I set myself several criteria and presuppositions, based on which I will continue to act.
They sounded and looked something like this:
Criteria:
An English-speaking team/product is required;
Strict criteria for compensation without “discounts”;
Contract work (Europe loves to employ people, I don’t like this story);
Full Remote, no hybrids;
Possibility of paying compensation to the account of my chosen bank or, if possible, in crypto;
Position of Lead or Head;
A dynamic company that is open to changes and improvements, in which I will have the authority to make any decisions in my area of responsibility;
Presuppositions:
I do not agree to less compensation;
I'm in no hurry;
The process will take a long time;
I will refuse many;
Many will refuse me;
Focus on the process, not the result. As it goes, so it goes. The expected result will be in any case.
These things may seem trivial, but they help you focus on a goal that has clear criteria for achievement.
I didn’t want to worry about “Cool” companies, about potential refusals, about long response times, and so on.
Therefore, having initially established the rules of the game for myself, I felt at ease and at every interview – like at home.
Where did you get the traffic?
I have chosen 3 main sources of leads for myself. Yes, there are others, and there are many great ones, I can tell you about that separately. But I didn't want to spray like a room humidifier, so here's my list:
Angel (Now they call themselves Wellfound, but I'm used to calling it by its former name)
I have about 8,000 contacts on LinkedIn, including a large percentage of Western colleagues. Therefore, there was already traffic there, but I also added a percentage of my initiative to organic.
Here the strategy was:
Stopped ignoring inbound leads and responded to everyone;
Then cyclically from day to day:
Woke up;
Added 5-10 new contacts HR/Recruiters/CEO → wrote in a personal message;
I looked through the filtered Jobs section for new interesting positions and checked in.
In general, a routine that took about 30 minutes. That's all.
glassdor
These guys have a huge number of offers on their site. But there are features that irritated me. But the abundance of interesting positions beckoned me.
A few words about the features:
Strange filters in which you cannot select, for example, all of Europe. Only selected countries. This is an obvious UX if I'm looking for a remote. Or give the opportunity to mark several countries at once.
These guys added the ability for companies to include custom forms. And I can’t prepare the template and all the data for automation. Moreover, often the same fields are at different steps, with different validation and different filling methods. It hurts.
At the end, after filling out the form, each time you are asked to subscribe to the newsletter. But this newsletter works through the roof. I understand that the guys increase conversion in this way, but then do it wisely and send me not everything in a row, but what really suits me. Well, ask me, I’ll fill out a form with the criteria and send it according to them. Perhaps I am not the target and most of it actually converts – and then this is a good product solution. We don't judge.
Some cases require a Cover Letter to be attached. Who even reads them? I sent off my kiwi, which looks nicer than a brand new iPhone.
Some positions do not have a built-in quick form on the platform at all, and you can only go to the company’s website to fill out their custom form.
But as I said earlier, the abundance of offers still does its job.
Here the strategy was as follows:
It is very meticulous and beautiful to fill out your profile. I love this business.
Prepare a Cover Letter in .pdf, written in the Milton model. There is not the slightest desire to customize and invent a bicycle in each specific case. I love automation where it's applicable;
View all European and American markets initially in order to weed out countries that are not suitable for me for various reasons;
Set up bookmarks with filters for selected countries;
United Kingdom;
Spain;
Germany;
Portugal;
Netherlands;
Norway;
United Arab Emirates;
Israel;
USA;
Every day, open all bookmarks and submit at least 5 positions in each.
All the preparation probably took half a day. Then every day it took 30-40 minutes to fill out and submit forms.
Angel
I love these guys very much. The interface is beautiful, all the filters are there. There are many exclusive positions that I have not seen on any other site. You can even set a filter to search for companies that offer shares or a percentage of profits as compensation.
Here, too, sometimes they ask for a Cover Letter, but 99% of positions are submitted exclusively on the site itself and according to the same template with the same form. Respect for the simplicity.
In general, the algorithm is approximately the same:
Fill out your profile;
Prepare and save filters;
Log in every day and submit at least 5-7 positions.
Total a couple of hours for registration and 20 minutes for submission every day.
Summery
1-2 days to update your CV, Linkedin profile, create profiles in Glassdor and Angel, set up filters and bookmarks, prepare a Cover Letter, which I will conscientiously copy-paste and distribute to everyone in need.
Then the usual routine with a TV series or techno for an hour and a half a day. Usually in the evening.
Lead Processing
I initially prepared myself for the fact that the whole process would take a lot of time. And that the number of companies and interviews that I will undergo will be very high. I did not rule out the possibility that the first company would suit me and we would shake hands, but I understood that this was unlikely.
A bad manager knows a great saying: “the more paper, the cleaner the ass”.
Therefore, I also prepared for myself a simple CRM in notes, in which I planned to keep a record of all contacts, so that later I would not rack my brains in personal correspondence or in the mail and not look for answers to such questions:
Who are you anyway?
What are you doing?
How much were you willing to pay?
What amount did I tell you?
and so on.
Organization CRM
She looked something like this:
In the Leads folder I had only 4 child folders with this logic:
Cold — Communication has begun. Typically, communication begins with a recruiter or HR, that is, essentially an acquaintance. It is not yet clear whether the company has finances, whether I am interested in whether there will be further dialogue at all. So the leads were in this folder until the completion of the first screening interview, inclusive. Then they moved to one of the following folders.
Hot — This folder included those leads with whom communication continued and turned into technical interviews and remained there until one of the following happened: I was no longer interested, the company was no longer interested, I was offered an offer.
Rejected — All leads that were rejected at any stage were sent here.
Doesn't fit — All the leads that didn’t suit me were sent here.
Offer — Everyone who proposed the offer. Yes. It’s logical that an offer that doesn’t suit me just begs to be put in another folder, but no. I love looking at offers and seeing how beautiful I am, so they have a place on a separate shelf.
And this is what Lid’s “card” itself looked like:
I will comment briefly.
The basic card was divided into 4 main parts, always using the same template, so that I could navigate it in a second and not have to search for several minutes for important information (Just think about the fact that at the very height of the process, I had more than 15 companies working at the same time. This is the best way to keep everything in your head).
Title — Company name, Country, Work format, What rate I announced
Brief — Basic data about the lead. Who am I talking to? Where do I communicate? Link to the company website? Where did the lead come from?
Notes — Key data about the position, potential tasks, product, team, ecosystem. The content has always been different, this is logical. But I specifically prepared a list of questions on key points for me. (Then I can separately tell you in more detail about what questions are better to ask or not to ask, as well as how to generally behave at all stages of the interview in order to position yourself correctly and at the same time extract the maximum benefit for yourself.)
Process – here I digitized the stages that I have already passed, and that I still have to do, so that I can always be aware of where I am in general. It’s useful to keep this on hand in case of important negotiations, when you already have an offer in hand and you should hint to the guys to hurry up with their stages. Or if I see that I’m at the beginning of my journey, but there is a scam that suits me, write so that they don’t waste their time and mine. (Well, there are many other advantages and ways to use this information to your advantage.)
The result is a fairly simple but effective CRM that streamlines the process, frees your head from unnecessary information and provides many benefits if you know how to use this information.
Features of the European and American markets
I’m used to the fact that in the CIS market everyone is ready to take you away almost immediately. No need for CRM, no need to prepare profiles and prepare for long searches. Like fishing in a pond – a closed space, there are so many fish that you just cast the fishing rod and the float is already moving, all you have to do is hook it.
The rhythm of life, deadlines, motivation, cultural code are familiar and familiar. Competition is relatively low.
In Europe and the States the situation is completely different.
First feature
Let's start with the fact that from the moment the form is submitted to the moment when they simply write to you “Hey hi, we saw you in spam, let's chat sometime”it may take a couple of months. But on average it is several weeks.
Therefore, the risk that you fill out 30 forms on Monday and by the middle of the week at least half will write to you and you are already overwhelmed and have no time for anything other than interviews – tends to zero.
Brother, I need to relax.
As I said earlier, at best you will get an answer in a couple of weeks.
And then they will slowly start communicating with you. Nobody is in a hurry.
You can easily answer yourself in 2-3 days and no one will take it as “ignoring” or “not being serious.” Therefore, you should let go of the situation and treat what is happening philosophically 🙂
Second feature
In my experience, in most cases companies have pretty much the same interview process and steps.
The exceptions are startups, where you communicate with the CEO like a Kent; he can eat a burger during an interview or ride a bicycle (and this happened), talk about life or politics, sometimes discuss travel or fishing.
But on average it looked something like this:
Interview screening
A week later, interview with the Manager
Another week later, an interview with the Manager's Manager
Another week later, an interview with the Manager of the Manager of the Manager
Final interview with HR, where they will ask you how you are doing, how are you guys, what do they offer and will give you time to think
The exception and record holder was Microsoft with 6 stages of interviews 🙂
Third nice feature
Everyone is very friendly, they often like to chat about nothing, they are ready to repeat it if you don’t understand the Irish accent, they communicate as equals without pathos.
Maybe I was so lucky before, but it seems to me that in the CIS everyone is more serious, “significant”, they like to ask a hundred useless questions, while they themselves do not like to answer the questions.
3 months later. Microsoft. Why did he refuse?
After about a month and a half, I already had ~15 parallel companies with which I interviewed at different stages.
By that time, there were a couple of offers that did not suit me, there were companies that dumped me, and there were those that I dumped for various reasons.
Most companies offered official employment with full-time or part-time office work, which initially did not suit me.
But there were also those who were interesting by all criteria – I continued to communicate with them.
Around this period of time, Microsoft wrote to me.
Moreover, Istria with Microsoft began with my friend. 2 months earlier he literally spammed their website with his applications for various positions.
He wrote a script that automatically sent out more than a hundred applications for all open positions Product Manager / Lead, Product Owner / Lead, Program Manager / Lead. But in the end, a month later he got a job at another company.
So around this time Microsoft responded to him (after 2 months), they say they noticed his application and want to chat. A friend knew that I was still in the process and wrote to me that if you want, I’ll send them your CV and let’s talk.
My friend and I have a local joke that has been going on for years. And it comes down to the fact that any product that works crookedly is an analogue of Microsoft, in particular Skype (Skype is our local joke, the standard of a bad, useless product).
We laughed again about how I would pass the interview and end up working on Skype. But I was interested in communicating and testing myself for the role of Product in a company of this scale.
And then, a couple of days after the recommendation, Microsoft wrote to me.
Looking ahead, I received the offer only at the end of August, that is, 5 weeks after the start of communication.
I won’t post the offer itself for obvious reasons. And it would not be so easy to do this. An 8-page canvas that describes in detail all the conditions, benefits, deadlines, and so on.
How did you go through all the stages of the interview at Microsoft?
I had 6 interviews:
Screening Interview;
Interview with Product Head of the European Unit;
Interview with Product Head of American Unit;
Interview with Product Head of Asian Unit;
Interviews with Product Heads of all the above-mentioned Heads;
Interview with Program Manager;
And a call with a recruiter, where they had already given me an offer, told me everything and gave me time to think.
What’s interesting is that all 3 interviews with Unit Heads were built on the same principle. The questions were almost the same. Of course, large companies have processes, rules, patterns by which they live. Pre-prepared questions and strict and obvious selection criteria.
Another cool moment was that all the Heads interviewed me from huge conference rooms, sitting at the far end of a huge table, in front of a huge monitor and with panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows, behind which there was always a beautiful green park. (Let me remind you that they were all in different offices in different parts of the world)
It felt like I was in negotiations about a corporate merger.
I was pleasantly surprised that the very Head of all Heads was a Ukrainian girl.
Why did I refuse?
The main factor It turned out that the work involved a relocation to Prague. The work was hybrid – I could work from home for a couple of days and from the office for a couple of days. But essentially this turns out to be office work, not remote work. How far can I travel for 2 days a week?)
I couldn’t go to Bali or Argentina or Canada and work from there. I don’t understand what to do in Prague. I was there and I can’t say that I was delighted and would like to live there.
The second factor it became that (and this is as ironic as possible) that I would have to work on (ATTENTION): Skype, MS Teams, Outlook! Yes, actually I don't mind :)))
Jokes aside, I would be interested in trying to positively influence these products. Yes, I like MS Teams. But I have already worked on similar legacy products, and I understand what it is. So the real reason is that the creative field would most likely be under repair all the time. I would not be able to implement my ideas.
And as I wrote at the very beginning, one of the important criteria for me was that I should be able to influence processes, the product, make independent decisions and the company’s openness to change.
In this case, I would simply be a link in a chain that performs specific tasks set by management without freedom of creativity, responsibility, risks and creativity.
Well, after all, they voiced to me the tasks and goals that I would have to work on – there was no talk about product solutions. More about microservices, databases, data flows, integrations. This is not exactly what I wanted at that moment.
Well, perhaps in the end I’ll add that this was the most difficult refusal of my life. Refuse Microsoft, despite the fact that they offer compensation for all relocation costs, payment for an apartment for 3 months, provide a car, full maximum insurance, and a loyalty program that involves paying a six-figure amount over 2 years in addition to the basic rate.
It took me a couple of days to muster up the courage to voice my refusal 🙂
As a result, I chose another company where I took the position”Head of Products & Operations” with practically root rights, freedom of decision-making, creativity, creativity and self-realization.
Startup atmosphere, 4 subordinate teams (SEO, Analytics, Product, UXUI Design), flexibility, freedom to make many decisions.
At that time I saw it like this: “When I want to retire in the form of order and stability with insurance, then I can try Microsoft again.”
In the meantime, my soul is more focused on development, dynamics and stress 🙂
I feel very comfortable in this atmosphere at the moment.
Resume
3 months;
Approximately 350 CVs sent out;
About 60 interviews in total;
4 offers that suited me;
Microsoft Disclaimer;
Choosing a product with a startup atmosphere.
If you liked the case and the story, leave a comment or give reactions) If you have questions and would be interested in him revealing some sub-topic, then write in the comments. I'll be glad.
