I applied in-person. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Jul 2008
Interview
Was interviewed by a panel of Sr. Program Managers at a local recruiting session. A 1:1 with a Test Manager followed this interview. I think after the 2 hour discussion they had made a decision to hire me. It wasn't clear which team would make the offer, it took 2 more weeks to find out the list of teams interested in my abilities.
After talking to the hiring managers on the phone and in person I decided to opt for a team I was primarily interested in.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why do you want to join Microsoft and what domain are you most interested in?
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Seattle, WA) in Nov 2008
Interview
I had an initial phone screen. Got a lot of design questions and one or two technical questions. Was asked to come to Seattle for onsite interviews. I had 5 interviews with the Visual Studio Team which were very technical unlike other PM interviews because Visual Studio PM's are supposed to be technical. (I am a CS major). Got an offer 3 days later but then was told later that the position had been offered to someone else and I was asked to come back again to Seattle to interview with another team. This time I interviewed with the Office Team. I again had 5 interviews and got an offer again but I had already accepted another offer and so declined.
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Microsoft (Seattle, WA) in Sep 2008
Interview
I only did the initial phone screen and did not pursure it further since I decided against moving for a job. I also heard from other microsoft insiders that that team did not have much growth. I remember that they were particular about having a landline to have the technical interview on, a mobile phone would not do. Some microsoft paranoia :) ?
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Since this was for program management, I expected some ambiguous questions. The main one was : "What would you do if you see a colleague who is running late for a meeting, and is struggling with a vending machine that has taken the cash but not dispensed the soft drink yet ?"