Everything I did to Become a Microsoft Explore Intern

8 min readOct 29, 2020

I have spent a lot of time thinking about what went right with my application, and everything that fell in place for me to get an opportunity at Microsoft. The truth is, I don’t know. So I thought I’d write this article to just sum up everything I did do, the tools I used, and the approaches I used, so hopefully, you can pick up the parts you think would work for you!

Since the Explore program is for freshmen and sophomores, I know most people applying are still new to the recruiting game (or at least I was). So I intend to cover some general advice for that as well!

This article also includes a link to a Notion template I made at the end. It gives you the tools and place to format almost everything I have covered below, to have it all in one organized place.

Disclaimer that I am not an expert on this. Microsoft was the first company I applied to, the first one I heard back from, the first one I got an offer for, and the first internship I accepted for Summer 2021. All this to say, I do not have a lot of experience. Regardless, this covers everything I did and all of it did lead up to an offer.

Applying Online

The scariest part about programs like these is the number of applications. Even getting your resume looked at is not guaranteed, and so you need to find ways to increase your chances before application. Referrals and Company Events are the best ways to do this.

I didn’t know many people in the tech world before this process, but I threw myself into it. I used Linkedin more than I expected and I’d recommend it for the people who feel like they’re in the same boat! The process I used was generally to search for people in the positions I wanted or the company I was looking at, send them a note giving them context and telling them I’d love to ask them some questions, I’d then schedule a call with them after they added me back (which did not always happen) and then we’d have a casual conversation on Zoom. Afterward, I would usually send them a thank-you note, and either they’d offer to refer me or I’d ask myself.

The referral process isn’t usually a super hard one so most people are willing to do it, especially once they get to know you a bit better! This whole process was a great way to hear some interesting takes about the application process and specific company-related things as well. You also get to connect with people that you may never have met otherwise and you can continue your relationship far beyond just the one company!

A screenshot from a page of the Notion template that lets you keep track of contacts

As a side note, don’t overthink the questions you want to ask! The conversations with these people aren’t supposed to be stressful so remember that there’s nothing to lose.

Company events are another way to increase the odds of getting past the resume screen. I joined the Microsoft University Recruiting Team on Linkedin, where they usually have posts that outline monthly virtual events you can attend. These events let you drop off your resume as well, so they not only see it but they know that you are invested.

The last part of applying online is your resume. There are a lot of things that go into making a perfect resume, and I know I’m probably still far from it. The most important advice I could offer regarding this is just to get as many opinions as you can! There are subreddits (like r/Resume or a weekly thread for resume advice on r/cscareerquestions), Facebook groups (you can ask on Rewriting the Code if you’re eligible to join), and even just independent “Resume Roast” workshops. I would also recommend asking any mentors or people you connect with through this process for their opinions.

The Phone-Screen

Congratulations, you got through the hardest part! The initial interview is one 30-minute phone call. I have heard that these vary in structure, but I only got asked behavioral questions.

The single biggest help for me for this round was Glassdoor. I had gone to the pages for Microsoft Explore experiences and made a list of every single question on there and divided them into categories- Behavioural, Technical, and Design. For the behavioral questions I then basically prepared for each or made sure I was at least comfortable talking about them all. Questions I’d definitely make sure I had fully-fledged answers to include “Tell me about yourself”, “Why CS?” and “Why Microsoft?”.

For the behavioral questions, I also learned about the 5 stories trick. That is, I chose 5 key moments from all the experiences on my resume and tagged them with what they exemplified (for example, leadership, teamwork, working through a challenge). I created bullet-points for each of them that walked through the experience and emphasized the skills and things I learned from them. I made sure I could recall these quickly so that when the interviewer asked me a question based on my experiences, I could bend one of these five stories to fit the question they asked while still having a solid answer. I’d also recommend having a clear idea of what you’d say if you were asked about anything on your resume.

A screenshot from a page of the Notion template for your stories

You can assign tags to each story as well

Although I didn’t get asked technical questions for this round, I did still prepare for them (and would suggest you do too). For this, I just did Leetcode questions. I’d only do Leetcode Easy and a couple of Mediums, mostly because anything beyond that I found too hard.

Every question I attempted though I would approach as I would in the actual interview. So I recorded myself on PhotoBooth and would talk through the whole question, set a time-limit, have a pen and paper with me so I could make notes and diagrams, write pseudocode, write the actual code, go through test cases, and debug till it passed all test cases. I would then review footage to make sure I was communicating well throughout. Even if you don’t get it running the way you want it to in the end, if you do a good enough job communicating, it can be enough to get you through.

Most people haven’t done their Data Structures and Algorithms course by this stage so there are a limited number of topics you need to cover. I’d suggest focusing on Strings, Arrays, Dictionaries/HashMaps, Linked Lists, and Binary Trees. Truth be told, I didn’t go into the interviews very solid on binary trees, but someone had mentioned it as a possible topic to be covered.

Keep track of all technical questions previously asked and how many you have solved

Store code patterns that you can review often

For the design questions, I had skimmed through “Cracking the PM Interview” which covers all you need to know. The main things I’d remember for a PM interview at this level are: making sure you have a clear idea of the customer and considering constraints for whatever you are building. Also, try reading or watching some exemplar answers and give yourself some random cues to practice with!

Make sure you prepare at least 3 questions to ask your interviewer at the end. I’ve heard that it is way more important than you’d think! I also collected a few current topics of conversation that pertained to tech or Microsoft that I could then weave into the conversation as talking points. That way you make it easier to connect with the interviewer and have a genuine conversation. An example of something I included like this was the Netflix documentary, “The Social Dilemma” which had just come out when I had my phone-screen.

Final Interviews

The final round for me consisted of 2 45-minute rounds with 1 interviewer each. Each interview had me do an intro and had some follow-up questions about some of my experiences, they then went into one programming question each. Both the interviews for me had Leetcode-Easy String problems (with one of them using a dictionary as well).

Most of the prep for this interview had already been done for the phone-screen so it was just more of all of that. What I did differently before the final round was a mock interview with one of my mentors! The funny part is that honestly, I did super bad. Like I could not have struggled more with the question. But it made me a little less nervous about the interview itself because I had already experienced close to the worst-case scenario. I was also able to get feedback about how I was communicating and what I could focus on more!

Whether or not this opportunity works out, completing this is a huge feat! Sometimes you can do all the things right and still not get an offer. All of this is so so so dependent on luck, and I really cannot stress that enough. That being said, I think if you can prepare as best as you can, you can end the process knowing that there was nothing more that you could have done.

If you’re going through the process now, I’m sending you the tightest hugs and lots of luck! This is well within your reach because, trust me, if I can get here you can too! If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to me on any of my socials!

Notion Template

Click here.

My Stats

I’m an Asian female sophomore that studies at Queen’s University, in Canada. I had a GPA of 4.21 (on a scale of 4.3). I already had an internship position at another company for the Fall, and I was a Teaching Assistant as well. I also had some small side-projects.