Microsoft Interview Day
On Friday 14th March, Year 11 Waingels students participated in our annual Microsoft Interview Day. This year, I was lucky enough to take part in this and I will share my experiences of the day and what the day looked like alongside comments from the Microsoft Team and our Head of Business Studies and Economics.
We have been preparing for this day for the past couple of months with our Tutors in Personal Development Time. We all worked on producing our CVs and covering letters which, once finished, were given to Microsoft employees who had a chance to read through them before we were invited to the interview. A few days before the interview day, we were all given our interview invite letters which contained our time slots for the interview, making sure we would arrive for our interview on time (or 5 minutes before hand to be exact).
When the day came around, all the Year 11s arrived at school in smart clothes as it was a practice interview. The interviews began at 9:30am and went all the way through until 12:50pm (lunch time). Us Year 11 candidates all left our lessons 5 minutes early to give us time to prepare and look at example questions.
When we arrived at the main hall, we were registered by Dr Kaur, then we were shown to a chair with our interview table number on it from 1-25. Once it was time for our interview, our Microsoft interviewer came and collected us. We introduced ourselves by giving our interviewer a handshake. Once we had introduced ourselves, the interviewer took us into the main hall and sat us down at our specific table. Once sat, they started to ask us questions about the job role we had specifically applied for in our covering letter while getting to know us through the information we had previously provided in our CV. The interview lasted for about 15 minutes. I was really nervous before I went in but by the time it was over, I actually really enjoyed the experience and realised it wasn’t that bad at all!
The rest of the day was typically normal, until Period 5 (2:00pm) where we had twenty minutes of our lessons before going back to the Main Hall for the final assembly where the winners of the interview day would be announced, and those winners would spend a day at Microsoft HQ after our exams have finished.
Lily Satterthwaite from Microsoft had the following to say about the event “I am honoured to lead the Microsoft's signature mock interview at Waingels each year with the same enthusiasm because it is a highly anticipated event designed to help 240 students hone their interview skills and prepare for realworld job opportunities.”
“This event offers a unique opportunity for attendees to engage in one-onone mock interviews with experienced Microsoft professionals across various disciplines, including Software Engineering, Product Management, Data & Applied Science, Basic/Applied Research, Product Design, Sales Operations, Sales, Customer Success, Customer Support, Project Management, and Solutions Architects and UX Research.”
“Participants will receive personalised feedback and insights to improve their interview techniques and boost their confidence.” “This initiative reflects Microsoft's commitment to supporting career development and fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth.”
Overall, the day was an amazing experience and gave us an insight into what a proper interview would be like. I would highly recommended that all students in the below year group take part in this experience next year as you can get a good taste of what a proper interview is like in the future. Dr Kaur, Subject Leader for Business Studies and Economics and organiser of Microsoft Interview Day had the following to say:
“This is a whole community event at Waingels as we have professionals from Microsoft, other companies and governors come in and conduct interviews on the day”.
“Preparation begins months before where tutors and parents play a vital role in checking CVs and covering letters for students. On the day we really see the school pull together to help make this day a success from the admin staff, communications team, site team, catering team, key workers coming to support our SEND students, Careers Adviser, staff providing reassurance to nervous students, and to our Business department in helping with the logistics.”
“We are very proud of our Waingels community for pulling together and giving this opportunity to our students to step outside the classroom to experience skills that will be useful to them in their next steps.”
