Supposed growth opportunities really don't exist - Product Advisor Microsoft Employee Review

2.0
29 Jan 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent benefits package. Part time gets almost the same insurance options as full-time. Accured paid time off. Tuition reinburstment. Basically if you're maybe in highschool or starting college this might be a decent job, otherwise I can't recommend it.

Cons

Moving up in the company is not easy at all, espically when your manager favors hiring externally instead of promoting internally. There's huge problems with favoritism, and Store Managers work horribly under any type of stress. You're constantly reminded the retail stores aren't making the company any money, and that your employment is almost a gift. Yearly, the entire company structure changes and you're expected to immediately fit into their new mold. While there is zero commission, you're expected to sell like your job depends on it. People with absolutely no experience whom have just started with the company get promoted over people who have worked there for years since tenure isn't looked at for growth. Work environment can be fun however a lot of times its extremely childish and ridiculous with constant cheering, clapping, yelling. If you go through their NSO program you'll know all about this. Most of the time you're treated like you're in kindergarden. Bonus is based on sales and customer satisfaction survey. However, if your store isn't making huge business sales, your bonus will never amount to anything. Raises are yearly and the absolute most you can make is 4%. Most employees only get 2% raise. It's pretty horrible.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
22 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The work life balance is great.

Cons

Very little pay not competitive.

4.0
28 Jan 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. If you love tech, this is a great place. No doubt you'll talk tech (mostly the MSFT stack) from enterprise to consumer - from PCs to phones to Xboxes - from datacenter to desktop. 2. What were GREAT benefits are now VERY GOOD (took a small step down) but still probably better than you'll find at 99% of large corporations. If you've got family - the value of the benefits is even higher. 401k match is nice. 3. Even with it's struggles MSFT is still a cash printing machine. This means if you can keep your nose clean and do reasonable work, you can have a stable job, pay your bills, feed your family, and not worry (too much) about layoffs. The stock you own likely won't tank, but probably won't go up much either. You'll get a bonus each year and some stock. It's a decent life if you aren't looking to light the world on fire.

Cons

Brand on Your Resume: After many years of losing market share and struggling to be at the front end of innovation and the fact that there's 90,000 employees, don't think MSFT is necessarily going to be attractive on your resume to more agile and smaller companies. Managing Your Career: Make you say this out loud so it registers - 90,000 employees work there. Double that for vendors. It is VERY hard to "stand out" and move up in the company. Don't expect your manager to be much of an advocate or enabler to help you meet your career goals - they are basically trying to survive the stack rank every year too. Not familiar with the stack rank? Check out the 2012 Vanity Fair article called "Microsoft's Lost Decade".

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