How Rishab Jolly Landed a Senior PM Role at Microsoft

Rishab Jolly, a 37-year-old senior product manager at Microsoft, recently shared the story of his career transition. Originally from India, Jolly moved to the United States in 2015 to pursue an MBA at the University of Arizona. His goal was to combine his engineering background with business acumen.

Despite his education, Jolly faced a difficult job market. After graduation, he applied to approximately 200 jobs with generic résumés but received only three callbacks. Two offers were rescinded due to visa risks and budget issues. He eventually secured his role at Microsoft in July 2017 by utilizing a referral from a contact made during his MBA studies. He credits his success to networking, tailoring his application materials, and maintaining a professional public presence.

Jolly began his career in India, working as a software quality tester and engineer after studying engineering and computer science. Driven by an interest in the business side of technology, he left his job to pursue an MBA in the United States. He chose the University of Arizona to gain the necessary business acumen to complement his technical skills.

Upon arriving in the US, Jolly was inspired by the level of innovation and the opportunities to work on cutting-edge products. He viewed the move as a necessary step to build a meaningful career in the technology sector. His time in the MBA program provided the foundation for his eventual transition into product management.

The MBA program at the University of Arizona offered valuable partnerships with major technology companies. Representatives from Microsoft, Amazon, and Google brought projects to campus, allowing students to work on real deliverables. In 2016, Jolly served as a team lead on a Microsoft project. The team performed well, giving Jolly the opportunity to network with and demonstrate his skills to a Microsoft product manager.

However, the path to employment was not immediate. After graduating, Jolly faced a reality check. He applied to roughly 200 jobs using the same generic résumé without referrals. He received only three calls back, and both offers he received were subsequently rescinded. One company viewed his visa status as too risky without a STEM extension, while another cited budgetary reasons.

With only 60 to 90 days to secure a job or return to India, Jolly experienced significant financial pressure and anxiety. He ran out of money and had to ask a friend if he could crash on their couch. During this stressful period, he maintained contact with the Microsoft representative he met during his MBA project.

When a position opened at Microsoft, Jolly reached out to his contact for a referral. The contact agreed, and Jolly immediately rewrote his résumé to match the specific role. He notes that this combination of a referral and a tailored résumé made all the difference. The hiring manager liked his application, leading to an interview and eventual hire in July 2017. He started as a product manager and was promoted to senior product manager in 2021.

Jolly identifies two distinct steps to landing a job in Big Tech: getting the interview and passing it. For the first step, he insists that referrals are critical. He explains that Big Tech companies receive tens of thousands of résumés monthly, and a referral can push an application to the top of the pile.

To prepare for the interview itself, Jolly relied heavily on mock interviews. He reached out to peers to test him, helping to refine his storytelling and practice answering metrics-driven questions. He emphasizes that authenticity is key; interviewers at Microsoft told him his stories resonated because they were based on real experiences rather than rehearsed answers found online.

Another crucial element Jolly highlights is establishing a professional public presence. He began posting consistently on LinkedIn during the pandemic, sharing lessons on product management and industry observations. This activity helped him build a community and demonstrated his passion and initiative to recruiters. He advises that in a fast-changing industry, the ability to adapt and self-learn is as important as the content of a résumé.

One misconception Jolly held early in his career was that an MBA was required to break into Big Tech. While he values his degree for the practical experience and network it provided, he notes that successful product managers come from diverse backgrounds, including accounting and English literature. He believes Microsoft values diverse backgrounds because they bring fresh perspectives to teams.

Reflecting on his experience as an immigrant, Jolly acknowledges that the path is rarely linear. Visa restrictions, financial pressure, and cultural adjustments can be stressful. However, he advises that staying focused and working smart eventually brings everything together. After over eight years at Microsoft, he continues to focus on professional growth and contributing to the technology ecosystem.

Jolly’s advice for anyone following a similar path is straightforward: network strategically, prepare thoroughly, stay authentic, and continually build skills and presence. He believes that persistence and the right relationships can open doors that seem impossible.