I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Amazon (San Francisco, CA) in Aug 2020
Interview
I have mixed feelings about my interview experience at Amazon. The format was fine and the interviewers prepared. Situational and behavioral interviewing using a set of principles is something I do as well when I interview a candidate. My confusion/hesitation/concern is the feeling I got from the Recruiter. I anticipated that I may get the call about not proceeding with an offer but hopeful that I would based on my understanding of their interview rules that I interpreted from several sources. I prepared a set of questions to verify my assumptions. Based on the Recruiter's response, I surmised that I may have said or claimed something that did not sit well with the interview team and the bar raiser. The responses and examples I provided are real, honest, and based on my experience. The patent example which is my greatest achievement is also true in fact I provided the patent information to Amazon. Again based on the Recruiter's response at Amazon, they have standards that they follow, That response leads me to believe they found something that was untrue during the process. So I have mixed feelings about this format at this time.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time where you dealt with a difficult customer.
Interview process is lengthy. Starts with a phone interview. Recruiter can be very helpful in the process. The last leg of the interview is a four hour loop. Each hour with different interviewees. They will have a amazon leadership principle and they will ask behavioral questions in relation to that. Don’t repeat stories
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a situation that was full of ambiguity.
Terrible, they said I would be swapped between managers for the first 8 months. No thank you. Total disrespect for my time and the team members involved. Bullet dodged thankfully.
They’re asking for a lot of prep for a role that doesn’t seem to match the pay. For that kind of compensation, the interview should be simpler - maybe just a two-part process with basic questions. That’s what it feels like it’s worth