The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Paris)
Interview
Before talking about my experience these are the key things to know in my opinion:
1) Give quantitative figures about past achievements
2) Be synthetic and concise about past experience always giving context ; ALWAYS ANSWER WITH THE STAR METHORD (Situation, Task, Action, Result)
3) Know the 14 leadership principles and link them with your experiences
4) This a behavioural interview scheme: "give me a time when..." or "give me a situation when..." so know your experiences thoroughly !!
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Met someone at university company forum who thought I was a good fit and directly put my CV in the internal database.
Was then sent an email telling me that I was selected to attend the interview process which was the following:
- 1st interview: Manager; ~1 hour
Received an email with a case study (selling the marketplace to a potential customer)
Had the call which lasted for about an hour: 40min motivation and 20min selling, I had TWO case studies in the end although only ONE was announced (had to explain why an account was seeing a major drop in sales, the idea was to find the important factors affecting the drop - stock, price, delivery time etc)
After that I was invited to the Amazon HQ in France for the 4 final interviews:
-2nd Interview: Manager ; ~1 hour
With a person who could become my manager: she looked at my fit with the job, asked about previous objectives I had surpassed, questionned my general understanding of the job, tested the ownership I had with my past projects etc. and then asked me some questions about a product page for about 10 min (how many suppliers, is the product shown the one of with the lowest price...)
-3rd Interview: HR ; ~1 hour
This was the only interview without a case study but the behavioural questions were very hard (see questions below) ; all Amazon interviews focus on the 14 leadership principles and this one might be the most important ; only one interviewer because the other one was on vacation
-4th Interview: Analytical Skills w/ Analytical Manager; ~1 hour
Was asked again my motivations for the job and then focused on a time where I had a very challenging analytical problem, looks at my appetite for problem solving and attention to detail ; then conceptual case studies - similar to what I experience in consulting - asking me if I should always allow free delivery and what is the next $1B idea Jeff Bezos should implement
-5th Interview: Selling Skills w/ Pure Sales person; ~1 hour
Asked again about my motivation for the job and then jumped into a case study which I was asked to prepare by email
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time when you needed people to achieve an objective but these people did not want to help you
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Slough, Berkshire, South East England, England) in Jan 2012
Interview
An afternoon of interviews with 3 or 4 different sessions. The interviewers were quite cold and hard. Some questions about improving prime and how you prioritise workload first thing in the morning.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Amazon
Interview
I think it was one of the worst experience I've had with a big tech company, they stick with their reputation.
I applied threw referal process.
First it took more than 3 months for the HR to come back to me because I've heard from people inside the company that they are renewing staff.
Then she sent me an automatic email for a phone interview with some spelling mistakes.
During the interview, the person I was on the phone with was showing off at the most because it's Amazon.
I answered all his questions and the role play went well. He told me at the end it was very good. I had just a very few things I did not know I agree.
So I had a negative answer with an automatic email from the HR again saying that I would not be able to get a feedback because it's in Amazon's policy so it stays mistery to me :).
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Classic questions about your previous experiences.
To your oppinion what's the % between prospection & account management at the beggining of the position ? 85% prospecting