I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (München, Bayern) in Sep 2017
Interview
- One phone call with HR
- One phone call with a person from the team
- Four interviews at Amazon (three with people from the team and one outside the team)
Once you get invited to the process they send you some guidelines explaining the interviews are competency based to check whether you match with the Amazon Principles (which they attach to the email, so it is not a surprise).
All the interviewers were really nice and friendly, very "american". I did not really know if I was doing a good interview or not, as there is no correct answer.
I would recommend to read several times the Amazon principles and think about situations of your previous work/academic life that reflect you share them.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- What would you improve about Amazon?
- Situation in which you changed somebody's mind (a colleague)
- Time in which you not only matched expectations but exceeded them
- Time you convinced your superior to change his or her mind
- Best e-commerce experience
- Would you change anything about today?
- What do you do to focus on a task?
Etc. Mostly competency based questions followed by more questions such as "what was the outcome?", "how did you tell him/her?", "what did you learn from it?", "how did you reach that conclusion?" ...
Also two small cases related to the job, which I had to "solve" together with the interviewer, brainstorming.
Screening call with recruiter, followed by 3 back-to-back interview loops. Interviews focused primarily on behavioral questions tied to Amazon Leadership Principles, along with an Excel assessment testing analytical and data manipulation skills.
The process was well-structured and followed Amazon’s typical interview format:
1. Recruiter Screening
* Initial discussion about experience, role scope, and expectations
* Basic behavioral and background questions
2. Hiring Manager Interview
* Focus on past experience, business impact, and ownership
* Mix of behavioral and situational questions
3. Interview Loop (3–5 interviews)
* Multiple interviewers covering different Amazon Leadership Principles
* Included a Bar Raiser interview
* Heavy focus on:
* Decision-making
* Trade-offs
* Metrics and impact
* Depth of ownership
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Useless leadership principles framed in behavioral question. Tell me about a time when
You start with an online assessment, which is relatively easy. Then a recruiter reaches out to you if you pass and will ask standard hiring questions. After which, you will then have a phone screen interview and if you pass, you do an interview loop with 5 people. Which is insane for a role that does not pay 100K annually. They also make you go prepare 12-20 STAR stories that you should pretty much memorize.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you invented a process to make things simpler
