I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Jersey City, NJ) in Nov 2015
Interview
Initial phone screen with recruiter. Follow up phone screen with a general manager after one week. One week later, on-site interview at a FC in New Jersey where I interviewed with 5 individuals (one HR, two regional directors, general manager and a logistics manager). There were 2 other candidates interviewing. Started the day at 10:00 AM with a plant tour. Then interviews of 45 minutes each until 6:00 PM (with big gaps in between). Long day. No lunch served, not allowed to leave the building. Gave us some chips, soda's and candy. Every trip to a bathroom had to be with an escort. Felt very captive, and not welcoming for a senior role.
Due to signed NDA, I won't comment on specific questions, but suffice to say that all interviewers asked the questions EXACTLY the same way. "Tell me about a time when ..." They each focus on some of Amazon's guiding principles. I have interviewed quite a bit in my 20 year career, but never was it this structured with zero opportunity for some pleasant interaction with the interviewer.
Though I had prepared well, I noticed very quickly that this style of interviewing did not suite me. I felt there was zero chemistry with some of the interviewers. That said, it must work well for Amazon as they have been doing it like this for a long time (see previous interview process reviews). What would concern me though (and I gave them this feedback) is that the employees they will end up selecting as successful candidates via this process are all going to be clones (ie. similar thinking, style, manners, etc.) I suppose Amazon will see this as a strength, but I see it as a giant weakness, and I'm sure "group think" is prevalent at this company's culture, and probably even valued.
Though I believe I could have knocked this job out of the park, I knew this wasn't a good fit for me culturally after the interviewing day. I also knew I was not going to be successful in my candidacy. Fortunately, I had multiple opportunities in the hopper.
NOTE - I'm rating interview difficulty as "difficult". This is very subjective. Others may love this style of interviewing and think it was easy. I will say there are no surprises, no "gotcha" questions, and by using other glassdoor reviews, you will know 100% what is coming. Oh, and no math question. Not sure if they forgot (like I said it wasn't very organized), or if it wasn't scheduled for this session. Good luck to you!
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Amazon (Kansas City, MO) in Sep 2014
Interview
My resume and a personal recommendation got me to the first step - a Phone Screen. In the Phone Screen I gave examples of my successes as they aligned with the Amazon Leadership principles. There were a few behavioral questions but overall no sweat and I made it to the next step.
I applied online. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (London, England) in Sep 2015
Interview
Maths test
Phone screen 1
Phone screen 2
Write one written answer to a choice of two questions
On site tour followed by four back to back interviews
All based STAR method questions, interviewers all taking notes on paper that had 'star' written on it. Questions based on leadership principles, so read up on this. Three interviews from operational people and one from HR person. It's a tough, tough day.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How have you dealt with an underperforming employee
Time when learnt something from scratch with no training
Time when you dealt with employee dispute
Time when you developed a new metric
Time you used feedback to make a process better
How did you hire your best employee