I applied online. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Amazon in Jun 2012
Interview
I applied online & was contacted within 24 hrs, a week later was asked to attend a 4 hour panel session consisting of 4 interviews.
Two days before this panel I was asked to submit a written exercise on a business issue I had resolved - the style had to be narrative ie no PowerPoint or bullets.
Interviews were very straightforward competency based, do your research & your fine.
2 of the interviewers had only been with Amazon for a couple of months..!
The HR person interviewing was the weakest by far.
Got a job offer after about 2 weeks - they then withdrew it as they had also filled the same position internally.
I went to a networking event later that month & 2 other people knew someone who had had the same saga..!
Got a call 5 months later asking if I was still interested - went along for another panel - got the same questions & one of the same interviewers who st ill had his notes on me from the last time.
Again 2 of the interviewers had only been with Amazon a couple of months. 3 of the interviews were non events, they were more interested in telling you how hard it is at Amazon, with no regard to what experience you have or the qualities you can bring.
Got a call 10 days later from a recruiter I'd nv met or heard from saying no offer - when I pointed out that they had rung me & that I'd been offered the job previously, he fell apart, mumbled something about not giving feedback as they are an American company..!
I looked at this guys profile ion LinkedIn & he's another new recruit with about 3 months under his belt.
My impression is that Amazon is full of new starts who are so impressed that they can wear shorts to work, that they miss the point of the process. I was interviewed 8 times, & only 1 person was doing the job I was applying for. In both sessions the bar raiser was a person who had less that three months working for the company.
Overall the interviews are easy it's the length of time you waste & the hopeless communication that's difficult.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Tell me when you've ad to improve someone's performance through feedback & what tools you used
The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Jul 2011
Interview
My interview process followed what I read in other posts for the most part. Amazon called me - I did not initiate by sending in a resume. I first had some initial calls with HR (twice) and then an hour-long interview with the Hiring manager. The Hiring Manager seemed great and it was a good fit, so when they called for an on-site interview I decided to go even though I wasn't crazy about re-locating. The interview was similar to what I read - 5 people one-by-one with the first one being the hardest. As I wasn't interviewing for a developer role I didn't have some of the logic questions that I read about, but they definitely had some tough questions. The first guy wouldn't tell you who he was or what he did but just started peppering you with questions and ridiculous scenarios. They got easier as it went along but I think I blew the first one so it really didn't matter. Although they said I would hear something one way or another in a week, it's been 3 weeks and I haven't heard a thing (followed up twice with HR) so I can take a hint.