I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Amazon
Interview
First round was telephonic and lasted for 20 minutes, there were two such interviews and then once you clear these you move onto the final rounds which are 4 rounds of video conference rounds
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
what is most innovative thing you have done in your life
I applied for this position and was contacted for it by a recruiter. The recruiter set up a time and stated the interviewer would be on time. Not early, not late. The interviewer was early. Unprepared. Awkward and his examples and questions were stilted and not thought through. It was a miserable interview and very awkward to try to guide and direct him as well as understand him. He was 40 minutes early and when I picked up the phone he acted like he was surprised I picked up the call. I believe he was trying leave a message and say he missed me as he was totally unprepared to conduct a meaningful interview.
With that misery over, I expected a thanks but no thanks but I received another phone interview with an employee with 15 years history with Amazon. He was fantastic. We clicked very well and he was a hiring manager. We spent an hour and a half discussing all aspects of the position, his background, my background and next steps.
Third interview was with another front line 2 year employee and it was not as personable or interesting as the 2nd. I was disappointed with the approach, the questions, the lack of reply to questions and the overall disposition and enthusiasm of the interviewer. I was trying hard as I thought an opportunity at Amazon would be very cool and career advancing even if for 2 years.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Most difficult question: How would you manage a new version of a product that would be replacing a previous version. No additional background, unable to clarify how or what the product did. Who the clients were or where it was in the development process.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in May 2014
Interview
I was internally referred by a friend of mine who worked at Amazon. I received a call from a recruiter and we scheduled a phone interview for the following week. After that was completed, I was scheduled for a phone interview with a manager, who was not the actual hiring manager. Once I passed that hurdle, I was able to meet with the hiring manager via phone. At the end of our conversation, she invited me to come out to Seattle for an in-person interview, and said the recruiter would call to set it up. I actually received an email, not a call, but that was fine. The arrangements were easy and everything was taken care of with nothing for me to do but show up at the airport. I did have to find my own transportation to the hotel once I was in Seattle.
The interviews themselves weren't very difficult, but I feel like I met with so many people that day (7 including the recruiter) that it was more of a matter of making sure that no one's feelings were hurt by being left out, than making sure that they fully vetted me as a candidate.
As I was being escorted out, the last person I spoke with said that I should hear from the recruiter in the next few days. I actually did, which was impressive. I was offered the job, although the compensation offered was quite low. I was given an explanation of "total compensation" and how the stock offered would vest over time and I should count that as part of my pay, even though I'm not actually getting any money in my paycheck.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Every single question seemed to be of the "tell me about a time..." variety, and it was difficult to recall a different and compelling example from my work history that fulfilled what every single question asked for, particularly when there were probably 25 different examples I needed to give. I ended up repeating some of my examples towards the latter half of the day, simply because I've only got so many years under my belt to provide examples for. Therefore, I'm not sure that their method of having you interview with everyone under the sun is actually that effective.