I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Amazon (Boston, MA) in May 2021
Interview
A recruiter from Amazon reached out to me and set up the call with the hiring manager. Hr seemed to be nice but I can’t say the same for the head of marketing. Most interviews are a bit more conversational. She was just firing questions with no interaction. Very short with me. I’m glad I didn’t make it to second rounds as I wouldn’t want to work for her.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What are you looking for in your next role?
How do you measure your kpis?
What type of relationship do you seek with your manager?
I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Redmond, WA) in May 2021
Interview
The virtual on-site interview was such a miserable experience that I considered contacting the recruiter during my lunch break to tell them I did not want to finish the day.
The day started with an hour-long portfolio presentation I was asked to prepare, followed by six more hours of interviews with individuals. While tiring, I understood the general structure of the day was pretty normal as far as tech companies go.
Not once during the entire day did anyone refer back to the work I had shown in the presentation. We never talked about qualifications or past job experience I had that might be applicable to the role. Instead, I was continuously grilled with over-the-top situational questions that were not relevant to the job description at all.
It was revealed that several of the individuals I interviewed with were not even within the organization for which the job was posted. One even admitted that she was not really aware what type of job I was applying for.
How is it helpful for somebody to be interviewing me who is not even knowledgable about what the team needs are, and who I cannot even ask questions to learn more about the role?
Amazon obviously forces it's interviewers to choose from lists of pre-defined questions that are meant to determine if somebody possesses certain character traits or "leadership principles," and the questions are the same no matter what the role is.
There was very little opportunity for me to ask the interviewers my own questions about the team or to learn more about the role I would be doing.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
When was a time that you were able to take action that caused a department or organization within a company to completely change directions?
3 way process: First a Phone interview
Second a design assessment ( usually regarding amazon ads)
Third a 5 hour interview (with breaks) with the hiring Manager and the Design Manager, they were really kind, and the interview went well.
I memorize the Amazon Leadership principles and had a very funny final conversation with the manager, I actually wanted the manager position but he said that must had happen with in a year or so.
Then I had my offer over a phone call.
Finally I had my offer via phone call
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was a challenge that you had at a job, and how did you solve it?