The initial phone screen with the recruiting team member at Amazon was incredibly positive. I enjoyed the conversation and learning more about what it's like to work at Amazon. She gave next steps, was clear in setting expectations, and set a follow up phone meeting with a lead from the Marketing team I would be joining. We additionally talked through Amazon's core values. I was 'strongly recommended' by her and she raved about the call, and her excitement for me to progress to the next stage of interviews.
What happened next was anything but conventional. A few hours before the call, I was notified that my 'interviewer' (the team manager) was tied up with other obligations, and that I would be interviewed by a prospective team-mate. She dialed me about 10 minutes late, and started off the call telling me how exhausted she was, and what a long week it had been at Amazon. I empathized and let her know that while I was extremely excited to talk and learn more about the role, I wanted to be respectful to her and if we should reschedule to a better time, that I understood. She deflected the offer, and continued the interview.
As we talked through my past experiences for approximately a 45-50 minute phone call, it was extremely uncomfortable as the interviewer mentioned no less than a half dozen times how tired she was. Almost as though she was (implied) trying to talk me out of working on her team. Truly a bizarre experience, that left a bad taste in my mouth about the prospect of working for Amazon.
The format was consistent with what many on Glassdoor have shared -- Amazon favors the STAR-approach, behavioral based interviewing style. (Situation, task, action, and result). Make sure you are well prepared in this format, and able to recite past career experiences through this format.
They also do informally question you around whether you are familiar with Amazon's core principles, a set of guidelines on their website that actually resonated with me personally. If you are heading into an interview, make sure you are familiar with these well in advance.
I was notified shortly after via email that they were not moving forward, and would be considering other candidates. From time-to-time, I still wonder if my interviewer is still there, or succumbed to exhaustion and burned out completely. I was excited at the prospect of joining a company that has truly revolutionized commerce, but the culture and disingenuous approach of the Marketing interviewer I dealt was is EXTREMELY concerning. I don't think I would consider a job there in the future...
