Is the Amazon interview process indicative of the culture?
As a candidate for any job I interview for I take it as my responsibility to also “interview” managers and potential co-workers during the interview process. I try to observe their management style and personalities to see if it’s an environment I want to work in. I do this by trying to engage in more casual conversations with everyone I talk to. Currently I’m going through the interview process at Amazon. I must say the whole process is very scripted and systematic. Due to this, after talking with several people I still don’t have a good idea of the culture. Does anyone else feel like this after Amazon interviews?
I turned down their interview invitation, because of their interview "Process". I am a creative person who can think out of the box. Those who try to put me in a box for interview can go eff themselves.
Yes and no. The interview process can be annoying but there’s a method to the madness. Interviewing is traditionally very unstructured, the annoying process at Amazon is our attempt to make it more objective- Amazon makes decisions based on data I was a little frustrated that I wasn’t able to ask as many questions as I like, normally my interviews at 50/50 them interviewing me/me them but for Amazon it was 85/15 and they couldn’t answer a lot of my business level questions due to company policy
@OP sometimes I felt that during my process too. But, you know what? I totally agree with what some of my friends had told me. Most of the orgs in Amazon are like a mini startup, with their own culture and all! And they are very different from each other. You get a clear idea about it when you reach the Team Matching process because during that phase, you will be talking 1 on 1 with tons of different hiring managers! I was surprised to see how different the culture is, in the different teams, within the same organization. And during team matching, I made sure that I could every freaking question that I wanted to ask and they were happy to help. A couple of managers also helped me get in touch with an employee in their team, whom I could get all my doubts cleared with!
It didn’t seem to me like there will be any ‘team matching’. Seems like the team is who I interviewed with. Is this unusual?
Team matchingbhappens only I. College hiring process. Not for experienced hire. I agree its 80/20 chance of answer/ask
Yes that’s what usu happens. We are usu team specific
It's funny. Blind is the platform where employees can discuss topics for themselves, specifically anonymously, because the employers potentially can be unhappy. It's a contemporary version a union. HR in this picture is the enemy, because HR always acts in the interests of the employer. So though despite the fact HR does monitor Blind (as well as other social networks, btw), they usually do it quietly. I am surprised Amazon's HR does it here in the open, not only monitoring, but even engaging in discussions. . 😁
I like where you are coming from. Our thoughts are often shaped by our experiences. I can only assume that only the HR in Nvidia had good to say about the company, and anyone else would dinge the company if there is a chance. Thankfully I work in a better environment. There are haters, but a lot of folks I know has good things to say abt Amazon too even anonymously. If you find your current env too toxic and like to try to find a new position, dm me I will be glad to send some postings your way.
Thanks, definitely there are always going to be different processes that work for different people. I don’t know what you do at Nvidia, but I dig the stuff that you guys are building. Keep it up!
It feels scripted and systematic because that is what it is. The process is designed to gather data points to help make a hiring decision. This in a way reflects largely how we make decisions as a company too; we are data driven, we try as best as we can to not fall prey to subconscious biases we may have, and the process helps get us there.
HR here?
This sounds like a a quote from 3%.