What to expect for non-tech Amazon On Site
What to expect for an Amazon on site for a non-tech role. I’ve heard that each interview is behavioral based (aka focused on the leadership principles), but are all the principles covered? Is it ok to repeat stories for different interviewers (i.e., if it’s a different question but your story from a previous conversation applies or even if it’s the same question), or does this typically lead to a rejection?
Will lead to immediate rejection
Why ?
Had on site few weeks ago for non tech management role. All rounds revolve around leadership principles. Yes they cover almost all leadership principles and they want tons and tons of STAR based examples. I repeated some examples and got bored after couple of rounds of interview, I feel basically they all are same - problem/challenge, action result. I prefer case based interviews. But I would I highly suggest prepare differ examples. Also the last interviewer I had was very arrogant and I just wanted to get over with it. They really test your patience. I personally would never want to interview at Amazon again, they don't treat intervieies with enough respect or probably it was just that one interviewer of mine. Just stating my experience
Did you get an offer?
No, and I think it's because I used same examples few times. First couple of rounds went well and I received positive feedback but by fourth round it became a stretch and all principles seemed same. Highly recommend using different examples in STAR format
Excessively skewed towards behavioral questions ("tell me about a time"). It's ok to repeat examples if they are relevant but don't spin them into variants to force-fit into a cultural principle. Each interviewer grills on a specific set of principles assigned to him/her.
Its ok to re use examples, just pick out 4-5 strong ones that cover multiple LPs and use the STAR approach. Prep through Glassdoor for past questions and some LPs are rated higher than others (ie customer obsession > frugal)
Make sure you have a story about when you showed bias for action and ownership. In non-tech interviews, this is one of the most important things I look for. And make sure you provide specific results and it doesn’t need to be a huge success. Another LP I look for is being vocally self-critical which is basically being self-aware. Understanding what we did wrong and what we could have done better (learning from failures) is as important as success. Of course, this is besides customer obsession which is foundational.
Drink less water and go empty stomach. From blind i got to know there is a severe shortage of washrooms at amazon . Some people have to climb 5 floors just to take a piss.
That's why they keep bottles at their desks.