Had a phone screen with Amazon for PM role (L6) and got rejected after couple of days. obviously recruiter didnt provide any feedback and he is like i will reach out after 6 months ( I thought cool off period is 1 year). anyway, I think I did reasonable in the interview where I used STAR method and explained how my background and experience aligns with Amazon’s leadership principles. I also had different examples for different leadership principles so not sure what else I could have done differently. I know luck plays a huge part in interviewing ( along with your skill set). I am little disappointed with the outcome and without concrete feedback, I dont know what areas I need to improve upon. Can anyone at Amazon help explain what exactly you look for while interviewing candidates for PM like roles and how should we use leadership principles. I know communication is important but I do think I communicate well so that shouldnt be an issue. I was also not a**hole and had a great conversation with the interviewer. He was really good too so no complaints there any advice will be helpful thanks! TC 150k
Amazon interviewers tend to be direct and you would usually know who didn't like you. Did you identify your bar raiser? Did you incorporate principles into the answers?
Interviewing at FAANG is tough. It’s not just about having good answer in STAR format and communicating well. You are competing with folks from Harvard, Yale, etc.. Many people who are L6 have 10+ yoe managing teams, product development, etc in other top companies. You have to be the best candidate out of an already high bar pool of people. On Blind ppl make it look like you automatically get in if you follow the star format and know a certain number of “correct” answers, but that’s so far from the truth. Some of it is luck in your loop, some of it is having the right experience and background at the right time and applying for the right role and team
Nicely put
Very helpful. Thank you. Yes strictly from experience point of view, I do have 10+ yoe and have been managing teams of 20+ people for some time now so that’s there but I don’t have MBA from top school ( rose through ranks within Intel by hardwork) so it could be one factor. I was interviewing for a different domain as well so not sure. Anyway, appreciate your input