5+ years of Amazon experience across multiple teams and 15+ years of total work experience in the industry. I have in-depth information on the life-cycle of a candidate surrounding the interview process from the time your application is submitted until you receive an offer (plus every stage in-between). ______________________________________________ I’m a pro user on rooftop slushie, you can ama about that too. my username’s @ama_amazon on www.rooftopslushie.com ______________________________________________ If you find yourself thinking of the following: - Have you submitted a resume and heard nothing back? - Questioning if you should negotiate an offer? - Concerned that your skills listed on your resume are the right ones? - Afraid to accept an offer due to COVID-19? - Concerned starting a new job at Amazon will be a “step back” from your current role? - Already on a team at Amazon, buy not happy - Can I switch teams? Yeah... I can answer those. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT: hey guys, checking out here. I'll try to answer all the questions here and in the DMs over the next couple days. If anyone wants to get their resume reviewed, you can reach me directly on rooftop slushie. https://rooftopslushie.com/profile/AMA-Amazon
What happens behind the scenes after an onsite?
people summarize your answers from notes and their perspectives in an internal system individually. after that, everybody on your panel plus a recruiter does a debrief meeting and goes over your answers. the bar raiser and hiring manager make a final call about whether to extend offer/reject. often these panels meet for ~4 candidates at once for an interview blitz (4 interviewers scheduled for 4 candidates in a single day) i don’t know what the recruiters do after they get the yes/no
Thanks @ITTC14 yes, that is accurate. The recruiters are looped back in with the "final" decision from the interviewers (either a Yes - lets make an offer; or a No - lets recycle the candidate). The recruiter will attempt to get the summarized reason for the decision. Then if it's a yes, they will start drafting an offer from the Payroll team; or if its a No, they prepare to summarize the reasons why (and should be getting information on what job level and/or title you SHOULD apply for in the future based on the interviewers opinion of your skills) After 2-5 business days, the recruiter will then reach out to you with a response. > If its an offer (yay!) take it in, think about it, say you need a day to think - Next day, do a small counter - it may or may not work, but at "least you tried" and welcome to Amazon! > If its a rejection, make sure to get as much info as you can; what you didnt do well during the interview and if you were to apply to other roles, what job titles should you search for.
What's your TC
My TC is a mix of Base+signing+RSUs. Since RSU are Amazon Stock and that has jumped over 4 times from when i received it, my TC was elevated the past couple years. After year 4, the singing and bulk of the RSUs drop off; while yearly RSUs get added back (but nearly as many as the initial package); I would say a normalized TC for me now is around $175k
That means Amazon TC still sucks.
I had an interview recently and the entire time the interviewer looked annoyed like something was on their mind other than our interview...Did I lose my chance? I'm pretty frustrated that if this is the case, that it's not because of my own performance but because of the interviewer not feeling it that day...What options do I have in this case?
Hard to know for sure; What I have noticed is the interviewers have a basic script they are asking you questions against. They are looking to write down you answers in the S.T.A.R. method. If you are not being concise with your response in that specific S.T.A.R. method, then the interviewer has nothing to write down. This sometimes comes off as the interviewer just actively listening and waiting for some keywords to notate. Since you did have an interview, you SHOULD receive a response within 5 business days or else the recruiters will get dinged with poor performance.
What’s this S.T.A.R method?
do you start to hate your coworkers and management less 5 years in or more? going on 2 and i just want everybody around me to get coronavirus (and be symptomatic)
Hard not to chuckle at your comment! After 5 years, I have jumped around to multiple team (some due to me, some due to hierarchy changes) and with the average team tenure being around 1-2 years, its hard to really "get sick" of anyone. I made some great friends of some of my coworkers, find that connection and hang on to it! Yet, I would be lying if I said there weren't some I couldn't stand to be around. I suggest Noise cancelling headphones and ignore them!
I've been at amz nearly 8 years now. Have had 6 managers in that time due to reorgs, firings, and 1 team change. I got sick of some of the upper management 3 years in but switched orgs in the same building and like the new one much better. Teammates are also constantly changing, so although I've certainly gotten sick of people, I haven't been stuck with them for too long. Sounds like it's time for you to consider a switch. If things aren't really changing they probably aren't going to, unless it looks like your team is failing badly enough for a reorg
Two quick questions around applying at Amazon - 1. found some relevant roles that were posted in November 2019 but the posting says (updated 6 days ago). Still good to go in terms of application or I should watch out for more recently posted roles only? 2. Same as above except job doesn't say "updated". It was posted in February but it's still live on job site. Asking because the roles are matching & while some companies immediately update their careers page, others may leave their older but unfilled roles on the page.
It really depends on the recruiter to keep their job postings updated. You will find a mix of both updated and old unfilled roles out there. If you are interested in the role then go ahead and apply to it! Once you apply, you are "in the system" and recruiters can source you internally instead of looking for you through other websites (i.e. linkedin) For the "updated" piece, if it's being updated, then I would assume there was something that was changed. Meaning it is a role that is actively being managed. If it's still up then the role has not been filled.
Basically, apply especially if I see the role has been recently updated. Got it, thanks. I'm concerned due to corona plenty of "filled" positions might not be updated and I'd end up applying for a position that's already been closed which might not look good for subsequent applications.
👉👉👉 How should I, as a candidate, tackle this? Applied - passed screening and first level Interview (which went well) - and then the recruiter came back to me propositioning an entirely new role that's nowhere close to resembling my skills. Their argument? "Role you applied for is ok but you will be bored." Pushed back and again another posting where I had no march. I felt recruiter was just actively trying to fill an old role for their own benefit. Nonetheless, how would you deal in that situation? This was Amazon btw
Research the new role they are proposing. Most the time, when this happens, they recruiter is just telling you what the hiring manager tells them. If the Hiring manager reviewed your resume and felt you were "too qualified" for what they want, then it could be true that you would get bored. If all they want is someone to pull data, export to excel, and give a pivot table; yet your skills are SQL, Python, R, Tableau. Then yeah, you will get bored. Although, without knowing the specific job id, It could also be a "nice" way for the recruiter to let you know that the req you applied for already has an offer out to someone else.
Role that I applied for was so ludicrously far-off that I had to do a double take and I really wished to reach out to someone regarding that. (We are talking about applying for a supply chain role and being referred an Engineer role which didn't correspond to anything in my profile) It didn't occur to me that the req could've been closed but, at that time, I believe the recruiter just wanted to close one of their unfilled positions anyhow.
Is 312k the max they can go for L6 TPM? My recruiter is claiming that's it but I have higher offers from a couple other companies. 7.5 yoe. Thanks!!
On the same lines, how does someone figure out the Level of a role? Do I explicitly ask recruiter whether this position is L5 or L6?
Dont expect more than 160k base. The rest is made up of RSU + signing. Recruiters at Amazon utilize an internal system for offers. They type in the job id and it pops out a base offer. From there, they can manipulate it but it will flag it if its not allowed ("too high") and the system wont let them precede. So, it is possible that the recruiter really can't go higher. But honestly, 312k is a nice L6 TC.
What happens with recycled candidates? I got rejected but was told I can apply to other teams ASAP, and that a team might reach out if they find me in the internal system. All the roles I apply to I am rejected within days and do not know what to do.
There is an automated system that compares the job's "basic qualifications" with your resume. If it can't find a match or doesn't meet the BQs, it recycles you automatically. It's meant to save time for the recruiter. I recommend taking a look at your resume to ensure you have the elements listed out clearly that match the BQs on the role. Get an Amazonian to submit your resume next time as an Employee Referral, it will skip the BQ check and force a manual resume review. And yes, you can apply to any other roles you want simultaneously regardless of the rejection or recycle from a job
Yes but this was a rejection after a final loop
@AMA_Amazon I got online test and I solved it last week. There were 2 questions and I got 1 question 100% pass and second was 50%. Some tests failed and there was no exception or traces to debug it. Questions had long descriptions and by the time i figured out the problem i ran out of time. Then they said I have to do a phone interview and the question was very difficult and that interviewer was putting unreasonable expectations and after looking up online, I did not feel there is a viable answer to his question and add interview setup + limited time to make things worse. I think amazon was unfair to me given that I did not see those questions before. Would I get another chance ? are there team specific interviews rather than enforcing a 6 month stop on a candidate.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. It sounds like the hiring manager was looking for a very specific skillset and expertise. Honestly, with technology available to all of us, I would expect a level of knowledge to get you started, and then let the internet help with the rest. As for another chance, probably not with that specific job due to the strict technical interview questions; But you should be fine applying to any other similar jobs; The "6 month stop" you referenced is when the interviewer, the hiring manager, and the recruiter all agree that you would not provide any benefit to any team within Amazon at all. It is very harsh, and I personally have only seen it done once. More likely, you have just been recycled off of this specific job. If you ask the recruiter, they should have feedback regarding a different job title you can search/apply for - or even a different job level in the same job title to apply for.
Thanks a lot, Ama_amazon. Secondly, I wanted to know the statistics of people who pass online exam/phone round and then who pass onsite to get offer. Just trying to understand how competitive I am.
Do boomerangs stand a chance against the other applicants?
It can! being a boomerang can give a better chance depending on the team and role. If the team is looking for someone to come in and start work immediately it is often easier to find someone with that internal knowledge. But the Interviewers, recruiters, and Hiring managers will be reviewing all candidates resumes to find the best fit for their role regardless of previous Amazon work history. It's more of a "nice to have" for quicker ramp time.
Your best chance at leveraging boomerang status is to connect with folks you have worked in the past. They will sub consciously give you a priority. For rest of the folks, boomerang status does become a “nice to have”.