I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Toronto, ON) in Mar 2020
Interview
I applied online, was selected for a phone screen. I spoke to a lovely lady who called in 20 mins later than our allotted time. nonetheless, I did the phone screen tons of behavioural questions. She also prepared me for my phone interview with the hiring manager and told me about some of the questions I may be asked, what leadership principles I should focus on and the STAR method. A week later, I was set up for a phone interview using Chime. I was told the interview will be very technical, and it will be with one person however, there were two interviewers, and none of them worked in the AWS department they were from marketing. I was asked tons of behavioural questions and no technical questions. They reiterated how they prefer the STAR method etc. the phone conversation was 1 hour long with tons of in-depth questions and details on each answer which makes it harder to follow the STAR method.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon in Feb 2020
Interview
Although the STAR method is important, I honestly just felt like the interviewer was more concerned about asking free flowing questions to understand my background. This threw me off because I was prepared for more structure, even though deep down I actually wanted a more thought provoking conversation.
Because of this turn of events, I struggled internally the entire way wondering if I should respond via the STAR format, or just straight up respond in the way that lets the best version of myself shine.
I chose the latter because well...it was me being honest rather than taking a standardized test. Mind you, this was after many, many hours of preparing responses within the STAR structure, aligning with the 14 leadership principles, but when the interview came I sort of unravelled into my real self.
I feel like the interviewers - HR and senior personnel did a good job though. I quite enjoyed the learning process for AWS products, taking courses and Udemy and using the free trial on AWS to prepare for the discussions. It was fun. It was worth it. You'll get something out of the interview process even if you don't get the job (which I did not).
In any case I recommend this interview process to anyone.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Some examples I remember...
Q. How would you explain cloud computing to someone who's never heard it?
Q. Which leadership principle do you think is the most valuable for you?
Q. What would you do on your first day in the job?
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Dec 2019
Interview
Well organized, three tier process that starts with a phone screening, then phone interview, then in-person. Evaluation was focused highly on my application of Amazon's Leadership Principles throughout my career.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time that you leveraged data to develop a strategy.