I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Amazon (Bengaluru) in Aug 2016
Interview
I saw the opening on a jobs-site where the recruiter from Amazon had posted the Opening. I heard from her after a month of applying. Then across next 2 weeks - I attended telephonic screening -around 45mins-60 mins. Then there was a lull for 1 week. Then I was asked to come for in-house interview for full day. The day kept changing as the the interviewers were travelling. After 2 weeks since the telephonic - I went for a full day interview at World Trade Center.
I reached by 09AM - but interview started only by 10.30 AM as the first panelist had urgent work to do. I was put-up in one of the meeting rooms and asked to not venture out any where. I was given an interview schedule for the day - with the list of interviewers and their interview time slot. I was told that pre-packed lunch will be served in the same room- It was quite efficient and surprising!
I faced 7 F2F interviews (last one was less of interview and more of getting-to-know). I had feeling that I did well and will convert. But, Recruiter went silent for a week - so I emailed her- fearing the worst. Then she told they want to do another telephonic interview with a senior leader and are finding difficult to get his slot for same. ( I could make out that it was the Bar-Raiser Round).
Neverthelss, in week-2 since in-house interview, my telephonic interview was done (by a Director) and then a week after that I was told that after the debrief, panel as given go-ahead for job offer.
Then I was asked to submit all proofs of income etc from current job for recruiter to make me an offer.
The recruiter took good 2.5 weeks to roll out the offer - as there are approvals required in their teams also.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Open ended questions around Leadership Principles - Which LPs have you strong i and have demonstrated in your professional career so far and how. Lots of cross-questioning in each examples to check your reasoning capability - (like 5-Why Analysis)- and to check whether you can justify your approach
It was straightforward and structured. Length process with multiple rounds. It was critical to use STAR method metions specifics/ data where necessary. Behavioral round was straightforward. Leverage leadership principles and build your stories around that
Well structured multi-stage process. Interviews is intensive and structured to the Amazon Principles and STAR format. The expectation is to be detailed and provide clear examples, metrics and how you would do things differently.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Bengaluru)
Interview
For manager and above, once the recruitment team identifies a candidate, they are scheduled for interviews. Apart from a phone round, folks will typically go through 4-6 rounds of additional interview. It will help if candidates are able to structure their responses in SBI format bringing out strengths that align with Amazon leadership principles.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Whats the biggest challenge faced in previous role and how was it overcome.