I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Amazon in Aug 2012
Interview
I applied online end of July and got an email to schedule a phone interview 15 days later. I had a 45 minutes phone interview with a person of the team. That went well, 10 days later I was asked to schedule another phone interview with an HR person.
After that, I got an email saying they were willing to go further and schedule a whole day of interview. This day was planned for end of september.
I had 5 interviews (including an HR person) from 10 am to 4 pm (with a break at 1 pm, alone), and an Excel test.
All the interview questions were behavioural questions, as written below.
The Excel test aims at using some basic functions as vlookup or pivot tables, and be a bit strategic (nothing difficult).
The interviews lasted about 45 minutes, a bit more for the Excel test.
I really had no fit with the people I met, everybody seemed very stressed and under pressure. Nobody asks about who you really are (hobbies, choices in your career), recruitement is based on your abilities to answer behavioural questions with details and numbers.
After 3 on site interviews I had no motivation and interest left, so I think I performed badly during the 2 other meetings. That explains why I did not have any offer. I have no regret as the atmostphere of the company did not seduce me at all.
The HR staff told me I would have an answer after 1 week but they called me 3 weeks after only to give me the result of my interviews and explain (with details) why it did not work.
Apart from that the whole process was very professional.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- Describe a time when you had to quickly make a decision
- Can You Describe a Time When Your Work Was Criticized and How Did You Handle It?
- Tell me about a challenge on a project you faced, how you dealt with it, what was your role, and what was the outcome
- Tell me about the most successful project you've done
- Tell me about a time when you have been innovative: How?
- Tell me about the most complex analysis you have worked on
First I passed the assessment its not an easy one, next step is phone screen 1 hour interview, my recruiter shared helpful information; connect 12 LP's to your work examples using a STAR method, 2-3 examples per LP.
Process was relatively straight forward, I didn’t make it to the loop. What I can tell you is the recruiter will be overly excited about you as they are with all candidates. They’ll tell you, you can expect to hear back in two days for feedback. Truth is, if they reject you then you will not hear back within 2 days it will be more like a week. Silence means you aren’t getting the job, they’re very binary.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
When did you make a choice no one asked you for? Why?
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Amazon (Luxembourg)
Interview
Good interview, reached the marathon loop of interviews. It was intense and quite focused on STAR stories obviously. Got some nice feedbacks as well to improve in case I managed to get another interview in a few months
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How did you manage a conflicting situation with a peer ?