Landing an interview with Amazon might feel like one of the most exciting — and intimidating — things to happen to you. Amazon, like most organizations, puts a lot of effort into hiring the right fit for their open positions. As CEO Jeff Bezos once shared, “Id rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person.”
It says a lot if your resume got past the gatekeepers and into the hands of an Amazon hiring manager. Now, take a deep breath and get prepped for your interview.
Can you share answers to all Amazon interview questions?
No, and we would highly advise you NOT to use any resources that offer you canned answers to Amazon interview questions. Even if you are not concerned about fairness and ethics (we are!), experienced Amazon interviewers will call you out.
In our signature Amazon interview preparation course, we offer plenty of example responses to demonstrate what great looks like and how you should structure your answers to Amazon interview questions. Never invent interview responses. Instead, use the training to help your hard-earned accomplishments shine their brightest.
Can I reuse a situation from a screening round during the Loop?
If you get a question during the Loop that is precisely the same one someone asked during a phone interview, then advise the interviewer about this. Tell them that you will use the same answer you used on the phone screen and ask them if this is ok. You will then know if you can use the same response or not.
In all other cases, if possible, our guidance is to avoid reusing phone screen answers during the Loop. This is because different teams, hiring managers and Bar Raisers will have different attitudes to candidates reusing the same material. Therefore, the only fail-safe strategy is to have fresh material for the Loop.
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How should I demonstrate that I am analytical while answering Amazon interview questions?
We get this question from candidates interviewing for technical roles in Data Science or Business Intelligence Engineering. While it is true that, according to our experience, Amazon does have a recruiting slate for left-brain candidates, the only Leadership Principle that calls specifically for analytics is Dive Deep. Maybe Invent & Simplify (the Simplify part).
Hence, there is no expectation that every answer to an Amazon interview question will result in a STAR story about you cracking a complex problem with your analytical prowess. In addition, some Leadership Principles – like Ownership – have nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with attitude, and you were able to put it to action and impact.
How to answer Amazon interview questions
From the lengthy list of interview questions that Amazon candidates share online, you can expect that an Amazon interview will rely heavily on situational and behavioral interview questions.
Behavioral interview questions focus on past behavior as an indication of future job success, while situational interview questions ask how you would handle any number of hypothetical situations. With these questions, you can also pull from past experiences to answer how you would handle the hypothetical situation today or in the future.
From there, you can break behavioral and situational interview questions down further into competencies, such as leadership and communication. Using the STAR method during an interview is an excellent approach to answering these types of questions.
Now that you have a foundation on how to answer Amazon interview questions, its time to practice. Below are three of the top interview questions you are likely to encounter during your interview.