Area Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Amazon with 4 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 100% positive. To compare, the company-average is 63.8% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
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I applied through college or university. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon in Oct 2013
Interview
1st round is a phone interview:
• Give me a quick overview about yourself ~2 minutes.
• Tell me about a time where you had a leadership role and what were the results.
• Tell me about a complex problem that you had to solve, how did you go about solving it and what were the results.
Case question – You’re a shift manager at a frozen yogurt shop. Another shift manager has developed the standard operating procedure (SOP) for cleaning a particular machine in the shop. While on duty, you see that one of your associates is not cleaning the machine according to the SOP. What do you do?
ANSWER: Ask the associate why he is not cleaning the machine according to the SOP. Based upon his response, if the procedure he is following is both safe AND more effective than the current SOP, then as a manager it is your responsibility to determine if there is a way that the associate’s method can be implemented as a SOP.
Math Problem – You supervise thirty associates in a facility. Two of those associates are indirect roles. The direct roles contribute 150 units/hour of production. If each associate is given two fifteen-minute breaks for every 8 -hour day, how many units can your associates produce in a forty-hour week?
Second Round:
On-site visit at one of the fulfillment centers. First thing, you'll receive approximately 15 minutes to solve a work-flow problem. From there you'll have two behavioral interviews and one interview where you walk the interviewer through your solution to the work-flow. He will change up some of the parameters and expect you to resolve the problem. After that you'll have a tour and meet some of the associates and managers at the facility.
One good thing about the whole process is how quickly they get back to you about your status - I was invited for an on-site interview the same day after my phone interview, and offered a job one week after my on-site visit.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Standard behavioral questions. The algebra in the work-flow problems might slip some people up but I thought they were both pretty straightforward
I applied through college or university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Carlisle, PA) in Oct 2013
Interview
Although the process took some time with both a phone and in-person interview, it was well worth it. The phone interview is a quick 30-45 minute conversation with a current manager, where they will get to know you a little bit better, past experience, leadership ideals, etc. Nothing unexpected or overly difficult, more of just a screening process. There is a math question, nothing that's not already on this site. If they like you enough they will invite you to a fulfillment center (will reimburse you if you have to drive or fly) for an in person interview. You get a quick feel for the culture immediately because of the dress code. Many of the interviewers wear hoodies or polos with jeans. I was overdressed coming in with khakis and a button down, but I wasn't comfortable in just a polo. We started with a tour of the facility which was not only a chance to ask questions and get a feel for the processes (they love you using info you learned during tour in interview) as well as giving you a chance to see if it's a place youd like to work. We then went into the interview phase with 4-30 min interviews. Three of the four are behavioral, with questions following the format "tell me about a time you..." many of which deal with leadership and overcoming ambiguity. There is one math flow question that you get 15 minutes to prepare for. Don't panic and just think logically and you'll do great! Overall not a bad process, the interviews flew by and I got a response within 2 days which makes the waiting not too bad!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
For the math questions, they don't care if you get the answer right, they just want to see how you work through it.
Although the process was lengthy, I thoroughly enjoyed it. We were able to show up in business casual (emphasis on the casual) clothes and were led to a room with about 10-15 others. There were four rounds of on-on-one interviews - all behavioral, with one being a math flow problem - and then were given a tour of the Fulfillment Center. Although I did a ton of my own research, I learned so much about the company, their processes, and what they are looking for in an Area Manager. Overall, it was a pleasant process.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Math flow problem took some time to figure out exactly what I was solving for. But once you get it it's pretty easy.