Amazon claims to have a "customer obsession" and to work vigorously to earn and keep customers trust. Apparently this does not extend to their recruiting process. After my experience as a recruiting customer, I am no longer an Amazon customer as well. Here's what happened...
1. Was contacted by an internal recruiter for a position I did not apply for. I have no idea how they found me, but I was flattered and curious so proceeded with the process.
2. Recruiter sent me a (template) email with the interview information. Oops! A day later sent another email as the first email they sent was wrong (wrong dates, time, team).
3. Second email sent info re: a technical interview. What? This wasn't a technical job. Sent recruiter asking what they were testing.
4. Oops! Wrong (template) email - again! No technical interview, just a phone conversation with the hiring manager.
5.Day of phone interview -- received email from recruiter. Hiring manager is sick. Rescheduled.
6, Day of rescheduled interview -- lots of static on their line, couldn't hear the hiring manager. He called back -- still static, but better. Then the call dropped off. He called back. Call dropped off again. He didn't call back. You would think a company worth billions could afford a working phone system.
7. Contacted recruiter, told her about their phone issue, rescheduled the interview.
8. Day of re-rescheduled interview. Hiring manager never calls.
9. Sent email to recruiter telling them that hiring manager never called.
10. One week later... no word from manager or recruiter.
I realize that Jeff Bezos is laughing all the way to the bank, but I thought he was genuine when, after the deluge of negative press regarding Amazon's culture, that he wanted to correct things.
Amazon is frantically hiring. I'm wondering how many great people they have lost because of their shockingly disorganized recruiting process. They need to understand that "customers" include those they are trying to recruit.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Amazon
Interview
I've interviewed with Amazon before so I knew what to expect. They are very very thorough and really drill down following a rigorous script. Have 'use of data' examples for everything.
Sadly in this case they were let down by HR. I was at the end of my first competency example when the interviewer said "was that part of an internship?" I replied that it was my latest job of 2.5 years. He had my old CV from 3 years ago despite me sending it in twice. Hence he had no access to my latest CV. I followed up with HR and provided my CV again and was reassured it was now on the system. When I went onto the online application system myself I found the old CV still there. - Worth checking.
My advice to anyone applying to Amazon is to ask for specific examples from your interviewer on teamwork culture and don't let them off the hook with generalities like "oh we have great team culture here, we go out for drinks now and again". 14 leadership principles alone breed a culture of individuals and they don't mean anything without a team - which leadership implies. 7 Amazon interviewers in a row have failed this question when I have pushed below the surface for an answer.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Aug 2016
Interview
Same as what everyone else says: 7 back to backs in a day; use of question bank questions; very little time for candidate to make his/her own inquiries. What struck me is how 3 of the 7 interviewers did not hold in high regard the process/question bank questions and wanted to "get these done as fast as possible." The other 4 were like robots following the process. The other telling factor was that most chose NEGATIVE options from question bank. Overall the experience reinforced the negative things I've heard about culture.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you didn't trust someone you worked with. Tell me about a time you had regrets. Tell me about a long term goal you achieved or are still working on.