I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Chennai) in Feb 2010
Interview
Hiring and interview process is the key to Amazon's success so far. Amazon has a peculiar way of interviewing people on each of the competencies required for the role and for their growth for at least next 2 positions. Candidate is interviewed by at least 5-7 interviewers on competencies like Deep dive, Ownership, Innovation etc.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you reduce the time taken to transfer 4GB data into 4GB pen drive by 50% from the current benchmark.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon in Mar 2014
Interview
The interview process was very straightforward: 1) the recruiter approached me; and we had the first screening chat; 2) I had the interview with one Senior Program Manager; She asked me behavioural and technical - high level - questions on digital TV and content management; 3) then another interview with a Senior Engineer; he asked me more in depth technical questions. Overall it went well, however I got their "I'm sorry you are not the right fit because..." note a couple of days after. It was very funny as the day before I had an interview with one of their major client, Netflix, and it did not go well. I wonder if these two thinks are related and they talked to each other, eg. via Linkedin, party lines, etc.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They are all different but I can suggest you: 1) Don't make up things; 2) prepare compelling stories on how you effectively managed people and solved technical / business problems; 3) remember that the interviewed are professionals like you and one day you might work together as vendor, client or business partners.