I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Jan 2014
Interview
Applied Online. 3 weeks later was contacted by Amazon H/R. After one 30 minute phone screen by H/R (successful) another 2 week delay ensued to set a 30 minute phone interview with the hiring manager. Hiring manager was first described as a 'he' but then the interviewer was actually a she. She called exactly at the bottom of the hour and there was ZERO introductory questions or personality questions. Nothing friendly. No opportunity whatsoever for personal banter. She launched into question 1, gave very little reaction then to Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7 most of which had nothing to do with my experience but had much to do with Amazon's existing processes. How you are supposed to know those as an outsider I have no idea. Anyways,she gave no verbal reaction as to the applicability of my answers, went deep dive on several of my answers into Amazon's apparently legendary data gathering and data parsing algorithms. She sounded more impressed with Amazon's processes than frankly I was. She left time for me to ask exactly 1 question of her (which I had prepared ahead of time) and she stopped the interview at precisely the top of the hour. Not a second over. Like a drill sergeant. Had no idea how I did and Amazon then played like a girlfriend that broke up with you and lost your number, email address etc. I have 20 years in tech. and they would not be mature enough to say - sorry you didn't advance to the next stage or we went with other candidates. Nothing. This was VERY discourteous and no the way to handle rejected candidates. Wastes the candidates time when you call/email back 3 or 4 times spaced 3 days apart. The process left a bad impression of me personally on Amazon. #notimpressed
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Some internal jargon about how would you rank vendors based on the reams of data collected on customer orders. Gave her a good answer on this one but she wanted more and more and more. Then no reaction - onto next Q.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Luxemburgo) in Aug 2013
Interview
After I got selected to start the interview process (following a math exam) I had a half an hour conversation with the department's director. The questions were behavioral questions about what I did in former jobs that had to do with this job. I recommend concentrating on Amazon values when telling anecdotes throughout the process.
After that there is a half an hour interview with the HR contact. She asks about reasons to come to Amazon, why you don't like your current employer, salary expectations etc.
After that there are 5 consecutive interviews with people at your division. You are interviewed by peers and directors of other branches. Again, use Amazon values correlating stories in particular data mining and results oriented. After that they will make a decision.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you had conflicts in the office and how did you solve them. Tell me about a time you failed. Tell me about a time you generated change in your organization
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Oct 2013
Interview
Unless you want every interaction with vendors during your work day to be bloodsport, I don't suggest applying for this role with the Kindle division. Despite whatever Amazon says, it's clear they view publishers not as partners, but as suppliers to squeeze at every step to lower margins.
The actual process was fairly efficient. I had two phone interviews, the last with the hiring manager. I later learned she was a protege of someone described in the book "The Everything Store," an executive who thought that one side always had to win in a negotiation rather than creating value together. We both decided that there wasn't a good fit. But if that culture sounds like fun to you, enjoy!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The questions were expected for this role, although the hiring manager seemed to expect I would know exactly what metrics Amazon used, despite Amazon being extremely secretive about anything Kindle related.