I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Amazon (Cambridge, MA) in Nov 2016
Interview
After applying online - Initial contact by the recruiter followed by 2 behavioral phone screens from peers. The recruiting coordinator was courteous and followed up consistently to ensure I received updates. Called for on-site after over a month. Onsite was a reflection of what to expect from the company. Interview was not optimally scheduled- they scheduled an interview to begin at noon up to 4 pm, with the note that lunch will not be provided. Essentially, Amazon expected someone to start an interview at noon ( for which someone would have to leave at least an hour ahead to get into the middle of Cambridge and take back to back absolutely vocal interviews, with 6 people in intervals of 45 mins( all of which ran overtime), without any food. To their credit, they did offer me water and coffee and a supervised restroom break. Questions were not technical, but behavioral, most of which seemed repetitive. They make you sign an NDA. They don't provide any specific details about the role. The job description was very generic- when you'd ask a question, they'd give a beat around the bush answer but they would want very specific answers with examples to their questions. Why would you expect someone to give you specific details about their work if you are not willing to provide information about the job or questions you are asking. I had an interviewer who is a research scientist and that interview was totally scattered all over the place with no coherence in the questions asked or responses to my questions. By the middle of the interview with this person, I felt like we were 5-6 questions away from the original question. All 6 interviewers gave the same answer to my question about work life balance at Amazon as though they were trained to answer that question. They even used the same words in a sentence. Now isn't that a co-incidence?
At the end of the interview- I felt exhausted. When I reached home, I immediately went to bed, because of the fatigue.
On the positives, they did close the loop on the interview within 3 business days to let me know that they were not pursuing my candidacy, which is a rare thing these days with recruiters.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Cant give details about the questions due to the NDA- but they were all behavioral questions asking for specific examples
Did a test task and was called by HR almost immediately for the next round. But salary range (full packet with stock and benefits) and return to office policy did nit much my expectations
very standard. the interviewers had a set of questions to ask about the LPs so we can anticipate beforehand. But I think I got ghosted in the end. One of the interviewers told me about the 2 & 5 rule but its been more than 2 weeks since my last interview and still no response from anyone so idk what happened.
Lengthy, messy schedule, interviews canceled last minute, interviewer late. Rude, disrespectful and dismissive approach toward candidate. Majority of people were from a different team so had no clue about the specifics of the position when asked in the final Q&A. If they treat you like this before joining, can’t imagine after. Application withdrawn.
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