How was your interview expression in Amazon .

# How was your interview expression in Amazon:-

When the time is right, you will get the things, no need to take stress, have faith, and keep on learning. A few months ago, I was in the job-hunting stage—no doubt how highly motivated I was, but the stress of not getting a job was piling up. With COVID-19, people were already laid off; there were limited jobs in the market. I was naive in analytics and was afraid of how I would compete with experienced ones. Then came a ray of hope from a friend who joined Amazon in May’2020. We both had the same profile. I remember the last time in 2018 when she made it into a good US university; she inspired me to apply for Masters's in analytics. And now I again got inspired by her when she got selected in Amazon. I am fortunate to have such inspiring friends.

I applied for many internships & jobs (15-20 jobs/day) but did not get any positive response but suddenly got a call for Business Analyst from Amazon in the last week of May’2020.

Received first call from HR, explained the Job description, inquired about my basic qualifications, visa status, and professional experience. My first round was scheduled after 8 days of the introductory call.

Preparations: I interacted with recent hires, Glassdoor to get insights on preparations. I studied complete SQL again (basics to advance), Solved SQL queries on Hackerrank, Leetcode (free version).

Round 1 (June’2020): Phone screen: Live code exercise on Chime (Amazon software): Asked about basic SQL questions, nothing behavioral (lasted for 40 minutes, 1 interviewer, could answer 80% correctly, but they guide in between if you are struck) Suggestion: keep explaining or discussing while writing queries.

Round 2: Phone screen: Behavioral-based on Amazon’s Leadership Principles (LP) (35 minutes 1 interview with hiring manager), 3 questions related to Amazon LPs were asked. Suggestions: follow the STAR technique and restrict your answers under 3 minutes.

It's ok to ask them to change questions if you have never encountered a situation for which a question was asked. I got the results after 2 days, and round 3 was scheduled after 2 weeks.

Preparations for Round 3: This is the final round and is mostly based on Amazon 14 Leadership principles. I wrote nearly 10 different situations to relate with 14 Amazon LPs. I made changes in the answers every day to improve them but could not finalize the scripts and speak many new things in the interview. I used to practice 6-8 hours/day, including self-practicing, online buddies (link shared below), mock interviews practicing with friends. ‘Dan Croitor’ YouTube channel was beneficial in streamlining my answers. His videos are a bit boring but very helpful.

Suggestions: Try to write 8-12 different situations and practice as much as you can, do not mug the answers/situations. People say ‘Bar raiser’ is the most important round, but I would suggest giving equal importance to all rounds. Try to answer every question differently, do not repeat situations/answers.

All questions have follow-up questions, so prepare in-depth about the answers/situations/projects.

Round 3 (Final Day): Exhaustive day (6 interviews, 45 minutes each with 15-30 minutes break after each round, followed STAR technique and restrict answers under 3 minutes). Everyone asked questions related to Amazon LP (nearly 2-3 LPs were covered in each round).

Technical by Data Engineer: Asked advanced SQL queries questions
Amazon LP behavioral round by Sr Manager1
Bar raiser round: Behavioral-based on Amazon LP
Interaction with a team member: Interaction with a team member, ask about work, daily routine, company, perks, interests, etc.
Amazon LP behavioral round by Sr Manager2
Amazon LP behavioral round by Hiring Manager

It was a long day, felt exhausted after 4 rounds; suggestions: keep a lot of water, snacks, a good headset, and save energy … Good luck. 😊

Results: I got a call from the recruiter 2 days after my interview, and I lost the sense for 10-15 seconds after hearing the words ‘Congratulation: You made it. I received the offer letter within an hour. This was one of the best days of my life. I finally joined Amazon, Seattle as Business Analyst in Aug’2020. I wish you the best of luck with your preparations. Fell free to ping me for any queries/suggestions

PS: This is my experience. Other Interviews might be different. Kindly ask the hiring manager what to expect in the interview and prepare accordingly.