Let me start by saying it felt as though the monkeys were running the zoo in Amazon recruiting. It started with an email from a recruiting coordinator who informed me that I would be contacted by phone for an interview at 4PM the next day. The interviewer called me at 4:20 and told me that he had a hard stop at 5PM and would not be able to interview me. The RC would reschedule the interview. The RC emailed me with the rescheduled interview this time with the hiring manager. The interview was challenging, they asked me mostly behavioral interview and math questions. Left little time for me to ask questions at the end. I was told that someone else would be calling me for another phone interview the next day. The second phone interview was more challenging because 1) the interviewer was using a conference room speaker phone 2) had a heavy accent 3) asked tough questions. Success! I received email from a different RC inviting me to in-person interviews at the HQ in Seattle. I was asked to provide several availability dates for all day interviews. I did so, and a week later I hadn't heard back, despite sending follow ups. I was finally contacted with apologies because the RC had been out of the office. I provided more dates, then inexplicably I was contacted by another (#3) RC asking me for the same thing that I was asked by the last one. I provided new availability dates and was told to hold one of them. I received an email from the new RC asking me to hold a date that I had not given as available. And what was the purpose of asking me to supply dates if they were just going to ignore them? I explained why I wasn't available on that date, she apologized and told me that she would schedule using a date I had provided. I received email asking me to hold the original date, and that I would be contacted within 2 days with the logistics and schedule for the interviews. Eight days later (the day before the interview) I hadn't heard from the RC, so I emailed her that I assumed there would be no interview and was releasing the hold on that date. I received a panicked reply and later a phone call apologizing again and assuring me that the interviews were scheduled and she would be sending me the information shortly. I decided that these snafus were due to just one person and not reflective of the corporation. Amazon recruiting, are you reading and learning from this? Not a good way to give a first impression to a potential employee. But wait, there is more. I was given someone’s first name to ask for upon arrival, which I gave the receptionist. She asked me for a last name (red flag). I then gave her the name of the RC. 20 minutes after the first interview was supposed to start I was met by the RC and led to a conference room where the interviews were to be held. Apparently the door was locked and the interviewer did not have a key. He called for security to unlock the door. Naturally he was a flustered due to the delay in starting. I'll spare you details of the interview questions, there are plenty of examples in other posts. The rest of the interviews started late and were rushed in order to get back on schedule. The conference room door continued to be a barrier to the smooth transition of interviewers until the last two interviews. My 3rd interview was over lunch. It was a formal interview with the added challenge of trying to eat while answering questions. Of course we were rushed because of the late start. I submit that this is a very poor way to interview, but thought they may be trying to evaluate the interviewees performance under the added stress of trying to eat, or maybe the factor in what the person eats, or how they eat, or who knows. I was given the full name or email addresses of only my first interviewer and the recruiter, but not anyone else who interviewed me, which I found odd. A couple of the interviewers were from outside the group. Each of the interviewers impressed me as being sharp and knowledgeable. I left feeling excited about the possibility of being offered the position. My chief criticism is regarding the process of arranging the interviews. I really felt their performance in arranging the interviews was not befitting a company of their stature and worried how it portended. I had a couple of emails with the recruiting coordinator post interview, which were not replied to and eventually my emails were returned undeliverable. Another recruiting coordinator disappears. I was called by the recruiter 3 weeks later and told the team had decided to not extend an offer. I was disappointed by this, but upon reflection I now feel relieved. I would like Amazon to prove to me that they are better than this, that they can execute flawlessly, even when it comes to recruiting and hiring.

I recently gave an interview for Amazon, it was conducted in 2 rounds with an initial screening call and the final loop interview divided into 4 rounds, they mostly tested me on these leadership principles- dive deep, deliver results, learn & be curious and case study questions focusing on inventory optimization and demand forecasting.