Amazon Behavioral Interview Questions | Leadership Principles Explained

Summary

In this video, Kevin Way, a product manager, offers guidance on acing Amazon's behavioral interviews. He explains the importance of these questions in aligning with Amazon's culture and leadership principles. The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is introduced as a structured approach to answer effectively. Viewers are also advised on how to prepare stories that reflect the 16 leadership principles, emphasizing the need to avoid repetition, share decision-making trade-offs, and be an engaging storyteller.

Takeaways

• 😀 Amazon's behavioral interview questions are crucial for assessing if a candidate will fit the company culture and are based on past behavior and performance.
• 📝 The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is recommended for structuring answers to behavioral questions to avoid rambling and ensure clarity.
• 🛠 Amazon's 16 leadership principles are key to their hiring process, and candidates should be prepared to demonstrate these through their experiences.
• 💡 Candidates should prepare stories from their work experience that align with Amazon's leadership principles to showcase their values and fit for the company.
• 🔍 Interviewers look for evidence of leadership principles such as customer obsession, ownership, and invent and simplify through behavioral questions.
• 🤔 Questions about decision-making without data or handling roadblocks are used to assess a candidate's judgment, instincts, and problem-solving skills.
• 📈 High standards and a bias for action are emphasized, with leaders expected to raise the bar and take calculated risks in business.
• 💼 Frugality is valued, with leaders encouraged to accomplish more with fewer resources, promoting resourcefulness and invention.
• 🔑 Trust and transparency are important, with leaders expected to listen, speak candidly, and be vocally self-critical to earn and maintain trust.
• 📊 A deep understanding of details and metrics is necessary, with leaders diving deep into projects and being skeptical of discrepancies.
• 🚀 Being a good storyteller can help in interviews, with advice to share conflicts, obstacles, and the path to success, making the narrative engaging and memorable.

Q & A

What is the focus of Amazon's behavioral interview questions?

Amazon's behavioral interview questions focus on a candidate's past behavior and performance to predict their job performance and cultural fit within the company.

Why are leadership principles important in Amazon's hiring process?

Leadership principles are important because they help Amazon determine if a candidate will embody the company's values and culture in their daily actions.

What is the STAR method and how is it used in answering behavioral interview questions?

The STAR method stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. It is a structured way to answer behavioral interview questions by outlining the context, objectives, actions taken, and outcomes of a situation.

What is the first leadership principle Amazon emphasizes and why is it significant?

The first leadership principle is 'Customer Obsession'. It signifies that leaders at Amazon always start with the customer's needs and work backwards, striving to earn and maintain customer trust.

How can candidates demonstrate the 'Ownership' leadership principle during an interview?

Candidates can demonstrate 'Ownership' by discussing instances where they took responsibility for long-term value over short-term gains and acted on behalf of the entire company, not just their own team.

What does the 'Invent and Simplify' leadership principle entail and how might it be assessed in an interview?

'Invent and Simplify' means leaders expect innovation and always look for ways to simplify processes. Interviewers might ask about times when the candidate solved a complex problem or handled roadblocks with creative solutions.

How do interviewers evaluate a candidate's 'Deliver Results' leadership principle?

Interviewers may ask about challenging projects the candidate has worked on, their approach to prioritizing tasks, and how they ensured timely delivery despite setbacks.

What is the 'Think Big' leadership principle and how can candidates showcase it?

'Think Big' encourages leaders to create and communicate a bold vision. Candidates can showcase this by discussing their greatest successes or times when they were creative and innovative.

Why is 'Bias for Action' important in Amazon's business approach and how might it be discussed in an interview?

'Bias for Action' is important because it values speed and calculated risk-taking. Interviewers might ask about instances where the candidate convinced others to take action or managed risk effectively.

How does Amazon's 'Frugality' leadership principle relate to resourcefulness and invention?

'Frugality' encourages accomplishing more with fewer resources, which breeds resourcefulness and invention. Interviewers may ask about times when the candidate achieved significant results with limited budgets or resources.

What advice does Kevin Way give for candidates to stand out in their Amazon behavioral interview?

Kevin Way advises candidates to avoid repeating stories, share trade-offs considered in their decisions, and be good storytellers by highlighting conflicts and obstacles they faced.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Mastering Amazon's Behavioral Interview

This paragraph introduces the video's focus on preparing for Amazon's behavioral interviews. Kevin Way, a product manager, presents the video series aimed at helping viewers succeed in their Amazon interviews. He emphasizes the importance of Amazon's leadership principles and suggests using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure responses to behavioral questions. The paragraph also outlines common mistakes candidates make, such as unstructured responses, and the benefits of preparing stories in advance.

05:01

📚 Understanding Amazon's Leadership Principles

The second paragraph delves into Amazon's 16 leadership principles, which are integral to the company's culture and hiring process. It explains that these principles guide employees' actions and decisions, and are often the subject of interview questions. The paragraph provides examples of behavioral questions related to each principle, such as customer obsession, ownership, and invent and simplify. It encourages candidates to reflect on their work experiences to find stories that demonstrate these values.

10:03

🚀 Crafting Your Interview Strategy

The final paragraph offers three pieces of advice for interviewees: avoid repeating stories, share trade-offs considered during decision-making, and be an effective storyteller by highlighting conflicts and obstacles overcome. The advice is aimed at helping candidates stand out and provide a comprehensive picture of their experiences and thought processes. The paragraph concludes with a reminder of the importance of these strategies in succeeding in Amazon's behavioral interviews.

Keywords

💡Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral interview questions are a set of queries designed to understand a candidate's past actions and behaviors to predict their future performance. In the video, these questions are highlighted as a significant part of Amazon's interview process, where they aim to assess if a candidate will fit the company culture. Examples from the script include 'Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision' and 'Tell me about a time when you came up with a simple solution to a complex problem'.

💡Leadership Principles

Leadership principles are a set of values and behaviors that guide Amazon's culture and decision-making. The video explains that Amazon has 16 leadership principles that candidates are expected to demonstrate during interviews. These principles are integral to the company's identity and are used to evaluate a candidate's alignment with Amazon's ethos.

💡STAR Method

The STAR method is a structured approach to answering behavioral interview questions. It stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. The video script emphasizes using this method to ensure a clear, concise, and impactful response to interview questions. It helps candidates avoid rambling and ensures they cover all relevant aspects of their experiences.

💡Customer Obsession

Customer obsession is one of Amazon's leadership principles that emphasizes starting with the customer and working backwards. It is about earning and maintaining customer trust and being vigilant about competitors while focusing on the customer's needs. The video script uses this principle to illustrate the type of mindset Amazon looks for in its candidates.

💡Ownership

Ownership is another leadership principle highlighted in the video, which encourages long-term thinking and acting on behalf of the entire company. It involves not shirking responsibility and being willing to step into leadership roles when necessary. The script provides examples of questions that assess this principle, such as describing a situation where one had to take on a leadership role.

💡Invent and Simplify

Invent and simplify is a leadership principle that calls for innovation and finding ways to simplify processes. It is about being externally aware and open to new ideas, even if they challenge the status quo. The video script mentions this principle in the context of interview questions that explore a candidate's ability to solve complex problems with innovative solutions.

💡Learn and Be Curious

Learn and be curious is a leadership principle that underscores the importance of continuous learning and improvement. Leaders who embody this principle are curious about new possibilities and actively seek to explore them. The video script connects this principle to interview questions that delve into a candidate's learning experiences and their approach to new challenges.

💡Hire and Develop the Best

Hire and develop the best is a leadership principle that focuses on raising the performance bar with every hire and promotion. It involves recognizing and nurturing exceptional talent, as well as taking coaching and development seriously. The video script uses this principle to frame questions about conflict resolution and team management.

💡Insist on the Highest Standards

Insist on the highest standards is a leadership principle that reflects Amazon's commitment to excellence. It involves setting and maintaining high bars for quality in products, services, and processes. The video script connects this principle to interview questions that explore a candidate's decision-making process, especially when it involves making short-term sacrifices for long-term gains.

💡Think Big

Think big is a leadership principle that encourages leaders to set ambitious goals and think beyond the immediate. It is about creating a bold vision that inspires results and looking for innovative ways to serve customers. The video script uses this principle to frame questions that assess a candidate's ability to think creatively and achieve significant outcomes.

💡Bias for Action

Bias for action is a leadership principle that values speed and the willingness to take calculated risks. It is about recognizing that many decisions and actions are reversible and do not require extensive study. The video script connects this principle to interview questions that explore a candidate's ability to convince others to take action and manage risk in a project.

Highlights

Kevin Way, a product manager, introduces a guide to answering Amazon's behavioral interview questions.

Behavioral interview questions are crucial for Amazon as they reveal a candidate's fit with the company culture.

Amazon uses behavioral questions to predict job performance and assess candidates against their leadership principles.

The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is recommended for structuring answers to behavioral questions.

Preparation is key for behavioral questions to avoid rambling and ensure a concise and impactful response.

Amazon's 16 leadership principles are integral to their hiring process and company culture.

Leaders should be customer-obsessed, starting with the customer and working backwards to earn trust.

Ownership is emphasized, with leaders expected to think long-term and act on behalf of the entire company.

Innovation and simplification are encouraged, with leaders seeking new ideas and avoiding 'not invented here' syndrome.

Leaders are expected to be right a lot, demonstrating strong judgment and seeking diverse perspectives.

Curiosity and continuous learning are valued, with leaders exploring new possibilities and improving themselves.

Hiring and developing the best is a leadership principle, with a focus on raising the performance bar with every hire.

High standards are a hallmark of Amazon's leadership, with leaders raising the bar and ensuring quality in all aspects.

Thinking big and taking action are encouraged, with leaders expected to create bold visions and take calculated risks.

Frugality is valued, with leaders expected to accomplish more with fewer resources and constraints.

Trust is essential, with leaders expected to listen, speak candidly, and treat others with respect.

Diving deep into details and staying connected to the core of the business is a leadership principle at Amazon.

Leaders are expected to have backbone, disagreeing respectfully and committing wholly once a decision is made.

Delivering results is crucial, with leaders focusing on key inputs and overcoming setbacks to achieve goals.

Striving to be the best employer involves creating a diverse, safe, and productive work environment.

Leaders are expected to take broad responsibility, being humble and thoughtful about Amazon's impact on the world.

Three pieces of advice for nailing the Amazon interview: avoid repeating stories, share trade-offs, and be a good storyteller.

Transcripts

in this video we're going to cover how

to answer amazon's behavioral interview

questions my name is kevin way i'm a

product manager and i'm here to help you

nail your upcoming amazon interview be

sure to like subscribe and hit that

notification bell for new tech interview

prep videos every single week

[Music]

so you got an interview at amazon and

you're learning that behavioral

questions are a big deal at the company

but what are behavioral interview

questions and why is amazon so obsessed

with something called leadership

principles today we'll talk about how to

nail amazon's behavioral interview

questions

the most common mistakes that candidates

make and three tips that'll help you

give the best answer

when it comes to hiring amazon puts an

enormous emphasis on questions that help

show if a candidate will fit in with the

company culture to do this they ask

behavioral interview questions

behavioral interview questions focus on

your past behavior and performance and

companies like to ask these because they

reveal quite a bit of who you are and

help predict your job performance at

least in theory interviewers asking

these questions are looking to deduce

your skill set how you may perform as an

employee and how well you might fit in

with the amazon workplace culture in

amazon's case they're also looking for

evidence of what they call leadership

principles and we'll explain what these

are shortly some examples of behavioral

questions include tell me about a time

when you had to make a difficult

decision or tell me about a time when

you came up with a simple solution to a

complex problem the most common mistakes

candidates make when answering these

behavioral questions is not answering

them in a structured organized manner

this is a problem because the stories

you're about to tell probably come from

some project you worked on over the span

of a few weeks or months and as a result

if you're not answering them in a

structured manner then this could lead

to you rambling not setting the right

context for your interviewer or not

being able to give the right answer that

you were trying to give lucky for you

there's a structured way to answer every

question and this is called the star

method

star stands for situation task action

and result

so s situation this is where you would

describe the situation that you want to

talk about

task this is where you would elaborate

on the tasks involved

a action this is where you talk about

the specific steps that you took to

ensure success and our result this is

where you talk about the outcome as you

can imagine these kinds of questions can

be difficult to improvise on the spot so

it would be good to prepare for them

ahead of time you'll notice that by

using the star method you wouldn't need

to worry about leaving anything out

that's important or worrying about

wasting the interviewers time with a

long-winded response so now that we've

cleared up what behavioral interview

questions are

let's talk about how you should prepare

to answer them amazon loves to talk

about their leadership principles the

idea is that amazon employees hold

themselves accountable in their daily

actions by demonstrating each of these

16 leadership principles many of these

principles have been in existence at

amazon from the very start while others

were gradually added over time we'll go

through each of these principles

what they mean and what kind of

interview questions you might be asked

to demonstrate them and as we go through

each of these principles try to think of

one or two stories from your work

experience that show how you demonstrate

these values

so first customer obsession leaders

start with the customer and work

backwards they work vigorously to earn

and keep customer trust and although

leaders pay attention to competitors

they obsess over their customers

sample questions include tell me about a

time when you had a deal with a very

difficult customer

or describe a situation where you

negotiated a win-win next leadership

principle ownership

leaders are owners they think long-term

and don't sacrifice long-term value for

short-term results

they act on behalf of the entire company

beyond just their own team

they never say oh that's not my job

sample questions for this include

describe a tough situation in which you

had to step into a leadership role or

tell me about a tough decision you made

during a project invent and simplify

leaders expect and require innovation

and invention from their teams and

always find ways to simplify they're

externally aware look for new ideas from

everywhere and are not limited by not

invented here

as we do new things we accept that we

may be misunderstood for long periods of

time sample interview questions include

tell me about a time when you solved a

complex problem and how you went about

doing it

or how do you handle roadblocks or

obstacles

leaders are right a lot they have strong

judgment and good instincts they seek

diverse perspectives and work to

disconfirm their beliefs

sample questions include tell me about a

time when you had to make a decision

without much customer data

or tell me about a time when you had to

convince team members on something that

you proposed

learn and be curious

leaders are never done learning and

always seek to improve themselves

they are curious about new possibilities

and act to explore them

sample questions include tell me about a

time when you built out a process or

tell me about a skill that you recently

learned hire and develop the best

leaders raise the performance bar with

every hire and promotion

they recognize exceptional talent and

willingly move them throughout the

organization leaders develop leaders and

take seriously the role in coaching

others

sample questions include tell me about a

time when you had a conflict with

someone how did you resolve it in what

did you learn or tell me about a time

when you fired someone

insist on the highest standards leaders

have relentlessly high standards many

people think these standards are

unreasonably high

leaders are continually raising the bar

and drive their teams to deliver high

quality products services and processes

leaders ensure that defects do not get

sent down the line and that problems are

fixed so that they stay fixed

sample questions include tell me about a

time when you had to make a decision to

make short-term sacrifices for long-term

gains

or tell me about a time when you made a

decision based on data and you were

ultimately wrong

think big thinking small is a

self-fulfilling prophecy

leaders create and communicate a bold

direction that inspires results

they think differently and look around

corners for ways to serve customers

sample questions include tell me about

your greatest success

tell me about a time when you were

creative bias for action

speed matters in business many decisions

and actions are reversible and do not

need extensive study we value calculated

risk taking sample questions include how

have you convinced others to take action

or how have you managed risk in a

project frugality

accomplish more with less constraints

breed resourcefulness self-sufficiency

and invention

there are no extra points for growing

head count budget size or fixed expense

tell me about a time when you turn down

more resources to complete a project

tell me about a time when you had to

accomplish big results with very little

budget earn trust

leaders listen attentively speak

candidly and treat others respectfully

they are vocally self-critical even when

doing so is awkward or embarrassing they

benchmark themselves and their teams

against the best

sample questions include can you give me

an example of how you manage conflict or

how do you earn the trust of your team

members dive deep

leaders operate at all levels stay

connected to the details audit

frequently and are skeptical when

metrics in anecdote differ

no task is beneath them

sample questions include tell me about

the most complex project you've worked

on or have you changed an opinion or

direction using data have backbone

disagree and commit leaders are

obligated to respectfully challenge

decisions when they disagree

even when doing so was uncomfortable or

exhausting leaders have conviction and

are tenacious they do not compromise for

the sake of social cohesion and once a

decision is determined they commit

wholly sample questions include tell me

about a time when you had a disagreement

with your manager

or how do you manage difficult

conversations

deliver results leaders focus on key

inputs for their business and deliver

them with the right quality and in a

timely fashion despite setbacks they

rise to the occasion and never settle

sample questions include describe a

challenging project you worked on and

why it was challenging or how do you

prioritize

strive to be earth's best employer

leaders work every day to create a safer

more productive higher performing more

diverse and more just work environment

they lead with empathy have fun at work

and make it easy for others to have fun

leaders ask themselves are my fellow

employees growing are they empowered are

they ready for what's next

leaders have a vision and are committed

to their employees personal success

whether that be at amazon or elsewhere

sample questions for this one include

tell me about a time when you had to

motivate a team after a demoralizing

event

or tell me about a time when an employee

gave you negative feedback

success and scale bring broad

responsibility we started in a garage

but we're not there anymore we're big we

impact the world and we're far from

perfect

we must be humble and thoughtful about

even the secondary effects of our

actions our local communities planet and

future generations need us to be better

every day we must begin each day with a

determination to make better do better

and be better for our customers our

employees our partners and the world at

large

and we must end every day knowing we can

do even more tomorrow leaders create

more than they consume and always leave

things better than how they found them

sample questions for this one include

tell me about a time you had a problem

and how to discover the real cause

or describe a time when your project

failed all right that was a lot of

information we went over what behavioral

questions are and amazon's 16 leadership

principles

before we end the video i'll leave you

guys with three pieces of advice

don't repeat stories share trade-offs

and be a good storyteller don't repeat

stories at the end of your amazon

interviews your interviewers will get

together as a committee possibly trade

notes and come to a hiring decision

if your interviewers start to realize

that you're repeating stories that might

be a red flag and they might think that

you're repeating stories due to a lack

of experience

second share trade-offs

anytime you give an answer feel free to

surface any trade-offs you considered

when making a decision

this could be as simple as a few pros

and cons about the decision that you had

to make or the approach you took on a

project and lastly try to be a good

storyteller this can be a video in and

of itself but my piece of advice here is

to surface any conflicts you had or

obstacles that you faced success is

never a straight path and it's kind of

like watching a good movie there's

always twists to the plot so there you

have it this is what you need to nail

your amazon behavioral interview be sure

to like subscribe and comment what you

want to see next in our weekly tech

interview prep videos thanks for

watching and good luck in your upcoming

amazon interview

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