Amazon Behavioral Interview Questions | Leadership Principles Explained
Summary
TLDRIn 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
😀 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.
📚 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.
🚀 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Behavioral Interview Questions
💡Leadership Principles
💡STAR Method
💡Customer Obsession
💡Ownership
💡Invent and Simplify
💡Learn and Be Curious
💡Hire and Develop the Best
💡Insist on the Highest Standards
💡Think Big
💡Bias for Action
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
[Music]
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
The STAR Framework: Nail Your Interview
Navigating the quant trading new grad / intern hiring process
Watch This To Not Fail Your Next ML Interview
Mastercard Scholar Shares Essay Secrets For Mastercard Edinburgh Scholarship Part 2 | How To Write
Decode And Smash The Amazon Tell Me About Yourself Question
AWS Skilled-Based HIRING PROGRAM w. Director of Recruiting (AWS)
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)