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Behavioral interviews are an integral part of the Amazon interview process, regardless of the position you’re applying to. The behavioral round usually happens during the on-site interview, and this is where most of the Amazon leadership principles interview questions are asked.
Amazon’s behavioral interview is unique and starkly different from other FAANG companies. That’s because the interview is based on Amazon’s 16 leadership principles. It is a set of ideals that reflect Amazon’s core values as a company. Learning how to answer questions around leadership principles is important to make the cut, be it for junior, senior, or managerial positions.
Amazon’s on-site interview also consists of a “bar-raiser” round, where you’re evaluated by designated bar-raisers who have the authority to veto your application in case you’re found unfit for the role. Bar-raisers are specially trained employees who evaluate candidates based on nuances of the role and the company’s leadership principles.
In this article, we’ll focus on Amazon leadership principles interview questions and also discuss why these questions are important and the tips you can use to answer them.
What Are Amazon 16 Leadership Principles?
Amazon’s leadership principles were pioneered and instituted by Chairman Jeff Bezos to evolve a culture that respects ethical and moral values. Below are the 16 leadership principles that are central to Amazon interview questions:
Why Are Amazon’s Leadership Principles Important?
Amazon’s leadership principles define the company’s core values and serve as a bedrock for ethics and conduct. By adhering to leadership principles, employees can achieve memorable success in their personal growth efforts and contribute to the company’s overall success.
Amazon leadership principles interview questions can feature in the on-site behavioral round or the bar-raiser round. A bar-raiser is part of a team of specially trained Amazon professionals whose main job is to maintain high standards while hiring candidates for roles across the board.
How to Answer Amazon Leadership Principle Interview Questions
Amazon bar-raiser interview round evaluates your responses to behavioral questions and gauges if you’re the right fit for the role. The STAR method is a widely popularized method to answer behavioral interview questions at FAANG companies. The method fundamentally aims to frame responses based on real situations and incidents. Let’s look at it in slight detail:
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result.
While answering Amazon leadership principles interview questions, make sure you address each of these areas to craft the perfect response.
- Situation: The Situation should answer the “When,” “Why,” and “Where” of the response. When you’re asked a behavioral question, start off with the Situation before moving on to the other elements.
- Task: The Task should throw light on what your particular role in the situation was. Highlight what your key responsibilities were and what was expected of you.
- Action: The Action part should address what steps you took towards meeting the requirements of the task.
- Result: The Result part should essentially answer the outcome of the task. This part should also talk about challenges encountered along the way and the actions taken to tackle them.
Amazon Leadership Principles Interview Questions
Amazon’s behavioral interview will have questions that pertain to one or more leadership principles. While answering these questions, make references to specific principles and associate them with your answers. That way, recruiters will know that you’ve read and understood these crucial principles and are willing to apply them at your workplace.
Amazon Leadership Principles Interview Questions and Answers
Amazon leadership principles interview questions are free-flowing in nature and are mostly driven by your previous work experience. There are no standard questions in this case so you need to understand the leadership principles and use them to structure your answers. These Amazon leadership principles interview questions and answers will help you understand how to answer such behavioral questions.
Q1. Tell us about a time when you overcame a rather difficult challenge pertaining to a past project.
In my previous job, I faced the challenge of delayed delivery that would have jeopardized the completion time of a project. Since this delay might affect deliverables, I took proactive measures by identifying other suppliers and after providing them as workable alternatives to stakeholders coordinated a rapid change of suppliers. This saw us deliver to the originally promised deadline while enhancing the team's trust in my ability to solve problems.
This question and example answer mirrors the Bias for Action and Deliver Results leadership principles.
Q2. Tell us about a time when you had to halt a project halfway through as it wasn’t headed in the right direction.
In one of my previous roles, while I was working on a marketing campaign, I came to realize that the early metrics were not up to expectations, and the campaign was drifting off course. After reviewing the data, I called for a halt and worked with the team to re-evaluate our strategy. We aligned the campaign back on customer feedback, which brought back double-digit engagement rates.
This particular Amazon leadership principles interview question and answer reflect the Ownership and Customer Obsession principle.
Q3. Tell us about a time when you had to persuade your manager to change the course of action based on credible insights.
While working in my previous role role, I noticed customer feedback trend indicating dissatisfaction due to a user interface. The data collected through further analysis reflected the specific impact on user retention. I presented this data and insights to my manager and proposed the design priority adjustment where usability improvements are taken into account. Although the initial approach was on lines of new features, it was the data-driven insight from my side that convinced them to pivot. This helped to bring down the churn rates by 20%.
Q4. Tell us about an instance when you had to make a tough decision pertaining to a project when you were under pressure.
In one of my prior job roles, last-minute changes in the requirements of a product threatened to postpone our launch. I had to present stakeholders with a choice to extend the deadline or deliver it on time with fewer features set. I chose to release it on schedule with high-quality core features but communicated accordingly with stakeholders.
Q5. Tell us about a time when you had to take a risk in a project.
I was tasked with a project to streamline an existing outdated process. I proposed the automation of several steps, which required an up-front investment of time and resources. This resulted in the effective reduction of 40% of the processing time and a rather good amount of cost savings.
Amazon Leadership Principles Interview Questions
Here’s a list of 35 behavioral interview questions that you can use to practice for the interview:
- Tell us about a time when you were asked to compromise moral values for the sake of a project.
- Tell us about a difficult relationship you had with a superior. How did you overcome it and build trust?
- Tell us about a time when you had a conflict at your workplace with a coworker.
- Tell us about a time when you had to deviate from the norm to complete a project.
- Tell us about a time when you imparted learnings from a challenging project to your team members.
- How would you employ a certain leadership principle at work?
- Tell us about a time when you had to make sacrifices in your personal life to complete an arduous project.
- Tell us about a time when a problem had multiple solutions. How did you go about picking the right solution?
- What are your thoughts on maintaining the ideal work-life balance?
- Tell us about a time when you had to acquire a new skill, dislodging you from your zone of comfort.
- Tell us about a time when you had to take the lead in a project.
- Have you been criticized by a superior in the past? How did you handle it?
- Tell us about a time when your creativity helped a project take an improved turn.
- Tell us about your ideas to motivate your team.
- Which leadership principle do you resonate with the most?
- Tell us about a time when a coworker was hesitant to take help. How did you deal with it?
- Tell us about a time when you had to make a big decision with little data or information.
- Tell us about a time when you faced criticism for your role in an important project. How did you handle it?
- Tell us about a time when your role in a project resulted in the client being completely satisfied.
- Have you ever missed a deadline for a project? How did it impact the relationship with the client, and how did you handle it?
- Tell us about when you had to take the lead on a project and impart key learnings to your team members.
- Tell us about a time when you faced a fairly difficult problem but came up with a simple solution.
- Have you had to ask for help with a difficult project? Tell us how you went about the situation.
- Tell us about a time when your actions impacted customer satisfaction.
- What behavioral characteristics, according to you, will help you succeed at Amazon?
- Tell us about a time when you made short-term compromises or sacrifices for the benefit of concrete long-term results.
- How do you motivate members of your team as a manager?
- Tell us about a time when a project had multiple solutions and how you adopted the most optimal one.
- Tell us about a time when you had to make a tough decision without consulting anybody. How did you go about it?
- Has your manager/superior asked you to do something that you disagree with in the past? How did you handle that?
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FAQs on Amazon Leadership Principles Interview Questions
Q1. How many interview rounds are at Amazon?
There are four interview rounds at Amazon. Each round is of a 1-hour duration. These rounds include online applications, assessments, phone interviews, and virtual or on-site interviews.
Q2. Is it easy to get hired by Amazon?
Amazon is a large and growing company, so getting hired at Amazon in a technical role can be a little challenging because of the competitive job market. The application and interview process is intense compared to other companies, so you will need to stand out for the hiring panel, showcasing your best.
Q3. Does Amazon hire you right away?
The Amazon hiring process timeline is up to 2 weeks. The timeline could vary depending on the positions and the number of candidates.
Q4. What to expect in a leadership interview?
The majority of leadership interview questions focus on your experience in teamwork, solving disputes, interpersonal communication, and inspiring others to perform to the best of their abilities.
Q5. How much does an Amazon leadership position make?
The average annual salary for an Amazon leadership position in the United States as of November 2024 is $155,410.
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