Hi All,

I have an upcoming interview at Amazon, and I've been researching the structure and expectations of the loop round. I understand it will primarily focus on Amazon's leadership principles.

I have a couple of questions:

1. What is the ideal length of time to structure an answer using the STAR format ?

2. Is it recommended that notes or memos be included for answers during the interview?

I would appreciate any insights or advice you could share.

Edit - The role is a Business analyst role (Non tech)

Hello Everyone, 

Ever since I posted about my offer with Amazon, I have been asked a LOT about the interview process and how to prepare. So, I thought I could post a comprehensive guide for the process. Please be advised that I will not be covering the basics of leadership principles, STAR format and loop interview process in this post. This is a more in depth post about the actual process and some nuances that are not available online. 

1. HR Phone Screen: This is the first round of the interview process with an Amazon recruiter on call. The recruiter will mostly ask basic questions about your resume and experience and pass you on to the next round if they think you are a good fit. I had two different experiences in this round. For the position I got hired for, the recruiter said I don’t need to do the HR phone screen since she thought I was a good fit already. In another instance, I had the HR phone screen but the recruiter ghosted me. So it is hit or miss. On paper, Amazon has a 48-hour response time promise for this round. 

2. Technical Phone Screen: I got a little lucky in this round because the interviewer was informed late and she asked questions from the top of her head. Even then, it was really technical, asking about my workflows, thought processes and experience with various software. I have been told horror stories of intense technical grilling, especially by SDE roles. So I would highly suggest preparing well. I used ChatGPT for this purpose. Some of my prompts were:

   1. I am interviewing for <job posting link> with <interviewer linkedin link> on a technical phone screen. What kind of questions can I expect?

   2. I am interviewing for <job posting link> with <interviewer linkedin link> on a technical phone screen. <job description line> is a core responsibility. What kind of questions can I expect? On paper, Amazon has a 48-hour response time promise for this round.

3. Recruiter Counselling Call: If you pass the technical phone screen, the recruiter will schedule what I call as a counselling call with you. They will discuss the loop structure, STAR format and leadership principles (LPS). There is a good chance they might tell you what leadership principles (out of Amazon’s 14) and technical competencies (TCs) will be needed for this role. 

4. The Loop: Amazon loop interview is basically a panel 4-6 interviewers with each one given an hour to test you on LPs and TCs associated with the role. The hiring manager assigns LPs & TCs to each interviewer to test your abilities. Here is a typical amazon interview panel:

   1. Hiring Manager

   2. Bar Raiser: From a completely different team, has veto power to overturn the panel’s hiring decision

   3. Cross-Functional Stakeholder

   4. Teammates/Peers

   5. Management Personnel

This is how I would prepare for my loop if I were to do it all over again, assuming I am confident about the job description expectations. My prompts to ChatGPT were:I am interviewing for the role of <job posting link> with Amazon. <linkedin profile link> is a loop interviewer. What kind of questions can I expect?

I am interviewing for the role of <job posting link> with Amazon. The LPs & TCs associated are _____. What questions can I expect?

Get creative with prompts. Use multiple AI agents. It’s all worth it, the more the better. Amazon expects all answers in STAR format unless specifically said “scenario based question”. STAR is basically a Situation-Task-Action-Result format. The time I recommend for each answer is 6-10 minutes, with a 20-20-40-20 split. Amazon has a 5-day response time promise for this round and I heard back on day 4. 

Personal Advise:

1. Make at least 15-20 STAR format stories. Match LPs to stories, not the other way around. One story can be associated with multiple LPs. 

2. I recommend not repeating stories within the loop BUT I did repeat two stories twice and I was okay. 

3. Don’t be nervous, but at the same time don’t make small talk unless reciprocated. Interviewers are very formal and serious at Amazon. They are trained to do so. 

4. Carry a single page notes sheet with summary of all stories. 

5. Use as many numbers as possible. 

6. Ask ChatGPT to review, rate and polish all your STAR format answers. Repeat this for every answer until ChatGPT rates it 4.5 or above.