Inside Job: A Guide to Amazon Interview Prep

The key to acing an interview is preparation and performance. Preparation is knowing thyself by reviewing work experiences, organizing the best examples to share, and practicing communication skills for the interview. Performance is how you communicate your work experiences and respond to questions and scenarios. After participating in over 165 interviews, I have observed how both preparation and performance make the difference between a “hire” and a “no hire” decision. This post can be used by 1) hiring managers to communicate expectations to candidates before an interview or share development opportunities with a candidate after a not inclined loop; 2) candidates who are preparing for an internal interview. 

Preparation

The best way to get ready is to stay ready. Early in my career I learned to keep a document with my project accomplishments and how I responded to challenges. I turned those bullets points into STAR interview formatted examples that I called hero stories. 

Hero Stories
I define hero stories as examples of when I came in and saved the day, enhanced the situation, and had a significant impact on my project and stakeholders. This could be any situation where my absence would have led to a diminished result. I target hero stories because they highlight my strengths, accomplishments, and bar raising capabilities. If you don’t already have a list of hero stories, this is the first step to preparing for an interview. 

As I organized my hero stories, I quickly realized that every story had an example of a time that I worked with a difficult peer/leader/customer, failed or succeeded in some way, dove into the details to solve a problem, made technical tradeoffs, and other common scenarios that are discussed in interviews. Although my hero stories contained many of these elements, I still needed to evaluate them to determine which behaviors were standout and which were standard.

Standout vs. Standard
It is important to understand that there is a different between standout and standard behavior. For a particular level and role some behaviors can be seen as standout, such as leading a design initiative to fix a defect that negatively impacts the program. This behavior could be interpreted as standout for a finance manager but standard behavior for a design engineer. However, depending on the impact of the action the behavior could even be standout for a design engineer. Conservatively, if the behavior closely aligns with the responsibilities of the position, then it will be difficult to make the case that the behavior is standout. 

After outlining hero stories that are standout for the level and role, the next step is to align the stories with (LPs). Consider using a table that shows hero stories next to LPs and target a few interchangeable stories that could be used for multiple LPs.  

Translate the LPs
I often hear talk about “studying the leadership principles” in preparation for an interview. Reading the description on Amazon’s website and memorizing the summary is one way to approach the LPs, but the approach I took involved translating the LPs into key behaviors. Once the behaviors are understood, it should be simple to align your hero stories and strategize what to talk about in the interview. I’ve developed a table of how I personality translated the LPs.

Performance

Preparing standout hero stories that align to the LPs is only half the battle. You still need to effectively communicate those stories to the interviewer. No matter how good the hero stories are, if you can’t communicate them well then you won’t be successful. Imaging how difficult it would be to connect with a character in a movie if the actor struggled to deliver their lines. No matter how well the screenplay is written, if the actor doesn’t know and deliver their lines effectively, the audience will not enjoy the movie. The same can be said about a candidate struggling to use the STAR method in an interview. It will be difficult for them to demonstrate a functional fit for the role and strong behaviors that align with the LPs. Strong performance (i.e., communicating work experiences) in the interview is the only way to get hired.

Practice Makes Better
Practice is key to a strong performance. Whether you’re a concert pianist or a football quarterback, repetition is the technique used to prepare for the performance. For a candidate, this means not only reading and studying the hero stories until they are memorized, but also reciting them aloud. This will help build muscle memorize to communicate your thoughts with confidence and fluidity.  It is okay to have your notes handy during the interview, similar to a pianist’s score or a quarterback’s playbook, but it is important that you don’t use them as a crutch or fully depend on them to communicate. Recite your hero stories aloud until you truly know them and can alter your delivery on the fly without losing the essence of the story.

Lights, Camera, Action!
The STAR method provides structure to your hero stories and define the situation/task, action, and result. Context around the situation/task is important, but just like any summer blockbuster, the action is what captivates the audience. A common mistake is to take a lot of time on the situation/task but speed through the actions that you took. This leaves the interviewer questioning the role and impact that you had in the story. Remember, you are the hero in the story so the focus should be on what you did to save the day. When you get to the action, take time to decompose what exactly you did, how you did it, why you did it, alternatives you considered, and stakeholders you worked with. Connect the dots of yours actions so the interviewer sees a clear picture of your thought process, strong ownership, and drive to achieving results. The goal is to infer that without your actions, the story would have ended in failure. 

The End
Strong action makes for an exciting movie, but the in the end the storyline must come full circle to why it all matters. The best hero stories end with a positive result that impacts a large audience. The result should be quantified using metrics but anecdotes can be used to qualify the efforts. End the hero story with what was achieved through your actions, how it impacted others, and lessons learned throughout the process. The goal is for the interviewer to walk away with data that supports that you can exceed expectations and raise the bar for the role.

Conclusion
Preparation and performance make the difference between a “hire” and a “no hire” decision. Strong preparation with a poor performance will yield the same results as poor preparation and a strong performance. You need both strong preparation and strong performance to achieve greatness. The strategies shared in this doc have helped myself and numerous others ace interviews. Next time you’re preparing for an interview, consider how preparation and performance will increase your chances of success.