What makes Amazon interviews different
Like most graduate employers, Amazon asks behavioural questions, the ones that start "Tell me about a time…". It uses the Leadership Principles to guide them, and its guide for candidates suggests framing your answers around the principles too.
The main interview stage is called the interview loop: a series of one-on-one interviews. Amazon says each person you meet assesses different parts of your skills and experience, and the loop may include a Bar Raiser (see the box below).
Expect follow-up questions on your answers, such as what exactly you did, how you decided and what you'd do differently. Amazon says it's the interviewer's job to guide the conversation and get the details they need, so treat a follow-up as a chance to add detail. You'll need stories you know well enough to answer them.
Amazon describes a Bar Raiser as an objective third party in the loop: an employee from another team, trained on the Leadership Principles, who makes the hiring decision together with the hiring manager. Amazon says the aim is for each new hire to be better than half of the people already in similar roles. Its advice is to treat every interviewer the same, so you don't need to answer the Bar Raiser any differently.
The 16 Leadership Principles, and stories that fit them
Amazon publishes all 16 principles on its jobs site, each with a short paragraph. Read the paragraphs as well as the names, because the detail tells you what a story needs to show. The cards below follow Amazon's order, with some principles grouped together.
LP 01
Customer Obsession
What it means
Leaders "start with the customer and work backwards", and work hard to earn and keep customers' trust. For you, the customer can be anyone you were doing the work for.
A story that fits
A time you took the trouble to find out what a customer or user needed, perhaps found it was different from what they first asked for, and changed what you did. Finish on how it helped them, rather than how it made things easier for you or your team.
LP 02
Ownership
What it means
Leaders think long term, act for the whole company rather than only their own team, and never say "that's not my job".
A story that fits
Something was falling through the cracks, nobody else was going to fix it, and you stepped in without being asked. Take the story through to the end: "I raised the issue" is a weaker answer than one that goes on to say what you did to get it fixed.
LP 03
Invent and Simplify
What it means
Leaders come up with new ideas and "always find ways to simplify". They look for ideas everywhere, including outside their own team.
A story that fits
A process was more complicated than it needed to be, and you proposed or built a simpler way. Say what improved, with a number if you can. It doesn't have to be technical: a simpler checklist for new staff counts if it made a difference.
LP 04–08
Are Right, A Lot / Learn and Be Curious / Hire and Develop the Best / Insist on the Highest Standards / Think Big
What it means
In short: good judgement that you test against other people's views, always learning, helping others get better, not letting poor work through, and setting a bold direction. One story can show more than one of these.
A story that fits
For "Are Right, A Lot": a call you made that others doubted, where you listened to the people who disagreed, checked your thinking and turned out to be right. For "Learn and Be Curious": something you taught yourself outside your course because you needed it to solve a problem. For "Insist on the Highest Standards": a time you sent work back, your own or someone else's, when accepting it would have been easier.
LP 09
Bias for Action
What it means
Many decisions can be reversed and don't need long study, and Amazon values "calculated risk taking".
A story that fits
A time you made a decision without all the information, acted on it, and adjusted as you learned more. Explain why the risk was reasonable. Make sure you're the one who decided: a story where the group talked until everyone agreed doesn't show this principle.
LP 10
Frugality
What it means
"Accomplish more with less." Amazon says constraints lead to resourcefulness and invention, and that there are no extra points for a bigger team or a bigger budget.
A story that fits
A time you got something done with less than you'd have liked: a small budget, little time, too few people or the wrong tools. Say what you did instead of asking for more, and how it turned out.
LP 11–13
Earn Trust / Dive Deep / Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
What it means
"Earn Trust" is about listening, speaking candidly, treating people with respect and admitting your own mistakes. "Dive Deep" is about staying close to the details, and checking when the numbers and what people tell you don't match. "Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit" means challenging a decision respectfully when you disagree, then committing to it fully once it's made.
A story that fits
For "Disagree and Commit": you disagreed with a decision, made your case clearly, and when it went the other way you put your full effort into making it work. The story needs both halves. It falls short if you never raised your concern, or if you went along and then dragged your feet.
LP 14–16
Deliver Results / Strive to be Earth's Best Employer / Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility
What it means
"Deliver Results" asks for the right things done well and on time, and for rising to the occasion despite setbacks. Amazon added the other two in 2021. They're about being a good employer and colleague, and taking responsibility for the wider effects of what you do. Stories about helping someone else grow, or thinking through who your work affects, can fit them.
A story that fits
For "Deliver Results": a time things got in the way, such as competing priorities, a setback or too little time, and you still delivered. End with the result, and a number if you have one.
The hiring process
Stage 01
Online application
What happens
You apply online with your CV. Amazon says its process differs from role to role, and its graduate job ads usually say who can apply and when the role starts, so read the ad closely.
How to prepare
Start each line of your CV with what you did ("built", "reduced", "delivered") and add a number where you have one. A line that says what changed gives an interviewer something to ask you about, where a list of duties doesn't.
Stage 02
Online assessments
What happens
Depending on the role, this can include work style questions, a work simulation (short tasks such as reading a chart or answering a customer's question) and, for software roles, a coding test. Most are done online, many are timed, and Amazon says it can't extend a deadline you miss.
How to prepare
Amazon's advice on the work style questions is not to overthink them or spend long on any one, and to answer as yourself. For a software graduate role, Amazon suggests setting aside up to two hours for the assessment. Practise timed coding problems on a site like LeetCode beforehand.
Stage 03
Phone or video screen
What happens
Some roles have a screening interview by phone or video before the loop. Expect behavioural questions on the principles, and questions about why you want the role.
How to prepare
Treat it as a first run of your stories. Amazon's own tips are to stick to the question asked, give your answer a clear structure, use numbers where you can and choose recent examples.
Stage 04
The interview loop
What happens
Interviews with two to seven people, one at a time, in person or by video. They may include managers, future teammates and a Bar Raiser. Technical roles include technical questions as well.
How to prepare
Try to use a different story with each interviewer. They take detailed notes to share with the rest of the team, and fresh examples give them more to go on. Amazon also suggests pausing at the end of an answer to ask whether the interviewer would like more context.
Ten questions to prepare, and the principle behind each
Q 01
Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with limited information.
Leadership Principle: Bias for Action
You thought it through, decided without waiting for certainty, and adjusted once you knew more.
How to answer
Say what you knew, what you didn't, and why you couldn't wait to find out. Walk through how you weighed it up and what you chose. Don't stop at the decision: say what you learned once you'd acted, and what you changed because of it.
Q 02
Describe a time you disagreed with a decision made by your team or manager.
Leadership Principle: Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
You raised your concern respectfully, with reasons, and then backed the decision once it was made.
How to answer
Say what the decision was, why you disagreed and how you said so: who you spoke to, when, and what evidence you used. Then give an example of what you did to make the final decision work, even though it wasn't the one you wanted.
Q 03
Tell me about the most complex problem you've worked on, and how you broke it down.
Leadership Principle: Dive Deep
You got into the detail yourself, and split a big problem into parts you could solve.
How to answer
Start with what made the problem hard. Then explain how you broke it down: the smaller problems, which one you tackled first and why, and the data or methods you used. Finish with the outcome. Know the details of your own story, because a high-level answer is likely to bring questions about them.
Q 04
Give me an example of a time you improved a process or found a simpler way to do something.
Leadership Principle: Invent and Simplify
The improvement was your idea, or you made it happen, and you can say what changed.
How to answer
Describe how things worked before and what was wrong with that. Then say what you changed and what difference it made: time saved, fewer errors, more people using it, lower cost. If you can't put a number on any of it, look for a story where you can.
Q 05
Tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer or user.
Leadership Principle: Customer Obsession
Your extra effort came from understanding what the customer needed, and it helped them.
How to answer
Start with what the customer needed, which may not be what they asked for. Then say what you did beyond what was expected, and how it turned out for them. If you haven't dealt with outside customers, the customer can be someone inside an organisation, such as another team that relied on your work.
Q 06
Describe a time you had to deliver results under difficult circumstances.
Leadership Principle: Deliver Results
You found a way to get the result despite what got in the way.
How to answer
Say what the target was and what made it hard: too few people, too little time, requirements that kept changing or equipment that broke. Then say what you did to get there anyway, and end with the result. Keep stories where you didn't quite make it for questions about failure.
Q 07
Tell me about something you taught yourself because you needed it to solve a problem.
Leadership Principle: Learn and Be Curious
You learned something because you needed it, without being told to. A unit you were enrolled in is a weaker example.
How to answer
Say what you needed to know and why. Then explain how you learned it: what you used, how long it took and how you went about it. Then say how you used it to solve the problem. If you went on to teach it to someone else or write it up for others, mention that too, because it also fits "Hire and Develop the Best".
Q 08
Tell me about a time you took on something well outside your role.
Leadership Principle: Ownership
You took responsibility for something beyond your job description because it needed doing.
How to answer
Say what was being missed and why it wasn't your job. Then explain why you took it on anyway, what you did and how it turned out. Leave out stories where someone asked you to do it, because then you were doing what you were asked.
Q 09
Describe a time your work didn't meet your own standard, and what you did about it.
Leadership Principle: Insist on the Highest Standards
You noticed your work wasn't good enough and fixed it, when letting it go would have been easier.
How to answer
Be honest about what fell short, then spend most of the answer on how you fixed it. Amazon tells candidates that not every story has to be a success, and that what you learned counts. A real mistake with a clear fix makes a better answer than a story where nothing went wrong.
Q 10
Why Amazon, why this role, and why now?
What they want to know
Whether you have specific reasons. Amazon calls "Why Amazon?" a common question, and says your answer helps it understand what motivates you.
How to answer
Name something specific: a product or service you use, a business problem you find interesting, or a team you've read about. Link the role to your own experience or interests. For "why now", talk about where you are in your studies or career and what you want to learn next. Avoid general praise like "Amazon is a great company", which anyone could say.
How to prepare for an Amazon interview
Start with the principles. Read Amazon's paragraph on each one, then go through what you've done at uni, at work and outside both, and note which experiences could show which principles. Use true stories. The follow-up questions go into detail, and a made-up story is hard to keep straight.
From that list, pick six to eight stories you can tell well. Most will fit more than one principle. Know each one well enough to say exactly what you did, how you decided, what you'd do differently and how you measured the result.
Tell each story in STAR order: the situation in a sentence or two, the task you were responsible for, what you did, and the result. Amazon's guide calls STAR one way to structure an answer, not the only one. Whatever order you use, keep the background short and spend most of your time on what you did and how it ended.
Then practise being questioned. Ask a friend to stop you with questions like "What exactly did you say in that meeting?" or "What data did you use?" If a story can't stand up to that, add the detail it's missing or choose another one.
Amazon's interview guide asks you to focus on your own part, even in team work, and says it helps to use "I" instead of "we". "We built it" leaves the interviewer guessing what you did. "I wrote the scripts that cleaned the data" tells them. Listen for "we" when you practise, and change it to what you did.
Mistakes to avoid
Answering with what you would do. A question that starts "Tell me about a time…" needs a real example, and "I would approach this by…" doesn't answer it. If you don't have a perfect example, use the closest real one.
Vague results. "The project was successful" doesn't tell the interviewer much. "I cut processing time from three hours to forty minutes" does. Look hard for a number first. If there really isn't one, describe what changed as specifically as you can.
Telling the team's story instead of yours. Set up the team in a sentence, then spend the rest of the answer on your part.
Preparing too few stories. Across a full loop you'll answer a lot of questions, and with only three stories you'll end up repeating them to people who share notes. Have at least six ready.
Practise your stories out loud
InterviewZap asks you behavioural questions about your own experience, written from your CV and the job description you add, and follows up on what you say. After each answer you'll see what was missing, a stronger way to put it and a score out of 100.
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