I gotta say I was surprised that Amazon of all places was a bad interview experience. I know a ton of people who work here (not in Recruiting,) and all have said they really like it. After going through the whole process, it's obvious the average and bad reviews for Recruitment are legit, Amazon is not for everyone. The last time I heard a statement like that was in staffing (an industry I have zero interest of going back into,) and that's exactly the vibe I got while interviewing here.
Grand total of people I actually interviewed with was EIGHT, and that's not counting the additional Recruiter who gave me a ton of "prep" going into the final and two coordinators I also had to communicate with throughout the process. I'm sorry but if it takes that many people to coordinate and figure out if a Recruiter is a good fit for a company, then to me it is a major red flag and there's a lot of politics going on at this company.
Amazon is not interested in how relevant your background in Recruitment might be and they won't make much of an effort to actually learn about your background either. In fact, the hiring manager even said he can teach someone to recruit on their stuff and I imagine that's their plan, no matter how you like to work, you're going to Recruit their way. It's all about their LP's. Their LP questions are total fluff, like questions you would ask a recent college graduate going for their first job. In their defense, you do get fair warning 85-90% of the interview is about these but wow what a dumb approach. I can only imagine how many rock solid recruiters have been skipped over, or candidates declined themselves.
What it did was prove to me Amazon does not value Recruiters and just have them there because they need to have them. I mean in all fairness, they are Amazon so people are going to continue going to them whether Recruiters get them in or not.
But I could forgive all that, if it's not a fit then it's not a fit. What really rubbed me the wrong way were several things:
1. At the beginning of the process, I gave the first Recruiter my compensation requirements and she said ok. Going into the final, the Prep Recruiter told me how they really pay and I was not happy this wasn't disclosed up front. Plus they said we know you said want XYC but we don't think you're ready for something like that and if I got the job, would offer basically what I was already making and technically less after a couple of years, all for somewhat of a different role. I was laughing since I actually do way more than what the job requires and another sign of things that happen in staffing, basically sacrifice and put in the work today to be rewarded tomorrow kinda nonsense. Base pay is VERY LOW and you get some kind of monthly sign-on in your first 2 years. I got conflicting answers on how that sign-on is taxed as well. What they try to sell you on is the stock you also get in your package. But none of that is vested until after 4 years and even then you'd have to cash out to be rewarded. So another question I had was what happens in years 3 and 4 with no sign-on and I'm still at a very low base? All I got was another fluff response. There is no annual bonus or anything like that.
2. My final was also screwed up. 4 hours, 1 hour sessions with each and I was supposed to get breaks in between each one going off my agenda. Turns out my agenda was changed without telling me (accidents happen but sucks for me regardless,) and since I was caught off guard, I'm sure it was noticeable.
3. None of these guys are on the same page. 2 of the interviewers, in different sessions, asked me the same question of a sample string for a generic role. 1 of them (said,) they liked it while the other thought it was a bad approach to which I said a search string isn't etched in stone and you can always tweak it as needed. That one asked how I would know and I said a good seasoned recruiter will know right away if they're not seeing what they need to and adjust and you could tell they weren't sold on it. Why? That's how recruitment works and there isn't just one way to be successful.
4. You won't get feedback from your final interview citing legal reasons. This is the first company I have ever heard of doing that in my career and really unacceptable. Anyone doing a final should ALWAYS get feedback but in Amazon's case, I put in a lot of my time not just interviewing for 5-6 hours but because of their process, prepped for several hours too. What was really funny though was they ask you for feedback on them and their process. And like a company that big is going to change anything based off feedback from me, especially after the staffing mentality approach I got.
So to summarize everything, if you hate staffing then I'd stay away from here no matter how appealing things look on the surface.