I applied online. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Amazon (Austin, TX) in Jan 2022
Interview
There were officially 2 rounds of interviews but I also connected with the recruiter 3 times. First time, recruiter reached out after I applied and told me I had the right background, asking about my availability. I didn't hear back for 3 months, and then the recruiter called back to schedule my interview. Third time was interview prep by the recruiter (one thing I like about Amazon interview process). After that I had 2 different interviews (virtual).
Amazon interviews are the same and you can see sample questions on the internet. Amazon looks for 3 things -
1. Ownership - interviewers don't want to hear "we did this", or "we increased...". No WE in the interview - it is YOU. Answer the questions by saying "I did this or that" It has to be I, rather than we. Even while working for Amazon and had to give a presentation about my job, my boss reminded me to always use I (not we or "me and my managers").
2. Secondly, just follow the answer process the recruiter teaches you - explain the problem, explain what you did to resolve and explain the benefit (put a dollar value or time/money value on everything). For example, "I saved the company $X" or "I increased revenues by $X" or "I cut the time for XXXXX by 50%).
3. Leadership principles! Amazon has leadership principles which your recruiter will give you/explain to you. Always use, at least, one of these principles when answering an interview question. Craft your answers so that they reflect 1 or 2 leadership principles.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me a time when you used data analysis to identify a problem and how did you solve it? What leadership qualities did you use?
The interview process includes a SQL test, an initial recruiter call, and a final five-round loop featuring technical questions and discussions focused on Amazon leadership principles with different team members.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They asked a key question focused on both technical depth and culture fit: how you apply your skills to solve real problems, along with examples demonstrating alignment with Amazon’s leadership principles.
I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA)
Interview
Interviewed for Business Analyst role at Amazon and honestly the process felt exhausting and impersonal.
The interviewers seemed far more focused on checking boxes against the 14 Leadership Principles than actually understanding the candidate or having a genuine conversation. Almost every question was another version of a STAR behavioral scenario, even when it barely related to the actual role.
The process felt extremely rehearsed and rigid. There was little effort to make the candidate feel comfortable or valued, and it often felt like they had already decided the outcome before the interview even started.
Technical and analytical depth barely mattered compared to how perfectly you could package stories into Amazon’s preferred format. If you don’t have polished STAR stories memorized for every possible situation, the process can feel unnecessarily difficult and draining.
Overall, one of the most mentally exhausting interview experiences I’ve had.
The basic STAR format, but the team was not clear about what they were looking for. The recruiter was not very responsive and took a long time to schedule the calls