How to Interview at Amazon Using the

Amazon Leadership Principles

You're interviewing at Amazon soon, and you know you need to do well in your
interview to get the job. 

You've practiced answers to common interview questions and read the job description
and everything you can find about the company. You think you're ready. Are you?

You might be ready for the interview IF you've practiced answering questions using
the Amazon leadership principles in your answers.

Amazon's Leadership Principles in Interviews

What are Amazon’s leadership principles? They're a set of 14 concepts that Amazon uses
as a mission statement. Why are they important for interviews? After all, most
companies have mission statements and they don't necessarily ask about them in
interviews.

The Amazon leadership principles are important in the interview because your job in
the interview is to show that you fit into the Amazon culture, and the
principles are the culture. You have to show that you embody the
principles, live by the principles, are aligned with the principles, and so will
fit into the culture.

The big reason Amazon interviews are so challenging is that you must convincingly
demonstrate that you embrace the principles, in addition to all the other normal
interview stuff.

The Leadership Principles Are Used to Ask Questions in Every Interview at

Amazon 

What do you mean the principles "are used" to ask questions in an interview? How will
you be asked about the principles?

Behavioral interview questions

Do you know what behavioral interview questions are?

They're the type of questions that start with something like, "Give me an example of..."
or "Tell me about a time...." or “Describe an occasion when….” or “Outline a situation….”
A popular behavioral question is, “Give me an example of when you had to deal with a
difficult customer.” The behavioral questions are where you'll find the
principles being asked about.

You should prepare for behavioral interview questions if you're interviewing at Amazon,
even if you’re applying for a technical role. Don't assume you'll only get asked behavioral
questions if you're applying for a role with managerial responsibilities. Amazon asks
behavioral questions to candidates even if the job they’re applying for is entry level.

How the Leadership Principles Are Used in the Behavioral Questions

1. You may be asked a question like this,"Tell me about a time when you demonstrated
customer obsession." (Customer obsession is one of the 14 principles.) This is
the most straightforward way to ask about the principles, by using the principle's
exact words.
2. You may also be asked a question like this about a principle, "How do you build
client relationships." This second type of question doesn't use the words
"customer obsession" or "ownership" or the other exact words in the principles so
you might not realize it's one of the principle questions. This question has the
word "client" so it might have given you a clue that it's a customer obsession
question, but what if they ask you "When have you gone above and beyond?" Do
you know what that principle is? (Ownership.) Most people know this is a
principle question but can't remember what principle it is.
3. You may also be asked a question like, "What is the professional achievement
you're the most proud of?" Often this type of question is confusing to my clients
because they don't see the direct connection to a principle. It is connected, but it's
actually connected to more than one. You'll have to choose how you want to
answer it - focus your answer on one or more principles. For instance, you could
choose to focus on customer obsession and talk about a project you did that
helped a customer. Connecting the story to the customer obsession principle
might be a good choice if you think customer orientation is the most important
quality for the job you're going for. You could also connect it to other principles -
it could go with any of them. This is the good thing and also the bad thing about
many behavioral questions - they can relate to more than one principle.
4. You may also be asked, "How do you resonate with the principle, 'Are right, a
lot'?" This is an opinion and culture question. Some people find these easy to
answer and some find them more difficult. If you haven't thought about this
principle beforehand and how it fits in with the Amazon culture and how you fit
in with the Amazon culture will you be able to answer the question? This may
seem easy to you but I personally wouldn't be able to answer this without
preparing.

How to Answer Interview Questions with Amazon

Leadership Principles
1. Take the principles seriously

These principles may sound silly to you or you may not believe you need to take
them seriously. However, your interviewer doesn't think they're silly. Amazon
employees accept the principles as part of their culture. If you want the job, you
need to take them seriously.

2. Read the principles carefully and think about them

I do advise you to spend some time thinking about the principles. Some of them
are not easy to understand ("Are right, a lot" is one that confuses people). If
you don't read them and think about them before you go into the interview, you
may have trouble. Many of my clients come to me after they've failed at one or
more of these interviews. After they fail, then they realize they should have spent
more time planning their answers to these questions. You don't need to fail to
learn this - just prepare now.

3. Memorize the principles

What? Why? A popular interview question: "Which Amazon leadership

principle [or principles] do you resonate most with?" Trust me, they're not going to
write them on the whiteboard for you to choose from.

4. Learn the shortcut for answering any leadership principle

question without knowing which principle it's asking about

If I ask you a behavioral question that would be typical in an Amazon interview,

how will you know what principle I’m asking about? If I ask, “When have you
taken a risk?” do you know which principle this question falls under? How
quickly did you figure it out?

I want to talk about how to know which principle a question is

about because this is a topic my clients ask me about frequently. Many clients
make spreadsheets with their stories and map them to the proper principles. I
think this is a good thing to do. But – what if you do this and still you can’t
remember the correct principle once you’re in the interview?

I used to tell my clients to memorize the most common questions for each
principle so that they would immediately know which principle to target in their
answers. I still think this holistic approach is the best method in preparing for an
interview at Amazon, but it can take a lot of time to become familiar with
fourteen principles – time that you may not have if your interview is coming fast. 
So I’ll give you a shortcut: just make sure your answers – to whatever
principle question - show your excellence or high performance.

How can I say that? How can you answer the question if you don’t know which
principle they’re asking about? Isn’t the whole goal in the interview to show that
you fit the principles? Yes, that is the goal of the interview. But you can still
demonstrate you’re a good fit for the principles without knowing
which exact principle the interviewer is asking about. How can you do
this?

Think about the principles as a whole

You need to think about the principles as a whole. Put together, what is the
general idea of the principles? If I had to choose one word to describe the primary
theme across all principles, I would pick “excellence,” a trait found in all high-
performing individuals. This theme of excellence is apparent in every principle.

For example, let’s consider “Customer Obsession,” which is the first principle.
“Customer Obsession” means caring deeply about the customer and doing
excellent work for them. So if you get a question like, “How do you develop
relationships with clients?” you must demonstrate in your answer that you have a
process for forming relationships with customers that is extraordinarilygood.

Questions about “Customer Obsession” are easy to spot because they usually
include the word “customer.” What about something less obvious? Consider the
common Amazon interview question I mentioned before, “Have you gone above
and beyond?” Which principle is this question referencing? It might be
“Ownership” or “Highest Standards” or “Bias for Action,” but it doesn’t
really matter, meaning you don’t have to know which principle it references in
order to craft a perfect answer. You simply need to show in your answer that
you’ve taken the initiative to do something outside your normal routine and done
an excellent job of it. If you’re successful in demonstrating your excellence, you’re
showing “Ownership” and also the other principles it relates to as well. 

Use the shortcut instead of panicking

I do recommend you memorize the questions with the principle, but like I said
before that can take time. In an interview situation, you may (and probably will)
be asked a question that doesn’t map cleanly to one of the principles, or does map
to one but you just can’t remember which one, or maps to more than one. If that
happens, don’t panic. If you’re asked about going “above and beyond” and you
don’t remember what principle (or principles actually) that relates to, instead of
worrying about what exact principle you’re supposed to be talking about, answer
it by showing excellence. Demonstrate how you refused to accept the status quo,
did more than expected, and how you strove for excellence (even if you didn’t
completely succeed). Showing in your answer that you performed in a way that
exceeded expectations will tick the boxes.

In suggesting this approach, I don’t mean to be overly simplistic. I only mention

it because I see so many of my clients get in an interview situation, get stuck on
the specific principle they’re supposed to be talking about, panic, and give a bad
answer. When a question comes from the interviewer, people mentally run
through all the principles and wonder which one to address. That’s a waste of
time, and answering questions quickly and confidently is important.

So once again, before the interview ask yourself what the principles as a
whole mean. Why do they exist? What are the interviewers really looking for?

What do people always look for in any interview? They’re looking for
someone who demonstrates excellence. You need to be that kind of person.
Are you the type of person who will always bend over backwards to help the
customer, who will always do more than is required, and who performs well
without supervision? That’s excellence, and that’s what they’re looking for. 

4. Plan your behavioral question answers using STAR

You should plan to answer all questions using the STAR technique. What is
that? The STAR technique is a very common system used to answer interview
questions. It provides a structure for you to remember so that you include the
correct data in your answers. 

Amazon actually asks its interviewees to use the technique in behavioral questions.

These are the 4 steps of the technique:

S - Situation - context, background

T - Task - what you had to do (not the team - you)

A - Activity - what you did - use as much detail as possible - this should be the
longest part of the answer

R - Result - positive; quantifiable; what you learned; what you would do

differently next time

Which questions can you answer using STAR? Behavioral questions. If you get
asked one of these questions, answer by going through the letters in order. First
give the S part - explain the basic situation. Then give the T - what was your job
in this situation? Then A - show what you did. Last, give the R - what was the
outcome?

I personally can't stand STAR, so I use PAR.

5. Should you use their words in the answers?

What do I mean by this? If you get asked, "Tell me about a time you showed
customer obsession" should your answer use the exact words "customer
obsession"? Not necessarily. You can say you "value customers" or "pay attention
to customers" or "are customer oriented." Or if you want to use their words you
can say you are "obsessed" with customers. 

6. Keep your answers short and clear

Answers to behavioral questions should be between 1 and 2 minutes long. If

you're going past 2.5 minutes that's on the long side and may be too long unless
you're giving an example that requires a lot of detail. The best answers that I see
are about 2 minutes.

I realize 2 minutes doesn't sound like a long time, but it's hard to listen to
someone for 2 minutes. The listener gets bored. On the other hand, if you're
talking for less than 1 minute you may not be giving enough detail.

If you're the kind of person who talks a lot, pay attention to this rule and try to
keep your answers short.

If you feel like your answers are too long, time them. I often time my clients when
I'm working with them. Timing yourself can give you a clear idea of whether your
answers are too long.

If you're thinking that you know you don't talk too much, are you absolutely sure?
I've noticed that the people who do talk too much usually are not aware of it. Are
you in sales? Almost all sales people I talk to have answers that hit 4 or 5
minutes.

7. Prepare two stories for each principle, although you can cheat

Why two?

They may ask you one question about a principle and then ask if you have
another example. If you've only prepared one example that shows customer
obsession, you'll be in trouble. 
Did I just tell you to prepare 28 stories? Here's the thing - many of your stories
will be applicable to more than one question and more than one principle. For
instance, many good customer obsession answers are about solving a problem
(for the customer). Many problem solving answers show ownership, and how you
have high standards, and how you deliver results. You don't need to save one
particular answer for one particular question - you can use it for many.

The more stories you have the better so you don't have to reuse them, but you
need to be able to remember them all. I find that some of my clients have to
search in their minds for the right story when I ask them a question and it takes
too long. You need to have enough stories to answer the questions but you also
need to be able to remember your stories. Around 15 is the average number of
stories my clients have.

This will get you started with your prep, but you need to do more than this to
really be ready for your interview.

I offer several interview coaching services, some tailored specifically to

Amazon candidates. If you’re looking for an Amazon interview coach, email me
at [email protected] to schedule a free 15 minute consultation or
an interview coaching session. I’m also happy to create a custom package that fits
your needs.