in this video we're going to cover how to answer amazon's behavioral interview questions my name is kevin way i'm a product manager and i'm here to help you nail your upcoming amazon interview be sure to like subscribe and hit that notification bell for new tech interview prep videos every single week [Music] so you got an interview at amazon and you're learning that behavioral questions are a big deal at the company but what are behavioral interview questions and why is amazon so obsessed with something called leadership principles today we'll talk about how to nail amazon's behavioral
interview questions the most common mistakes that candidates make and three tips that'll help you give the best answer when it comes to hiring amazon puts an enormous emphasis on questions that help show if a candidate will fit in with the company culture to do this they ask behavioral interview questions behavioral interview questions focus on your past behavior and performance and companies like to ask these because they reveal quite a bit of who you are and help predict your job performance at least in theory interviewers asking these questions are looking to deduce your skill set how
you may perform as an employee and how well you might fit in with the amazon workplace culture in amazon's case they're also looking for evidence of what they call leadership principles and we'll explain what these are shortly some examples of behavioral questions include tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision or tell me about a time when you came up with a simple solution to a complex problem the most common mistakes candidates make when answering these behavioral questions is not answering them in a structured organized manner this is a problem
because the stories you're about to tell probably come from some project you worked on over the span of a few weeks or months and as a result if you're not answering them in a structured manner then this could lead to you rambling not setting the right context for your interviewer or not being able to give the right answer that you were trying to give lucky for you there's a structured way to answer every question and this is called the star method star stands for situation task action and result so s situation this is where you
would describe the situation that you want to talk about task this is where you would elaborate on the tasks involved a action this is where you talk about the specific steps that you took to ensure success and our result this is where you talk about the outcome as you can imagine these kinds of questions can be difficult to improvise on the spot so it would be good to prepare for them ahead of time you'll notice that by using the star method you wouldn't need to worry about leaving anything out that's important or worrying about wasting
the interviewers time with a long-winded response so now that we've cleared up what behavioral interview questions are let's talk about how you should prepare to answer them amazon loves to talk about their leadership principles the idea is that amazon employees hold themselves accountable in their daily actions by demonstrating each of these 16 leadership principles many of these principles have been in existence at amazon from the very start while others were gradually added over time we'll go through each of these principles what they mean and what kind of interview questions you might be asked to demonstrate
them and as we go through each of these principles try to think of one or two stories from your work experience that show how you demonstrate these values so first customer obsession leaders start with the customer and work backwards they work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust and although leaders pay attention to competitors they obsess over their customers sample questions include tell me about a time when you had a deal with a very difficult customer or describe a situation where you negotiated a win-win next leadership principle ownership leaders are owners they think long-term and
don't sacrifice long-term value for short-term results they act on behalf of the entire company beyond just their own team they never say oh that's not my job sample questions for this include describe a tough situation in which you had to step into a leadership role or tell me about a tough decision you made during a project invent and simplify leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify they're externally aware look for new ideas from everywhere and are not limited by not invented here as we do new things
we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time sample interview questions include tell me about a time when you solved a complex problem and how you went about doing it or how do you handle roadblocks or obstacles leaders are right a lot they have strong judgment and good instincts they seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs sample questions include tell me about a time when you had to make a decision without much customer data or tell me about a time when you had to convince team members on something that you
proposed learn and be curious leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves they are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them sample questions include tell me about a time when you built out a process or tell me about a skill that you recently learned hire and develop the best leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion they recognize exceptional talent and willingly move them throughout the organization leaders develop leaders and take seriously the role in coaching others sample questions include tell me about a time when you had a
conflict with someone how did you resolve it in what did you learn or tell me about a time when you fired someone insist on the highest standards leaders have relentlessly high standards many people think these standards are unreasonably high leaders are continually raising the bar and drive their teams to deliver high quality products services and processes leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so that they stay fixed sample questions include tell me about a time when you had to make a decision to make short-term sacrifices for
long-term gains or tell me about a time when you made a decision based on data and you were ultimately wrong think big thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results they think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers sample questions include tell me about your greatest success tell me about a time when you were creative bias for action speed matters in business many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study we value calculated risk taking sample questions include how have you convinced
others to take action or how have you managed risk in a project frugality accomplish more with less constraints breed resourcefulness self-sufficiency and invention there are no extra points for growing head count budget size or fixed expense tell me about a time when you turn down more resources to complete a project tell me about a time when you had to accomplish big results with very little budget earn trust leaders listen attentively speak candidly and treat others respectfully they are vocally self-critical even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing they benchmark themselves and their teams against the
best sample questions include can you give me an example of how you manage conflict or how do you earn the trust of your team members dive deep leaders operate at all levels stay connected to the details audit frequently and are skeptical when metrics in anecdote differ no task is beneath them sample questions include tell me about the most complex project you've worked on or have you changed an opinion or direction using data have backbone disagree and commit leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree even when doing so was uncomfortable or exhausting leaders
have conviction and are tenacious they do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion and once a decision is determined they commit wholly sample questions include tell me about a time when you had a disagreement with your manager or how do you manage difficult conversations deliver results leaders focus on key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion despite setbacks they rise to the occasion and never settle sample questions include describe a challenging project you worked on and why it was challenging or how do you prioritize strive
to be earth's best employer leaders work every day to create a safer more productive higher performing more diverse and more just work environment they lead with empathy have fun at work and make it easy for others to have fun leaders ask themselves are my fellow employees growing are they empowered are they ready for what's next leaders have a vision and are committed to their employees personal success whether that be at amazon or elsewhere sample questions for this one include tell me about a time when you had to motivate a team after a demoralizing event or
tell me about a time when an employee gave you negative feedback success and scale bring broad responsibility we started in a garage but we're not there anymore we're big we impact the world and we're far from perfect we must be humble and thoughtful about even the secondary effects of our actions our local communities planet and future generations need us to be better every day we must begin each day with a determination to make better do better and be better for our customers our employees our partners and the world at large and we must end every
day knowing we can do even more tomorrow leaders create more than they consume and always leave things better than how they found them sample questions for this one include tell me about a time you had a problem and how to discover the real cause or describe a time when your project failed all right that was a lot of information we went over what behavioral questions are and amazon's 16 leadership principles before we end the video i'll leave you guys with three pieces of advice don't repeat stories share trade-offs and be a good storyteller don't repeat
stories at the end of your amazon interviews your interviewers will get together as a committee possibly trade notes and come to a hiring decision if your interviewers start to realize that you're repeating stories that might be a red flag and they might think that you're repeating stories due to a lack of experience second share trade-offs anytime you give an answer feel free to surface any trade-offs you considered when making a decision this could be as simple as a few pros and cons about the decision that you had to make or the approach you took on
a project and lastly try to be a good storyteller this can be a video in and of itself but my piece of advice here is to surface any conflicts you had or obstacles that you faced success is never a straight path and it's kind of like watching a good movie there's always twists to the plot so there you have it this is what you need to nail your amazon behavioral interview be sure to like subscribe and comment what you want to see next in our weekly tech interview prep videos thanks for watching and good luck
in your upcoming amazon interview [Music]
