The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in May 2011
Interview
Recruiter contacted me out of the blue. I initially said I wasn't interested as the job didn't fit my background or skillset, but I was eventually convinced to discuss the position. Several separate sources told me that Amazon was known to be a terrific place to work, so I moved forward.
The first interview was with the hiring manager, who was great, I really like their style and how they conducted themselves and I felt good about the opportunity.
Following week I spoke with a more technical person, who at the end of the fairly long interview said the position was more technical than I was and he didn't think I was right for it, but that he liked my approach. I mentioned that the job description vs. what I seemed to be interviewing for was one of my concerns about the position to begin with. In this area, at least, they seem to have a disconnect between how they describe their positions, and what they actually want out of them.
I wasn't really upset at not moving forward, it was more that after two rounds of interviews beyond the recruiter screening (the second one being a fairly grueling 2 hours):
1) They didn't have the courtesy to let me know I would not be moving on.
2) After I pinged the recruiter for a followup, I still didn't receive a "thanks but no thanks" reply.
I'm a little annoyed at this treatment since my time is valuable, and this degree of unprofessional behavior at this point in the process is not what I'd expect from company of this size and reputation.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
The standard "how did you handle a conflict situation where there were two different points of view?"
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Sep 2010
Interview
Contacted by an Amazon recruiting coordinator who set up an initial phone screen with the hiring manager. The initial interview was two weeks after the first contact took about an hour. It was a combination of basic background and information about the position. This was followed by two additional phone interviews over the next couple of weeks with different people in the department.
After making it through the phone interviews, I was scheduled for an all-day in-person interview. I met with 7 different people one by one, including a lunch with one person. I also met with a recruiter who told me she would be following up with me. Each of the people I talked with on the phone also interviewed me in person.
Each person was cordial, but no nonsense. They never really tried to sell me on the job or the company. All seemed very smart and, in a couple of cases, kind of overbearing about it. But overall, very professional and capable people interviewed me.
Why did I mark this down as a negative experience? Simply because they never contacted me afterwards to officially say no offer. No follow-up. Zero. I waited a couple of weeks, sent an email to the recruiter and the hiring manager and never heard back. When you go to all that effort to bring someone in (after 3 phone interviews) and then drop the ball when it comes time to closure, it's simply unprofessional and kind of sad.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Pick an Amazon product and tell me how you would double revenue on it in the next year.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Mar 2011
Interview
Contacted by the recruiter --> first round phone interview:
-- How would you evaluate a new product/service to be launched online?
-- How would you price the service? subscription/ one-time?
-- How would you measure the online users purchase behavior?
Basically, all standard e-commerce questions. I got through this round well and was scheduled for a second round interview.
Second round interviewer says at the interview -- "I think you would be a outstanding candidate for the team, and based on your interest, i think you would not enjoy this particular position, so I am going to recommend you for another position in our team"!! ???? Well oh well, okay dude. He also informed me that he recently was in this position and that he moved to kindle group -- so this position was vacant right now.
Third phone interview with the "new team" manager -- the moment he opened his mouth, i realized I am not getting this offer -- He sounded so tired/unenthusiastic as if I was thrown on his shoulders unnecessarily -- he was just not interested in interviewing -- he asked some random questions about what are your strengths and weaknesses crap -- 30 mins of boredom.
no response for few days -- I emailed the the recruiter for updates -- standard "good luck with your job search" email response.
Overall -- You can never be sure what these guys want or are thinking.