Attracting top talent with brain exercising interview questionsSeattle-based company, Amazon, is well known as one of the best companies to work for.
So, what process does the largest Internet-based retailer in the world use to recruit their top talent? Zachary Lukasiewicz, LinkedIn publisher, compiled a list of these behavioural based questions which are often used within the interview process to determine character & employee fit.
- “Who was your most difficult customer?”
- “How would you introduce Amazon in an elevator pitch?”
- “What is the worst mistake you ever made?”
- “If your direct manager was instructing you to do something you disagreed with, how would you handle it?”
- “Describe what Human Resource means to you.”
- “What is the angle between the hour hand and minute hand in an analogue clock?”
- “How do you detect whether or not a word is a palindrome?”
- “Do you know our CEO? How do you pronounce his name?”
- “Here’s a string with numbers from 1-250 in random order, but it’s missing one number. How will you find the missed number?”
- “Are you willing to work on your feet for ten hours, four days a week?”
- “Do you think you’ll reach a point where you storm off the floor and never return?”
- “Would you tell on an employee for stealing?”
- “How would you solve problems if you were from Mars?”
- “How do you persuade people?”
- “Describe what happens in your browser as soon as you hit enter after writing a URL in the address bar.”
- “Tell the story of the last time you had to apologize to someone.”
- “Walk me through how Amazon Kindle books would be priced.”
- “What would you do if you saw someone being unsafe at work?”
- “What would you do if somehow you misdirected 10,000 units of something?”
- “How would you improve Amazon’s website?”
- “You have 30 people working under you with 2 working indirect. Each employee can do 150 units/hour. Each work day has two 15 min breaks and one 30 min lunch. In a 5 day work week, how many total units can you complete?”
- “What is the most difficult situation you have ever faced in your life? How did you handle it?”
- “How would you tell a customer what Wi-Fi is?”
- “You are Amazon and Samsung offers you 10,000 Samsung Galaxy S3s at a 34% discount. Is that a good deal?”
- “Design an online payment system.”
- “Give me an example of a time when you were 75% of the way through a project, and you had to pivot strategy–how were you able to make that into a success story?”
- “Should we sell private label cleaning products?”
- “What would you do if you found out that your closest friend at work was stealing?”
- “Which Amazon leadership principle do you resonate most with?”
An Amazonian insider Miriam Park, Director of MBA and university recruiting gave a top tip when asked what candidate’s biggest mistakes were in the interview process: “It’s the mistake of not being your natural self. Being authentic is the most important thing. Don’t answer questions [with] what you think the interviewer may want to hear. You want to be true to your professional self.”
Would you be able to answer these questions with confidence?
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