Amazon interview process & questions
Looking to land a job at Amazon but don’t know what the process looks like?
I’ve got you covered. In this article, we will look at what goes on in each step of Amazon’s hiring process, two different types of Amazon’s interview questions, and three tips to ace any Amazon interviews. Below are the six steps of the Amazon interview process:
Step 1: Pass the resume screening
Step 2: Pass the screening call
Step 3: Pass the Amazon Online Assessments
Step 4: Pass the video interviews
Step 5: Pass the writing test
Step 6: Pass the “Loop” (on-site) interviews
Step 7: Pass the hiring committee reviews and get the offer
7 steps of the Amazon recruitment process
Amazon’s recruitment process consists of six main parts: resume screening, phone screening, hiring manager interview, writing test, loop interviews, and hiring committee reviews. The most difficult and decisive parts of the interview process are phone screenings (1-2 rounds), and on-site interviews (4-5 rounds). These interviews last 45 minutes on average, with overall conversion at around 20%. From start to finish, the interview process took a couple months to complete.
Step 1: Pass the resume screening
The first part of Amazon’s hiring process is resume screening. In this round, recruiters will screen your resume for technical requirements, education, experience,.. to make sure you’re a potential fit.
Although hiring criteria depend on roles and company, the fundamental principles of writing winning resumes at Amazon is almost identical to writing winning consulting resumes. There are three fundamental rules you must apply in your resume:
Before moving on, I highly recommend you checking out my consulting resume overview and specifically look at the resume examples I corrected to see how these rules can supercharge your resume.
Step 2: Pass the screening call
If you pass the resume screening, an internal recruiter or HR member will contact you for a 45 minutes to 1 hour call. The goal in a screening interview is to assess your communication skills, motivation, work attitude, and personality.
The majority of questions in this round will be career questions. The interviewer will review your resume and ask about your first job to most recent jobs, in chronological order. You should also expect basic fit interview questions, aimed at assessing your fit for the role. Example questions are:

Step 3: Pass the Amazon Online Assessments
Amazon Online Assessments (OAs) are collections of pre-interview screening tests given to applicants for both technical and non-technical roles after the screening call round. They are primarily used for internship and new graduate positions, but also sometimes for experienced positions.
Online assessments are highly dependent on job roles. For example, Maintenance Technicians must take the Amazon Maintenance Technician Test, or Software Engineers must take coding tests. There are, however, online assessments commonly required by many job positions, such as the aptitude tests or personality tests (Amazon Workstyle Assessment).
Examples of Amazon common online assessments are:
Examples of role-dependent online assessments are:
Step 4: Pass the videos interviews
After the phone screening, successful candidates will be invited to do subsequent video screens. Often, a hiring manager or a peer of the same level as your role will ask more in-depth questions, mostly behaviour-based, pertaining to your resume, such as “Give me an example of when you had to assume leadership for a team”.
Step 5: Pass the writing test
For certain positions, candidates are required to respond to a writing test before moving on to on-site interviews. What’s the purpose of this writing test, then?. Turns out, written communication is a central part of Amazon’s company culture, and they review candidate’s written responses very seriously.
Here’s how the process works. Candidates are given two options and can pick one question to answer. The response must be no longer than 4 pages, and typical responses are about 2 pages. Afterwards, candidates submit their answers over email 1 or 2 days before their on-site interviews.
Step 6: Pass the “Loop” (on-site) interviews
Once you’ve passed the phone screenings and writing test, you’ll move on to the tough on-site interviews. Amazon’s on-site interviews are known as “Loop”, where you’ll spend a day with 4-6 current staffers, doing 2 to 9 interviews at its Seattle headquarters.
On-site interviews at Amazon can be divided into two main categories: interviews for technical roles and interviews for non-technical roles. Even for non-technical roles, you need to demonstrate your structured thoughts process, and use data/analytic for problem solving. The passing rate for Amazon on-site interviews is 20% (or 1 in 5).
Your interviewers may comprise senior members on your team, a prospective teammate, someone from the hiring team, and a person called “bar raiser.” This person, often a senior with at least 3+ years of experience, is an Amazon employee who was trained to be an interview expert. They are there to literally raise the hiring bar.
Anyone applying for a level 4 or higher position gets a bar raiser if one is available regardless of the position. It’s unlikely you’ll notice who the bar raiser is, however, one important clue is they will emphasize questions regarding Amazon’s leadership principles. They are also typically the last person you interview with onsite.
The bar raiser will pay special attention to the following:
Step 7: Pass the hiring committee reviews and get the offer
After the on-site interviews, all of your interviewers will convene in one room to form a hiring committee. Together, they will decide whether you’re hired or not. They will also collectively set your level (which dictates your salary range).
If all is positive, HR will ask for your current and expected salary. Based on this information and the level of the job, they will send you a written offer. Usually, a hiring manager will inform you of the result within one week from your last interview.
If you’ve secured an offer from Amazon, the recruiter will explain the terms to you (salary, work location, hours, etc.). If you choose to negotiate (and you should!), any adjustments would be approved by a separate compensation committee. If everything is cleared, the recruiter will send over the necessary paperwork.
Three tips to ace Amazon interviews
The beginning of every interview at Amazon will involve 15-20 minutes of behavioural questions. Hence, it’s crucial that you present yourself in a consistent, thorough manner. Most importantly, however, you must demonstrate the traits that Amazon looks for in every answer. Below, I’ve summarised three tips to help you ace every fit interview question, keep reading!.
Tip 1: Prepare stories, not questions
For any interview, especially fit interviews, it is best to prepare 3-4 detailed, all-round, refined stories exhibiting all the required attributes (for Amazon, they’re the below “Amazon” traits). This way, you can tune the stories according to the interviewer’s questions in a flexible, consistent manner.
Many candidates make the mistake of preparing on a per-question basis, i.e listing out the possible questions and the corresponding answers/stories. Wrapping your head around inflexible answers can throw you off-balance when an unexpected question comes up. The resulting storytelling style is also somewhat robotic.
Instead, in the Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program, I teach a story-based approach: select a few stories reflecting your best, all-round self, and develop them in detail.

Tip 2: Explicitly show Amazon traits
To prepare your stories, compare your past experiences with Amazon traits, along with personal values you’re most proud of, and select the stories best reflecting those traits and values. You want to show that your values and experiences perfectly match what recruiters look for.
So what are these famous “Amazon” traits? Amazon is famously known for its 14 Leadership Principles – a set of values that every Amazon employee is expected to live and breath by. To determine whether you exhibit these traits, Amazon primarily uses behavioural questions during interviews. Below are the 4 most important principles:
Amazon is the prime example of a customer-focused company, which makes this principle the most critical one to prepare for. Interviewers will expect you to understand the consequences of every decision on customers’ experience.
E.g. “Tell me a time you said no to a customer request and why?”
Amazon looks for proactive individuals with a sense of responsibility towards everything outside of their work scope. These people act on behalf of the entire company, beyond their own team, and never say “That’s not my job”.
E.g. “Tell me about a time you took ownership of a problem that was not the focus of your organization.”
In business, speed matters, and Amazon prefers to ship quickly. The company values people who can take calculated risks and move things forward, while capable of learning from doing.
E.g. “Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information. How did you make it and what was the outcome?”
Amazon looks at leadership in terms of people who know when to challenge decisions, state their convictions, and escalate problems to senior leadership when necessary. You are also expected to know when to move forward despite disagreement.
E.g. “Tell me about a time you had a conflict with your team but decided to go ahead with their proposal.”
Tip 3: Use the Problem-Action-Result framework
As the name suggests, the Problem-Action-Result method, also known as the STAR method, is a technique you can use to clearly demonstrate specific skills/ traits required for a job position. Using this framework instantly makes your answers more structured, logical, easy for listeners to follow, and easy for you to keep track of.
STAR stands for:
STAR Model Answer:
At my previous job, my coworker suddenly needed to take some time off, and their project was left unfinished and without a manager. My supervisor asked me to take on the project, and with no extension on the deadline, I had days to complete a project that should have taken several weeks.
I requested and was granted reduced weekly goals, which freed up more time to finish the special project. I was also able to delegate several of my weekly goals to other teammates. These reductions allowed me to finish the project on time and with complete accuracy.
My supervisor appreciated my attitude and drive, and I was given several more projects after that, along with an eventual promotion and pay raise.
Amazon interviews’ question types and examples
Amazon interview questions comprises three main types: fit questions, technical questions, and brain-teaser questions. Fit questions may appear in technical interviews, but are mostly asked during fit interviews. Technical questions are strictly limited to technical interviews, and brain-teaser questions may appear in all types of interviews.
Below, I will walk you through (1) what each question type contains and (2) how you can approach each type. I’ll also include some sample questions so you’ll have a rough idea on how to apply the recommended approach.
No.1: Fit questions
1. What it is:
For example, if you’re applying for manager roles, you might be asked the following fit interview questions:
2. How to approach it:
Remember, the main purpose of behavioural questions is to test your fit for the position you’re applying to. Hence, the key is to prepare 3-4 stories gearing towards the specific job requirements (professional experience, attributes, character, etc).
For example, if you’re applying as a software engineer, prepare 3-4 stories about your technical experiences, and don’t forget to include traits that make great software engineers (supreme communication skills, quick learning ability, good team player, etc), in addition to the aforementioned Amazon traits.
To prepare an all-rounded story, read this article for the full guide. Alternatively, follow these three steps:
Compare your past experiences with Amazon traits along with personal values you’re most proud of, and select the stories best reflecting those traits and values.
List down as many details of your stories as possible, make sure they follow this structure: Problem, Actions, Result, Lesson.
Trim the unnecessary details, simplify the technical parts to help the listeners understand, then rearrange and dramatize the rest to make your accomplishments really stand out.
Add the Amazon spirit into the mix by emphasizing the relevant traits, telling your stories in a structured way, explaining all your actions, etc.
Your style of story-telling should be entertaining for both you and your audience. Take time to practice and find your style – and remember, it should be natural, otherwise you won’t be able to use it in a high-stress, high-stake interview.
Keep in mind that your style should be formal, because it’s a job interview we’re talking about. Don’t do your trademark sarcasms there, it’s not a stand-up comedy session.

No.2: Technical questions
1. What it is:
Below is a comprehensive list of Amazon’s Coding Interview questions, for all aforementioned categories. Solutions are at the end of every problem.
Graphs / Trees (46% of questions, most frequent)
Arrays / Strings (38%)
Linked lists (10%)
Search / Sort (2%)
Stacks / Queues (2%)
Hash tables (2% of questions, least frequent)
Read next
This article shows if Amazon is your best fit and how to answer "Why Amazon?" during your interview.