WELCOME!

Thank you for showing an interest in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and welcome to our
Recruitment process!

Enclosed are some helpful guidelines that will:

Outline the AWS recruitment process and how it differs from other interview protocols
Provide you with tips to best prepare
Provide you with relevant context on the potential opportunity

To start, we recommend reading this article: ‘How to interview at Amazon - Leadership’, which will help
you to understand our interview process.

THE AWS INTERVIEW PROCESS

The Formal AWS Interview Process has 2 stages:

STAGE 1 Formal Phone interview (Phone Screen).

The first stage is a formal phone screen, usually with the hiring manager, but we may conduct one or two
phone screens - dependent on the role.

STAGE 2 Interview day

Following the phone screen stage, successful candidates’ then move on to stage two, which is an on-site
interview day at an Amazon office. This takes the format of a series of interviews with people from across
the business. The interviews are hosted either in person or via video conference depending on where the
interviewer is based. If you are unsure about dialing in to the video conference, you are welcome to join a
few minutes early to allow time for you to get set up before the Interviewer joins the call.

Before the on-site interview day, you may be requested to complete an additional assessment. The
assessments vary depending on the role. Here is an assessments prep guide to help you prepare. These
requirements will be communicated to you in due course. During the on-site interview day you may be
asked to participate in a role-play or presentation. This activity is also role dependent.

PHONE SCREEN FORMAT

The Phone Screen is typically 60–90 minutes. In some cases depending on the role and/or region, you
may receive an automated message requesting your availability. Once the Interview is confirmed you
will receive a confirmation email with the date, time and name of the Interviewer (we do not provide the
job title of the Interviewer). If your availability does not match the Interviewer then a member of the
Recruitment Coordination team will reach out to you to obtain further availability from you. The
objective of a Phone Screen is to assess the candidate against functional competencies (list of
requirements from the Job Description necessary to perform the job) as well as Amazon Leadership
Principles. Phone Screeners use the method of Competency Based Interviewing and candidates are
expected to refer to the STAR answer format.
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*Either one or two Phone Screens are conducted, depending on the nature and level of the role. One or
more of these Phone Screens may be in the shape of a Technical Assessment (also role dependent).
After the Phone Screen outcome is communicated by either the Recruiter or Recruitment Coordinator. The
next (and final step) in the interview process is the On-Site Interview Day*.

ON-SITE INTERVIEW DAY FORMAT

Should the Phone Screen conclude with a positive outcome, you will be invited to attend an On-Site
interview day. This is the final step in the process.

The On-Site interview day consists of between four and six back-to-back meetings with different
interviewers. You will have the opportunity to meet with leaders, peers and internal customers whom you
will deal with on a regular basis, should you enter the role.

In new business areas or geographical regions where we do not have established teams, we may select
interviewers from the wider EMEA groups to conduct these interviews. These interviews often take place
via video conference.

Each interviewer will spend 45 to 60 minutes with you, and the interviews will follow the Competency
Based Interview model where you are expected to refer to the STAR answer format.

The Interviewer will be assigned one or two Leadership Principles to gather data on how you demonstrate
the Amazon corporate values. There might be an additional functional assessment conducted during the
onsite interviews that is role dependent. Your Recruiter or Recruitment Coordinator will provide details
about this ahead of the On-site Day.

IMPORTANT NOTE
Refer to the TIPS mentioned in the INTERVIEW PREPARATION & TIPS section below.

INTERVIEW PREPARATION & TIPS

Our interviewers use Competency Based Interviewing model throughout the Phone Screen and On-Site
Interview stages.

To prepare for the AWS interview process, we strongly suggest you follow these steps:

INTERVIEW PREPARATION – BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWING

Review this short video on Amazon Interviewing In-Person Tips as it’s the basis for the formulation of our
interview questions.
Our interviews require a large amount of storytelling and you will be asked to discuss several examples from
your professional past in detail. The objective is for you to methodically demonstrate both the Functional
Competencies required in the role (as mentioned in the job description) as well as your ability to

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operate according to the Amazon Leadership Principles. You will successfully do this by recalling multiple
scenarios from your professional past, always referencing the broader Situation or Scenario, Tasks at hand or
objectives you were looking to achieve, Actions taken by the respective stakeholders and Results achieved,
learnings gained and mitigating actions implemented (using the Star model). Prepare an example scenario
(from your professional past) against each Leadership Principle and job requirement.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES
To gain first-hand insights into our products and services, feel free to launch an AWS Free-Tier instance
or complete a free AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials Training Course. This course takes 6 hours to
complete and there are more advanced options too, should you wish to upskill further. You might also like
to take a look at AWS Solutions by area of application or Industry.

INTERVIEW TIP 1
You are allowed to refer to the same scenario more than once if needs be, but it is strongly advised to
use different examples to answer the various questions. This will provide the interviewers with a broader
data set to use, as basis for moving forward in the interview process.

INTERVIEW TIP 2
Amazon is a data driven organization, so prepare to talk about how you have set goals, tracked against
them and measured them. Mention what your personal tasks and responsibilities were verse that of the
team, where you have personally delivered outstanding results and where you made mistakes and learnt
to do things differently. We are extremely Customer Obsessed, so examples of where you have put both
internal customers (peers, teams you have supported etc.) as well as external customers (stakeholders
outside of your team / organization) first, will be of particular interest to us.

INTERVIEW TIP 3
Use recent examples. The examples should refer to situations that occurred in recent years; however,
they should have been completed scenarios with clear outcome as otherwise you will not succeed in
providing a full STAR answer.

RESOURCES TO HELP YOU PREPARE

What's Your Favorite Leadership Principle?

Life at AWS
re:Invent
What’s New with AWS

AWS CASE STUDIES

Case Studies /reference ability is a key priority at AWS. Our primary method of Marketing is through the
voice of the customer. Gain some familiarity with AWS Case Studies, in particular some of the big AWS
customers who are working towards / have achieved an 'All In' AWS Cloud First strategy.

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You will receive a survey to complete about your experience interviewing with us after
the Interview process is completed and we welcome your feedback. Thanks again for
considering this opportunity!