5 Interviewing Tips From an Amazon Applicant Who Jeff Bezos Hired on the Spot

[LevelUP]

An Amazon applicant who Jeff Bezos hired ‘on the spot’ shares 5 ways to ‘instantly impress’ during the job interview
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/jeff-bez...-tips.html

Which of these ideas do you like the most?

[sanantone]

I've learned that different people look for different things. I've done interviews for the same position for different locations, and the outcomes were different because the interviewers were different. I've done the same interview for closely-related positions one month apart and had different outcomes. Once again, there were different interviewers. I interviewed for one position and passed the interview. One year later, I interviewed for the same position at the same location and failed the interview. I'm speaking of pass/fail interviews that determine whether you'll progress to the next step of the application process, not interviewing to directly compete with other candidates. The way behavioral interviews are conducted outside of a controlled environment, they have the same validity as tossing a coin to select a candidate.

For some positions, interviewers will love to hear you talk about your future career progression. For other positions, interviewers will take you out of consideration if you're looking to move up because they know the position you're interviewing for has no room for growth, and they don't want to waste money on hiring and training someone who is going to leave soon.

[origamishuttle]

I've learned that different people look for different things.

My strategy for interviews is to be curious and turn it into a two-way conversation as much as possible, more of a collaboration than question/answer. I try to imagine already working for the company, so I think of myself as a teammate. I reference other employees where I can, like "Jane Smith mentioned XYZ when I spoke with her the other day, and I find that very interesting because..." And a really great question to ask when you're prompted is "If I join the team and take on this role, then a year from now, what will success look like?" You can learn a surprising amount by engaging the interviewer and taking their lead, and often the recruiter will be able to prep you in advance, so you have some idea going in. If it's just for a pass, then you can mold your narrative to fit their expectations better. Ideally it would be a conversation to figure out how good of a fit it is.

[Vle045]

I do a lot of what they mention in the article.  A few things that I do….

1.  I ask them what they like best about working there.  This could help me determine if I would want to work there.  I seem to get good feedback on that.

2.  Try to find a personal connection to the job. I currently work in special education.  I do have experience with the job I was interviewing for, but I also have a child with adhd.  That opened up a conversation with the Manager about her son with Autism.   The next thing you know, we are two moms talking about our kids.

3.  I ask what they think is the hardest thing about the job.   This will go one of two ways.   If it’s horrible, I know it’s not for me.  Otherwise, I can hopefully find a way to talk about why that would be easy for me and ways I would tackle that.  One manager said spreadsheets.  I told him, “ I love spreadsheets!” Then told him a few ways I made my old manager’s  job easier with the types of spreadsheets I created for her.

[sanantone]

I've learned that different people look for different things.

My strategy for interviews is to be curious and turn it into a two-way conversation as much as possible, more of a collaboration than question/answer. I try to imagine already working for the company, so I think of myself as a teammate. I reference other employees where I can, like "Jane Smith mentioned XYZ when I spoke with her the other day, and I find that very interesting because..." And a really great question to ask when you're prompted is "If I join the team and take on this role, then a year from now, what will success look like?" You can learn a surprising amount by engaging the interviewer and taking their lead, and often the recruiter will be able to prep you in advance, so you have some idea going in. If it's just for a pass, then you can mold your narrative to fit their expectations better. Ideally it would be a conversation to figure out how good of a fit it is.

There are definitely things one can do to increase one's chances of getting hired, but you have to adjust your style to different types of organizations and different types of positions. Something that I've learned over the years is that I can't approach government jobs the same way I would approach private sector jobs. For example, certain types of interviews don't allow for a two-way conversation, which is intentional. They're trying to standardize the interview process, which I applaud. It results in greater reliability in the selection process. I've landed dozens of jobs, but people have a tendency to make attribution errors. Sometimes, you land a job because of chance. Sometimes, you land a job because the interviewers like you and are going off of gut feeling, which is a very unreliable way of selecting candidates, but it happens because we're human. The more free-form an interview is, the less validity it has in predicting future job performance. 

If you're interviewing for a federal government position and probably other government agencies that use structured behavioral interviews, have stories prepared for the most common behavioral interview questions. Follow the CAR format: Context, Action, and Result. Read an annual report, if publicly available, to know which areas an agency is focusing on for the upcoming years. Mostly, you're being graded on how you've handled past situations and your ability to learn from past mistakes. I've received several offers in the past few years using the CAR technique, which isn't an easy feat with the hundreds to thousands of people applying for each federal opening. I like the way government organizations tend to hire because you can't charm your way into a job.