Hi, I’m David, the Amazon assessment expert at JobTestPrep. Have a question? Don’t hesitate to contact me at askdavid@jobtestprep.com
Amazon Recruitment Process
The typical Amazon recruitment process consists of three key stages: online assessments, phone interviews, and in-person interviews (as of 2020 they are done on Amazon's virtual platform - Amazon Chime).
Since there is a wide range of Amazon jobs available, each requiring a different set of skills, the application process may differ from one applicant to another in the types of assessments and their order.
What Are the Amazon Assessment Tests?
The Amazon assessment is an online test given to Amazon’s applicants for a variety of jobs. Usually, you’ll get an invitation for the assessment test after passing the initial resume screening process. Amazon’s assessments differ greatly between positions and include the Amazon Virtual Job Tryout, coding assessments, personality tests, job simulations, and more.
Let's go over the most popular Amazon assessments to see what you're up against:
Amazon Test Types
The Amazon Area Manager Assessment Test
If you've applied for a managerial position at Amazon, such as Area Manager, Graduate Area Manager and Operations Manager, you'll have to pass the Amazon Virtual Job Tryout and the Amazon Work Style Assessment.
These online assessments consist of situational judgment tests, personality tests, task prioritization, and other tricky assessments.
We've recently created an accurate practice for these assessments (updated for 2021), which will help you pass these hurdles and come one step closer to your desired. Visit our Amazon Area Manager Assessment Test page to learn more about it.
Amazon SHL Numerical Assessment Test
Almost every position requires taking an Amazon numerical assessment test. This test is designed to assess your analytical skills, which are a key component of the company's work.
On the test, you need to understand and interpret numerical data presented in the form of a table or a chart and then answer questions relating to it.
Working out the answers often requires performing calculations involving percentages, ratios, conversions, etc.
The most common type of numerical test used to evaluate candidates for graduate and managerial roles is provided by SHL.
On this Amazon test, you are presented with sets of data, each followed by three multiple choice questions.
Our preparation pack offers you practice materials for the SHL test.
It includes practice drills and video tutorials to help you master the basic concepts required for successfully passing your Amazon numerical test.
This Amazon prep pack also contains hundreds of table/graph questions to sharpen your data interpretation skills.
Amazon Work Style Assessment
The Amazon Work Style assessment is a personality test that evaluates your work preferences and qualities to determine your suitability to Amazon’s unique culture.
In most cases, this test comes before or after other Amazon online assessments, and you’ll rarely receive it as a single exam.
On this assessment, which takes about 15 minutes to complete, you’ll see pairs of statements, and you’ll need to decide which is most like you or more like you.
Overall, there will be a few dozens of such pairs. Here’s an example for a question:
(A) I adjust my normal approach when a situation required it.
(B) I approach changes more cautiously than others.
Now, you must choose which statement is more or most like you.
Amazon’s Work Style Assessment is completely based on the Amazon Leadership Principles. These are core values that are super important to Amazon, and its worker’s address and follow them daily.
So, before starting the Work Style Assessment, read the Leadership Principles and learn how to implement them in your past work experiences.
Additionally, it’s also important to familiarize yourself with common personality test questions, their structure, and what personality traits they evaluate.
Learn more about pre-employment personality tests and how to prepare for them using our dedicated page.
Our Amazon Work Style Assessment preparation pack is under construction, and we’ll publish it in mid-2021.
Amazon MBA Online Assessment
The Amazon assessment test for MBA is the first online assessment given to MBA and master’s level graduates and interns applying to full-time roles and internships.
The online MBA assessment includes three sections, in which no specific Amazon or functional knowledge and skills are evaluated. Nevertheless, you must successfully pass it to advance to the interview stage.
These three sections are:
- Work simulation: a simulation that presents scenarios (mini business cases) you might encounter while working at Amazon.
- Work Style assessment: a personality test that evaluates your preferred work preferences, tendencies, and qualities.
- Career experience survey: a questionnaire in which you’re asked to provide your preferences for the MBA roles currently available.
Our Amazon MBA Online Assessment preparation pack will be available in late 2021.
Amazon Solution Architect Assessment & AWS Cloud Support Associate Assessment
The Amazon Solution Architect (SA) online assessment is sent after you pass the initial resume screening for a range of Solution Architect roles at AWS.
This assessment takes about 75-90 minutes to complete and is divided into five different sections:
- Hiring Simulation with several real-life scenarios
- Amazon Work Style Assessment
- General Technical Knowledge section to assess technical skill
- Proficiency Interest Survey
- Technical Indicator Assessment
The general technical assessment focuses on system design, compute, cloud migration, and cloud design. You don’t need to have AWS-specific experience to successfully complete the assessment (it’s platform agnostic).
In the proficiency interest survey, you’ll self-rate your proficiency in four areas of technology, while the technical modules will assess your knowledge within those areas with questions that match your rated proficiency. Questions include a mix of multiple-choice and objective/situational-based questions. Note that there are no coding questions.
The behavioral test sections, Work Style assessment, and part of the Hiring Simulation are based on Amazon’s renowned 14 Leadership Principles.
The AWS Cloud Support Associate assessment has almost the same structure as the AWS Solution Architect assessment.
It includes a job simulation, a multiple-choice assessment on general technical knowledge, a profile preference and proficiency questionnaire for the many AWS cloud support roles, and a work-style questionnaire.
The technical questions’ content is different from the SA assessment, as it requires different levels of technical knowledge.
Our Amazon Solution Architect assessment and AWS Cloud Support Associate assessment PrepPacks™ will go live in mid-late 2021.
Amazon Verbal Reasoning Test
Candidates may also be asked to take a verbal reasoning test. This test measures your ability to understand and analyse written information.
You are given a passage to read, followed by a series of questions relating to it.
The most common type of verbal test used to assess applicants for graduate and managerial roles is the SHL Verify Verbal Reasoning Test.
On this test, the questions take the form of statements. Your task is to decide whether each statement is true, false, or you cannot say based on the information provided in the passage.
The timing for this test is very tight—you only have 19 minutes to answer 30 questions.
In order to deal with the time pressure and achieve a good score on your exam, we advise you to prepare for it in advance.
Learn how to answer true/false/cannot say questions and practise SHL-style verbal reasoning tests with our SHL Verbal Tests preparation pack.
Amazon Onsite Interviews and Assessments
The final stage of any Amazon application process is the onsite interviews and/or assessments. You may be asked to take any number of the following assessments as part of this stage:
Presentation
For some roles, you may be asked to prepare a presentation to be delivered at the assessment centre. Topics may vary based on the job or programme for which you are applying.
Amazon Case Study or Written Exercise
For some on-site assessment days, you may be asked to undertake a written exercise or a case study.
These include reading a brief on a work-based scenario and answering a question in a report based on what you have read or drafting an email to a customer.
Face-to-Face Interviews
Most applicants experience up to four onsite interviews, each lasting around 45 minutes.
The interviews are usually held by members of the HR department or the hiring team. It is also likely that one or more of your interviewers will be a 'bar raiser'.
Bar raisers are employees in charge of interviewing potential candidates from other parts of the company.
Their goal is to make sure a candidate not only fits the company’s values but is also better than most employees currently working at the company (that is why they are called bar raisers).
Bar raisers can veto any applicant they interview, so it is important to make a good impression on them.
There are different types of questions you may face when interviewing at Amazon.
Most interviews consist of competency-based questions, but some include technical-related questions, maths problems, or riddles. See some examples of Amazon interview questions.
Role Play Exercise
Some applicants may find that their interviews involve role-plays. In this case, the interviewer simulates a real work situation, playing the part of a client, a colleague, or a manager.
You are asked to take on the part of someone in the job for which you are applying, and the interviewer assesses your response to the situation.
Amazon Preparation
In order to successfully receive a job offer, you need to excel in each and every stage of the process.
This requires putting a lot of hard work into your preparation. To help you with that, JobTestPrep’s experts have created two unique Amazon preparation packs:
- Our Amazon Numerical preparation pack offers you preparation resources for the primary stages of the recruitment process. It includes an extensive amount of online practice tests and study aids that will help you prepare for your online Amazon assessment tests, whether they are provided by SHL. The practice tests match the level of tests delivered to candidates applying for internships, grad schemes, graduate-level jobs, and junior managerial roles at Amazon.
- Our Amazon Interview and Assessment Centre preparation pack offers preparation materials for the final stage of the selection process—the onsite assessment day. It includes detailed online guides for the different exercises you may need to participate in during that day: case studies, role plays, and interviews.
Amazon Leadership Principles
Throughout the Amazon hiring process, you are assessed against a set of 14 values, known as the Amazon Leadership Principles:
| Customer Obsession | Are Right, A Lot | Bias for Action | Earn Trust |
| Ownership | Hire and Develop the Best | Frugality | Dive Deep |
| Invent and Simplify | Think Big | Learn and Be Curious | Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit |
| Deliver Results | Insist on the Highest Standards |
These principles are extremely important. They guide every action or decision taken by the company, from strategic planning to employee selection. Thus, it is crucial that you become familiar with them. You must show that you know what the principles are and refer to them at every stage of the recruitment process. This is particularly true for the telephone interview and onsite interviews.
Amazon Interview Questions
Below is a list of questions that have been asked in a range of interviews in the past (either in telephone interviews or in face-to-face interviews). The exact questions you will face during your Amazon interview process depend on the scheme or job for which you are applying. However, the following sample questions give a good idea of the kind of things the company is looking for.
- Why do you want to work here?
- Why did you apply to that specific scheme/job?
- What is your biggest weakness?
- Which skills (technical and non-technical) can you bring?
- Tell me about a time you used data to make improvements.
- How do you measure your success?
- Tell me about a project you are proud of.
- Tell us about an experience in which you made a mistake. How did you handle it? What steps did you put in place to correct it?
- How would you deal with a difficult colleague?
- What would you change on the website? (Brand Specialist interview)
At the end of the interview you will have time to ask questions. Try to think of a few questions in advance, but also be flexible and ask questions about topics that come up during the interview. Ahead of the interview, review your CV and think of examples from your previous work experience that can be used to answer questions. Remember to also refer to the leadership principles in your answers.
To help you prepare for the interview, we have included an experts’ guide for interviews in our practice pack. Our pack also includes numerical drills with which you can rehearse some basic concepts. These will help you tackle the maths problem you may be presented with during the interview.