In this issue of career intelligence newsletter
- Deconstruct Amazon Virtual Onsite Loop behavioral questions
- No BS quick guide to salary negotiation
- Cannot miss tech industry news
- Mega 1-on-1 career coaching course: From Employee to Executive
- Check out other career guide books I have written
- A quote I'm pondering
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Deconstruct Amazon Virtual Onsite Loop behavioral questions
Amazon Leadership Principles (LP) interview questions will make or break your candidacy with Amazon. How many Amazon Leadership Principle questions should you expect? How many LP questions will be asked by each interviewer? Will they cover all 14 Amazon LPs during your interview? Today I’m going to share with you a recent Amazon virtual Onsite Loop interview loop. It’s done via Amazon Chime.
- Position: Software Development Engineer (SDE)
- Level: 6
- Interviewer 1: 2 LP questions
- Invent and Simplify: “Tell me about a time when you gave a simple solution to a complex problem”
- Ownership: “Tell me about a time you went above and beyond.”
- Interviewer 2: 2 LP questions.
- Dive Deep: “Give me an example of when you used data to make a decision/solve a problem”
- Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit: “Describe a situation where you thought you were right, but your peers or supervisor did not agree with you. How did you convince them that you were right? How did you react? What was the outcome?”
- Interviewer 3: Hiring manager, no LP questions. The hiring manager asked LP questions during the phone screen.
- Interviewer 4: 2 LP questions.
- Deliver Results: “Tell me about a time where you not only met the goal but considerably exceeded expectations. How were you able to do it?”
- Think Big: “Tell me about a time you took a calculated risk in order to achieve a professional goal. What were the tradeoffs? What was the outcome?”
- Interviewer 5: 2 LP questions.
- Bias for action: “Give me an example of a calculated risk that you have taken where speed was critical. What was the situation and how did you handle it? What steps did you take to mitigate the risk? What was the outcome?”
- Customer obsession: “Give me an example of a change you implemented in your current team or organization to meet the needs of your customers. What has been the result?”
Observations:
- Most interviewers (with the exception of the hiring manager) were assigned 2 leadership principles.
- A total of 8 Amazon LPs were covered during this onsite loop. Five LPs are left out: Hire and Develop the Best, Insist on the Highest Standard, Frugality, Earn Trust, and Are Right, A Lot.
- Some of the LPs are less relevant to this role. For example, Hiring and Developing the Best is a question for managers but this role is an individual contributor role.
- Depending on the role you're interviewing for, you can guess which LPs are less important/relevant. However, you should still prepare for all LPs just in case. But, you can redouble your effort on a subset of them during your preparation.
Need help to nail your upcoming interview with Amazon, Facebook, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft or other tech firms? Sign up for my 1-on-1 personalized interview coaching programs. You can reply this email or check out my coaching page with details, a list of recent job offers, and client testimonials. Additionally, I also offer customized coaching for career transition, getting unstuck, and navigating corporate politics. Reply this email for more information.
No BS quick guide to salary negotiation
As you might know, all of my interview coaching packages include free consultation on salary negotiation. Here is the top 5 salary negotiation tips:
(1) For most people, you should have at least one round of negotiation. HR will expect you to negotiate so your downside risk is very low if you do one quick round of negotiation. For experienced negotiators, you can target 2-3 rounds of negotiation.
(2) Negotiate on multiple fronts simultaneously: sign-in bonus, base, equities, relocation package, vacation (yes, you can negotiate number of vacation days with smaller companies). If you are VP level or above, you should also include a severance package, a change of control provision, accelerate stock vesting in your negotiation.
(3) Most companies will ask you what your compensation expectation is. Please note they ask you what you expect, not what you are currently making. You should not tell them how much you are making. In fact many states have legislation that prohibits employers from asking about your current compensation. You should conduct your due diligence on your market rate. Most people should target 10% to 25% increase. If you are significantly under compensated, you can try to target 40% or higher.
(4) You will be in a better negotiation position if you have multiple job offers. This is why I always encourage my clients to try to get multiple offers. When you have back up options, your confidence level is much higher. Your risk tolerance is also higher. It will allow you to be much more aggressive and confident in negotiation.
(5) Be aware of timing. How is the economy doing? Will the employer be likely to have a hiring freeze soon? Does the employer have a strong backup candidate that can take your spot if you continue to negotiate? When will be the employer’s next earning call? In most cases, you have imperfect information about timing factors but you need to make your best possible judgment about timing factors. This is also an area a career/interview coach can be very valuable as they might have visibility into the employer.
Key Industry News Headlines
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- Duration: 6-12 months (1 or 2 1 on 1 coaching sessions per month)
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To apply, reply this email and I'll follow up with details.
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Check out best-selling books I have written
A quote I'm pondering
“If you live for the weekends and vacations, your life is broken.”
-- Gary Vaynerchuk
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Cheers,
Andrew Franklin
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