Amazon Behavioral Interview Prep

At Amazon, behavioral questions are not one round at the end. Interviewers are usually each given a few Leadership Principles to cover, so you can expect principle-based questions in nearly every conversation. The fastest way to get ready is to practice your stories out loud with someone who works there now.

See mentors at Amazon

How the Amazon interview works

Recruiter screen. Your background, the role and why Amazon. Some recruiters already ask a Leadership Principle question here.
Phone or video screen. One interviewer, usually from the team, mixing role questions with one or two principle-based questions.
The loop. A set of back-to-back interviews, virtual or onsite. Each interviewer focuses on certain Leadership Principles and asks for real examples from your work.
The Bar Raiser. One interviewer from outside the hiring team, trained to judge whether you raise the bar. Expect the deepest follow-up questions on your stories.
The debrief. Interviewers write up their feedback and decide together, with the Bar Raiser in the room.

Common question themes

Customer Obsession: Tell me about a time you went beyond what a customer asked for.
Ownership: Tell me about a time you took on a problem that was not yours to solve.
Dive Deep: Tell me about a problem you only solved by digging into the data.
Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit: Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager. What happened next?
Deliver Results: Tell me about a time you missed a deadline or a goal, and what you did about it.
Earn Trust: Tell me about feedback that was hard to hear and how you acted on it.

How to prepare

Use the STAR shape (situation, task, action, result), but spend most of the time on what you did.
Say "I", not "we". Interviewers are scoring your actions, not your team's.
Bring real numbers from your own work, and be ready for follow-ups that go a level deeper.
Keep several stories ready and know which principles each one shows, so you are not repeating the same example.

Practice with mentors who work at Amazon

Everyone below lists Amazon as their current employer on their ADPList profile. Open a profile to see their sessions and book a time.

What mentees prepare with Amazon mentors

Themes that come up in reviews mentees left for mentors who match this page.

Resume review before applying. Making the resume match the role so it gets you to the first interview.
Behavioral answers and stories. Picking the right examples and tightening them so the interviewer can dig in.
How the process really runs. What each round is looking for, and what happens after the loop.
Breaking into big tech. Moving in from a startup, another industry or straight from school.
Mock interviews with feedback. Mentees run a practice round and go through the feedback right after.
Referrals and networking. Reaching the right people and asking for a referral the right way.

From mentee reviews

“Aravind gave me invaluable feedback on my portfolio and offered guidance on approaching behavioral questions, which I found immensely helpful as I was unsure where to begin.”

Mentee review of Aravind Ravi, Sr. UX Designer

“I met with Nithya to practice mock interviews. The session was very productive and well structured: short intro, fours behavioral questions, 15 mins feedback.”

Mentee review of Nithya Asokan, UX Designer

“He also gave practical advice on positioning my career break and layoff, preparing for behavioral and system design interviews, and offered to review my CV.”

Mentee review of Dmytro Lysenko, Senior Technical Program Manager

Warm up with AI interview practice

Rehearse your answers out loud with ADPList's AI interviewer before you meet a mentor.

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Frequently asked questions

What are Amazon Leadership Principles questions?

They are behavioral questions tied to one of Amazon's Leadership Principles, such as Customer Obsession or Ownership. They usually start with "Tell me about a time..." and the interviewer follows up until they understand exactly what you did.

Who is the Bar Raiser?

An experienced interviewer from outside the hiring team who takes part in the loop and the decision. Their job is to make sure every hire raises the bar, so they tend to push hardest on your examples.

How can an Amazon mentor help?

They can run a mock behavioral round, tell you which of your stories are strong enough, and explain how the loop works for your role. The mentors on this page currently work at Amazon.

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