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I hate those things so much. Amazon almost solely uses them and it's not even a conversation - just a sequence of "tell me about a time when you failed" with ev

I hate those things so much. Amazon almost solely uses them and it's not even a conversation - just a sequence of "tell me about a time when you failed" with every word of response typed into their laptops. I had a phone interview yesterday which I presumed would be all about what I've done and how I could do the job. The hiring manager was ex-Amazon (surprise!) so it was a litany of "tell me about"s instead. In the Amazon case, at least one can look at the Bezos Commandments ("The Leadership Principles"(tm)) and mock up answers in advance - twice to take care of double asks. It's hard to predict by comparison what some random is going to use.

abbadadda 7y ago
It is Google for reference, but good to know on Amazon!
natalyarostova 7y ago
> I had a phone interview yesterday which I presumed would be all about what I've done and how I could do the job The trick is to answer the questions in a way that provides data such that it highlights what you did. For interview debriefs we need to provide explicit data points. At first I was put off by the mechanical nature, but I now do feel it at least attempts to have a more objective and lower bias standard. ...although some people take it too far IMO. I try to keep the behavioral questions more of a fluid conversation about work they've done.
- pinewurst 7y ago
  Thanks for that insight. What blocks me is the seeming emphasis on failure rather than success. The latter is so much easier to incorporate my contributions. The former just ends up making me feel bad then and afterward.
  - sethammons 7y ago
    When you are asked about a failure, it is not to make you feel bad, it is to see how you deal with and learn from mistakes. There are learning opportunities in failure, usually less so in successes.
gesman 7y ago
And then weeks after - the next hit-and-run Amazon recruiter will keep pestering you for "new amazing opportunities" at Amazon.

abbadadda 7y ago

It is Google for reference, but good to know on Amazon!

natalyarostova 7y ago

> I had a phone interview yesterday which I presumed would be all about what I've done and how I could do the job The trick is to answer the questions in a way that provides data such that it highlights what you did. For interview debriefs we need to provide explicit data points. At first I was put off by the mechanical nature, but I now do feel it at least attempts to have a more objective and lower bias standard. ...although some people take it too far IMO. I try to keep the behavioral questions more of a fluid conversation about work they've done.

pinewurst 7y ago
Thanks for that insight. What blocks me is the seeming emphasis on failure rather than success. The latter is so much easier to incorporate my contributions. The former just ends up making me feel bad then and afterward.
- sethammons 7y ago
  When you are asked about a failure, it is not to make you feel bad, it is to see how you deal with and learn from mistakes. There are learning opportunities in failure, usually less so in successes.

gesman 7y ago

And then weeks after - the next hit-and-run Amazon recruiter will keep pestering you for "new amazing opportunities" at Amazon.