My Amazon Question Bank Flashcards by Wendy-Lynn McClean

Tell me about a time you were trying to understand a problem on your team and you had to go down several layers to figure it out.

Dives Deep

Yelp | Pageviews

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Tell me about a problem you had to solve that required in-depth thought and analysis?

Dives Deep

Amazon | Algo for New Sellers

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Tell me about a time when you linked two or more problems together and identified an underlying issue

Dives Deep

Amazon | Algo for New Sellers

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Walk me through a big problem or issue in your organization that you helped to solve.

Dives Deep

Amazon | Algo
Yelp | Pageviews

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Can you tell me about a specific metric you have used to identify a need for a change in your department?

Dives Deep

Amazon | Created 90-day Metric

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Give me a situation in which it took you asking why five times to get to the root cause.

Dives Deep

Amazon | Algo
1. Data
2. System
3. Goals
4. Setting
5. Optimize

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Tell me about a decision for which data and analysis weren’t sufficient to provide the right course and you had to rely on your judgment and instincts. Give me two to three examples.

Are Right, A Lot

c&r| Business Model
Amazon | Pivot to Marketing
Yelp | Sherlock

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Tell me about a time you made a difficult decision and how you knew it was the right solution

Are Right, A Lot

c&r| Business Model

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Give me an example of when you have to make an important decision in the absence of good data because there just wasn’t any.

Are Right, A Lot

c&r | Biz Model
Amazon | Pivot to Marketing

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Tell me about a time when you made a bad decision and the learning from the experience enabled you to make a good decision later.

Are Right, A Lot

c&r| Business Model
2 | Amazon | Shutting Down Selling Coach

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Tell me about a time when you were faced with a challenge and the best way forward or strategy to adopt was not “clear cut.”

Are Right, A Lot

c&r| Business Model
Amazon | Pivot to Marketing

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Tell me about an error in judgment you made in the last year or two, what it was and the impact of it.

Are Right, A Lot

intrico.io | not baselining expectations

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Give me an example of a calculated risk that you have taken where speed was critical.

Bias for Action

Amazon | Shutting Down Selling Coach

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Describe a situation where you made an important business decision without consulting your manager.

Bias for Action

Amazon | Shutting Down Selling Coach
Google | Aggregator Going to Legal

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Tell me about a time when you had to analyze facts quickly, define key issues, and respond immediately to a situation.

Bias for Action

Amazon | Shutting Down Selling Coach

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Tell me about a time when you have worked against tight deadlines and didn’t have the time to consider all options before making a decision.

Bias for Action

Amazon | Shutting Down Selling Coach

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Give an example of when you had to make an important decision and had to decide between moving forward or gathering more information

Bias for Action

Yelp | Focused on Ads to unblock adoption

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Give me an example of a time you used customer feedback to drive improvement or innovation.

Customer Obsession

Google | Phone Calls

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Tell me about a time a customer wanted one thing, but you felt they needed something else.

Customer Obsession

intrico.io | Drills over Mocks. Teaching vs Coaching

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Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty for a customer.

Customer Obsession

intrio.io | show me don’t tell me benefit

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Most of us at one time or another have felt frustrated or impatient when dealing with customers.

Customer Obsession

intrico.io | non-product managers wanting to just interview and get in.

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Can you give me an example of when you’ve been able to see around the corner to meet a customer need or delight a customer with a solution or product they didn’t yet know they needed/wanted?

Customer Obsession

intrico.io | coaching. that is what i do every time. Listen and ask good questions. Help people figure out the why.

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To try to meet the high expectations of our customers, we sometimes promise more than we can deliver.

Customer Obsession

intrico.io | setting the bar

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Tell me about a time when you had to balance the needs of the customer vs. the needs of the business.

Customer Obsession

Google | Phone Calls

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In your opinion, what is the most effective way to evaluate the quality of your product or service to your internal /external customer?

Customer Obsession Vision > Goal > Metric

Describe a time when you significantly contributed to improving morale and productivity on your team.

Earns Trust Google |Local Search

What three things you are you working on to improve your overall effectiveness?

Earns Trust vocal confidence poised brand marketing

Give an example of a tough or critical piece of feedback you received.

Earns Trust Amazon | Toastmasters

Give me an example of an idea you had that was strongly opposed.

Give me an example of a significant professional failure.

Earns Trust Amazon | Pull Recommendations

Give an example of a time where you were not able to meet a commitment to a team member.

Earns Trust c&r | Bad Hire

Building trust can be difficult to achieve at times. Tell me about how you have effectively built trusting working relationships with others on your team.

Earns Trust Google | Local Search Morale

Describe a time when you needed the cooperation of a peer who was resistant.

Earns Trust Yelp | Sherlock Yelp | On Call

Tell me about a piece of direct feedback you recently gave to a colleague.

Earns Trust intrico.io c&r | CEO that CTO was driving people away

Tell me about a time you had to communicate a big change in direction for which you anticipated people would have a lot of concerns.

Earns Trust Yelp | On Call

Tell me about a time that you strongly disagreed with your manager on something you deemed to be very important to the business.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Yelp | WBR - Plan Boss Said Wait Amazon | Attribution Google | Legal

Give me an example of when you took an unpopular stance in a meeting with peers and your leader and you were the outlier.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Yelp | Leveling

When do you decide to go along with the group decision even if you disagree?

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Bottlerocket | Connecticut Expansion Shar | Moving data for teams

Describe a time where you felt really strongly about something but ultimately lost the argument.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Amazon | Attribution

Give an example when you submitted a good idea to your manager and he/she did not take action on it?

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Yelp | WBR - Plan Boss Said Wait

Tell me about a time the business gained something because you persisted for a length of time.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Yelp | WBR - Plan Boss Said Wait BPM | Coaching

Provide an example of a time when you have had to make a difficult decision under pressure and then defend and justify it.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit c&r | good & bad hiring

Give me an example of how you have helped save costs or eliminate waste within your operation.

Frugality Bottlerocket | Learning to Code intrico.io | testing new platforms

Tell me about a time when you had to make tradeoffs between quality and cost.

Frugality intrico.io | scheduling

Tell me about a time you had to get something done with half or two thirds of the resources you thought you’d need for the project or initiative.

Frugality c&r | product design staffing

Tell me about a time when you generated a creative solution to a problem or project without requiring additional resources.

Frugality bottlerocket | POS, Website, Delivery

Tell me about a time you didn’t have enough resources to do something you felt was important but found a creative way to get it done anyway.

Frugality intrico.io | hacked Squarespace to create new way of learning because couldn't afford custom code

Give an example of a time you requested additional funding/budget to complete a project.

Frugality Google | User Research

Tell me about a time when you have been unsatisfied with the status quo.

Insist on the Highest Standards Google | Active View Prio Dashboard Yelp | Seb being unhappy Yelp | Measure Product c&r | Derk

Tell me about a time you wouldn’t compromise on achieving a great outcome when others felt something was good enough.

Insist on the Highest Standards BPM | interview coaching

What measures have you personally put in place to ensure performance improvement targets and standards are achieved?

Insist on the Highest Standards yelp | direct reports

Describe the most significant, continuous improvement project that you have led.

Insist on the Highest Standards Amazon | Focusing on New Sellers

Give me an example of a goal you’ve had where you wish you had done better.

Insist on the Highest Standards Yelp | Sessions Adoption

Tell me about a time when you have worked to improve the quality of a product / service / solution that was already getting good customer feedback?

Insist on the Highest Standards intrico.io | coaching product add classes > drills > interface changes to suppliment learning

Give an example where you refused to compromise your standards around quality/customer service, etc.

Insist on the Highest Standards Yelp | On Call & P0

Give me an example of one of the best hires of your career. How did this person progress through their career?

Hire & Develop the Best Yelp | Rohan

Tell me how you help your team members develop their careers. Can you give me two to three examples of specific people in whom invested (success & failure)

Hire & Develop the Best Yelp | Edwin Yelp | DS to PM Yelp | Proto PM to TPM Google | Mo

Give me an example of a time you have provided feedback to develop and leverage the strengths of someone on your team.

Tell me about the most innovative thing you’ve done and why you thought it was innovative

Invent & Simplify Bottlerocket | POS + Real-Time intrico.io | quiz

People often say the simplest solution is the best. Tell me about a particular complex problem you solved with a simple solution.

Invent & Simplify intrico.io | quiz

Tell me about a time you were able to make something significantly simpler for customers.

Invent & Simplify intrico.io | quiz bottlerocket | delivery bpm | newsletter

Describe a challenging problem or situation in which the usual approach was not going to work.

Invent & Simplify

Give an example of a creative idea you had that proved really difficult to implement.

Invent & Simplify

Tell me about an out-of-the-box idea you had or decision you made that had a big impact on your business.

Invent & Simplify

Give me an example of how you have changed the direction or view of a specific function/department and helped them embrace a new way of thinking?

Invent & Simplify

What is the coolest thing you have learned on your own that has helped you better perform your job?

Learn & Be Curious

Tell me about a time when you realized you needed to have a deeper level of subject matter expertise to do your job well?

Learn & Be Curious

When we enter into a new role or problem space, it is common to come in and see things with a fresh perspective.

Learn & Be Curious

Tell me of a time when you took on work outside of your comfort area and found it rewarding?

Learn & Be Curious

Tell me about a time when you didn’t know what to do next or how to solve a challenging problem?

Learn & Be Curious

Example of a time when you pushed the existing boundaries beyond what was normal and expected for your space and you explored new territory?

Learn & Be Curious

How have you kept up to date with market and competitor trends, and used that information to improve your company’s products / services?

Learn & Be Curious

Give me an example of a time when you challenged the notion that something had to be done a certain way because it had always been done that way?

Learn & Be Curious

What are you working on to improve your overall effectiveness at work?

Learn & Be Curious

Tell me about a time when you took on something significant outside your area of responsibility.

Ownership

Give me an example of a time when you didn't think you were going to meet the commitments you promised.

Ownership

Tell me about a time you made a hard decision to sacrifice short term gain for a longer term goal.

Ownership

Give an example of when you saw a peer struggling and decided to step in and help.

Ownership

What steps do you take to ensure projects you complete get transitioned effectively to new owners?

Ownership

Give me an example of a radical approach to a problem you proposed.

Think Big

How do you drive adoption for your vision/ideas? How do you know how well your idea or vision has been adopted by other teams or partners? Give a specific example highlighting one of your ideas.

Think Big

Tell me about time you were working on an initiative or goal and saw an opportunity to do something much bigger than the initial focus.

Think Big

Tell me about a time you looked at a key process that was working well and questioned whether it was still the right one?

Think Big

Tell me about a time you took a big risk – what was the risk, how did you decide to do it and what was the outcome?

Think Big

Now Tell me about a time you took a big risk and it failed.

Think Big

Tell me about a time when you capitalized on an opportunity to help a co-worker or employee grow – how did you approach the situation, and what was the result?

World's Best Employer

Tell me about a time you worked to create a safer or more productive work environment without being prompted.

World's Best Employer

Tell me an example of incorporating fun into your work-day.

World's Best Employer

Tell me about a time you worked to contribute to something bigger than yourself. What was the impact of that?

Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

Tell me about a time you left something better than you found it – big or small.

Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

Have you ever been faced with a moral dilemma in the workplace? How did you respond?

Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

My Amazon Question Bank Flashcards

drill prompts (91 cards)