Amazon.com Executive Assistant Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated May 4, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 5 ratings 
“Difficult” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 5 ratings
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Executive Assistant at Amazon.com
Posted May 4, 2012 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2012 in Seattle, WA (took 4 weeks)
I applied for an EA role in the Seattle HQ. I was contacted via email by a recruiting coordinator who then scheduled 4 separate phone interviews, spread out over several weeks with several different EA's on the team. I felt like the EA's and I had a good connection. They answered questions they way I would have and and we all seemed to be on the same page as far as how we approach our jobs and what we are looking for in a job. They must have felt the same way because I was later scheduled to come in for all day interviews.
Over the course of 1 day I interviewed with a total of 12 people! First the HR EA, then every 30 minutes someone else on the team. These consisted of business managers, developers, analysts, team leaders etc. These people interviewed me the same way that you would someone looking to fill one of THEIR roles. I got the feeling that they wanted me to answer the questions and approach a problem the way that they would. Which is ridiculous. They wanted indepth specifics to things that an EA would consider common sense and not needing to be mentioned. An EA who approaches their job like a developer is NOT going to be an effective EA.
Then in the afternoon I did 1:1 interviews with all of the same EAs that I had spoke with on the phone.
At the end of the day I met with HR and they went over benefits etc. and told me that they would be making a decision the first part of the next week. I waited over a week and a half and finally had to contact the recruiter myself to see if I was still being considered!!!
The entire day left me with a few observations:
1) There is absolutely NO purpose for business analysts and developers to be interviewing an EA. An EA should be interviewed and selected by other EAs and the person they will be supporting
2) Many of the people on the interview panel (not the EAs), were condescending
3) Several of the people were a little too "rah rah, Amazon" for me which reminded me of a cult
4) Failure to contact me with the outcome shows lack of consideration.
Amazon posts new support role jobs every day. Needless to say, I am THANKFUL that I wasn't selected and I will not be applying for any of their other open positions.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Executive Assistant at Amazon.com
Posted Jan 9, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2011 in West Columbia, SC (took a day)
Participated in an e-mail interview that went well and was given a time for a phone interview. The phone interviewer never called me, so I contacted my previous contact to reschedule. At that point they informed me the position had already been filled. I do wish they had let me know ahead of time so I wouldn't have wasted my time waiting for the phone call that never came. It also seemed unprofessional to me to fill a position without meeting all of the candidates you had scheduled to interview.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
View Comments (1)
Inappropriate?
Executive Assistant at Amazon.com
Posted Nov 18, 2011 — 2 of 2 people found this helpful
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 2 days)
What I found is the following:
There doesn't seem to be a work-life-balance culture there. They pride themselves on 'being like Google' but they are not like Google. Many of the Executive Assistants, not ALL, but many were sharks and you could already tell that to fit into their club you had to be just as unpleasant, bossy, and passive aggressive as they were to fit into the role. Questions that they ALL kept asking were: What is your experience with Microsoft Outlook, can you manage a calender, how exactly do you create a to-do list and execute that list and how do you prioritize. Even after I put on a Vanna White show in front of a white board where I proceeded to create a sample calender of a week, including multiple task lists of sample items that I would normally attack and how I would execute and prioritize those tasks, I found them to be hard to please. Several of the interviewers were pleasant people, but the consistent theme that I continued to hear from all ten interviewers were "We work REALLY REALLY hard here and we are always challenged, and Amazon expects the best." I did not once here that they LOVE their jobs, nor that they thought the culture was friendly or uplifting. From years at Google, the culture there was all about Googlieness - something Amazon folks looked very confused about when I mentioned having a positive personality at work and not tolerating passive aggressive behavior in the workplace. I can see now that it was a blessing I did not accept an offer because it would have been a pool of sharks trying to prove who has more power. The company culture as I was told has a lot of morale issues, and they quote "are losing great talent all the time" to other companies like Google and Microsoft. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there are people that are happy at Amazon and feel challenged in a positive way, but I think a lot of the people work twice as hard for half of the pay, praise, and rewarding career they probably thought they were going to have working for Amazon. They clearly need to clean house when it comes to several Executive Assistant and inject the space with more positive personalities. It was evident that the executive assistants tend to push the VP's around, which I found very surprising. Shouldn't it be the other way around? They will continue to scare off talent unless they adopt values that make employees feel valued, praised, and rewarded for challenging hard work. I probably would have had an ulcer by the end of the year.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Executive Assistant at Amazon.com
Posted Sep 7, 2011 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 2 weeks)
Two intial half hour phone screens with two different people from HR. All day interview loop with seven people (that had a two hour gap in the middle). Referred on to a different position and brought in to interview with four more people. Interviews are 1:1. Lots of behavioral questions.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
Negotiate for the highest possible base. The company strategy is to low ball the base and offer a large "bonus". That way if you leave before a year or two, you will be on the hook for the "bonus", which really just means they paid you industry standard, or slightly below, while you were working your tail off. People who were a level more than me earned more than me. Compensation is not fairly distributed - remember that if they have made you an offer they probably really want you. They are desperate for people - negotiate from a position of strength.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Executive Assistant at Amazon.com
Posted May 31, 2011 — 2 of 3 people found this helpful
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed May 2011 in New York, NY (took 2 weeks)
Okay to begin with, Amazon.com is my favorite website so I was very excited when I got an email and call they wanted to interview me. The first interview was by the current EA who said she was being promoted to Office Manager so the position needed to be filled. She called me and spoke to me for about 40 minutes asking me basic administrative questions along with all the questions u see listed online. After the call she said she wanted me to speak to the EA in Seattle and if that worked out, Id come in and if we were all on the same page, they would bring me on. .....
That day the recruiter in Seattle says shes setting me up with a second interview with the other girl in Seattle. So I get the date and time which is two days later and expect to be interviewed by her. So.....I get the call and low and behold its the same girl that interviewed me the first time asking me to tell her all about myself lol. The same girl who I spoke to for 40 minutes completely forgot she even spoke to me two days later!!!!!! So Im like "so and so, do you realize we just spoke for 40 min and this call was supposed to be with the person in Seattle?" Her response was "ugggh....oh.....ahhhh.....I dont know why Im calling you"...now mind you this is the girl who got a "promotion"....
okay...so back to square one, the recruiter then sets me up to speak to with the correct person in two days. The call comes, we talk about the same thing for 40 minutes and than Im told im allowed to ask only one question. So I get another call a day later saying that the interviews went well and they want me to come in for an in person interview. So I get an email saying Ill be interviewing with like 7 ppl, none of whom would be the person Id actually be working for! So I go in for the interview and see this girl sitting behind reception talking on the phone about personal problems. She wouldn't even put the phone down to see what I was there for so I had to interrupt her. So she says fine, and goes back to talking about her problems on the phone. Never said hello or introduced herself, nothing.
So I first interview for 40 min with some lady who does projects. Same standard interview questions. Than I interview via video conference with another assistant who I already spoke to for an hour on the phone asking the same exact questions looking at her notes as if she forgot everything from the first interview. Than I come out and some lady says to the receptionist "here take so and so to lunch" turns out the rude receptionist was the same girl who interviewed me on the phone and than forgot about me the second time lol. This is who they promoted lol.
So we go to get a bite and bring it back and we sit and eat. Wasn't impressed with her in any way, shape or form and that wasn't a good sign since I'd have to work closely to her. I don't care for rude people since I'm the total opposite. She didn't even tell me what the job entailed other than travel which the travel agent does lol. Than I get another interview with some guy who says "I'm not in your dept I just am a good interviewer"...So he proceeds to ask the same exact questions I just answered with 4 other ppl and than says "give a weakness and you better NOT make it sound as its a positive!" So Im like okay dude calm down, its an interview, not a cure for cancer....so after answering the same exact questions now into hour 6, I than met with the HR lady who said "I'm your contact person going forward and we will set up an interview with the person youll actually work for" ....Never heard a word back so I emailed and got the standard "Were going in a different direction" which was actually good news because I would never have taken the job. The whole interview process for an admin, 8 hours total, is beyond ridiculous especially when none of the ppl are the person you would actually work for. I found the interviewers to be very rude with an "im god and your not" attitude so whats appealing about that? Why didn't they just put everyone in the same room instead of asking the same exact questions over and over. Please...it was a joke. I left there with such a bad taste in my mouth, I was fed up at that point. I didn't even want the job anymore and I was so excited two weeks prior. I should have interviewed with the person Id actually be assisting and maybe one or two others for 20 min each..done. This whole process was a very unprofessional and very unnecessary process for everyone in my opinion.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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