I was disappointed that I did not proceed further in the interview process but also quite relieved that I did not have to endure it any further. I have handled many tough interviews successfully in my career and I have to admit, this one was fairly sloppy and left much to be desired. I was contacted by an Amazon recruiter (#1) and after some email exchange, we had a pleasant phone chat. That was round1 and went well, since she encouraged me to apply for the position. I submitted my resume and did not hear from anyone for a week. Then I follow up with recruiter#1 but I hear from recruiter#2 who asks for time slots to schedule a phone interview with a member of the hiring team. I give him options and wait...and wait. No response. The following week, I hear from recruiter#3 who asks me for writing samples. I reply promptly with several samples and then ask if they need more time slots. No response ! A couple of days later, recruiter#4 (I lost count at this point) contacts me to say that I missed my phone interview and whether I would like to reschedule! Priceless! They never even scheduled me properly nor did they apologize for it when I mentioned as much. Finally, we did get an interview scheduled for the following week. I was informed I'd be speaking to a member of the hiring team. I was disappointed to find that the first person to interview me was NOT a technical writer or doc manager. In fact, it was not clear who was actually involved in the interview panel. Anyway, as several others have stated here, I got plenty of reminders to focus on their leadership values. 14 no less! I had all my examples and talking points ready for the interview. The person who interviewed was actually NOT the hiring manager but someone the writer would likely work with. This person was not a writer though. The format was old school circa 2000 ("Tell me about a time when you handled a lot of details...Tell me when you went really deep" etc). Every question was just a request for an example of one of their leadership values. I wonder if every person working at Amazon has to be a leader. It'd imply that you cannot be successful there if you aren't a leader. The interviewer kept interrupting me as I talked about my experiences, often asking for the very details I was getting to. At one point, I had to politely request to finish my answer. While no one told me how long the interview was to be scheduled, I expected we'd wrap up in 30-45 mts. He asked me questions for 1:15hrs and finally asked if I had any for him. When I asked about their doc team setup, he couldn't answer any of them. I asked about the size of their doc team, what tools they use, authoring environment etc and he totally went off on a tangent talking about styles and formats they will want a writer to use. I realized quickly that he had no clue about the writing aspect of the job. Why would the first person interviewing a tech writer be someone who isn't familiar with the job? I did get a sense that I'd be a lone warrior in this role, with no doc team and certainly no opportunity to grow my writing skills. That was not attractive. I answered all questions in detail and with honesty. I thought I provided adequate examples but they must have felt differently (obviously). The rejection email was curt. What annoyed me was the part where they said they choose to not give feedback to candidates. Really? Bad enough that you take the candidate's time for granted. At least have the courtesy to tell them why you decided to move in a different direction, even if you do not want to divulge too much. At the very least, it'd help candidates work on theirweak areas. And it doesn't cost you anything to share that information since you've already decided to not proceed with them. Final point - 14 leadership values and not a single one about inclusion, equality, diversity, rejection of bias, cultural respect, teamwork, or actually enjoying the work you do? That tells me what a treat it'd be to go to work. No thanks. Huge thanks to other reviewers on Glassdoor for sharing your interview experiences. I can relate to all of you very well.

The Amazon interview process is long but very well‑organized and helpful. It not only allows the company to identify the right candidate but also gives applicants a clear opportunity to understand if the role matches their career goals. I found the interviewers professional and respectful, and the overall experience left me with a positive impression.