Despite setbacks, Amazonians rise to the occasion. Talk about a time when you were struggling and turned the situation around.
A quote by Winston Churchill says, 'Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.' Amazon looks for Brand Specialists who focus on delivering quality results. Despite setbacks, they get up and try again. Your resilience shines through when you learn from your mistakes and keep going.
Amazon's 14th Leadership Principle is 'Deliver Results.' This principle states, 'Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.'
When answering this 'talk about a time when...' question, be sure to include a real-life story-based example. Amazon asks that when you answer behavioral interview questions, you try to follow the STAR answer method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result.
- Situation: Provide the contextual information the interviewer needs to know to make sense of your story.
- Task: Continuing to set the stage, give the interviewer an idea of your role and responsibilities in this story.
- Action: Next, offer a detailed description of the steps you took in this story.
- Result: Last, talk about the specific, measurable outcomes that resulted from your actions.
Choose a real-life example of a time when you struggled to complete a task or reach a goal. Discuss what you did to turn things around for yourself and generate a positive outcome. If you have work experience, it's best to provide an example from your professional life. If you are new to your career, consider an example from your post-secondary education, a team sport, volunteer commitment, or a club-based activity.
"(Situation & Task) Three months ago I joined a highly competitive inside sales team at Company XYZ. When I first started, I was given a portfolio containing a handful of existing clients and warm leads. I was instructed to grow the portfolio by nurturing existing accounts and developing new business through the provided leads. When I first inspected my portfolio, I realized that over 70% of the quarterly sales came from one client. However, this client put their account on a temporary hold due to internal restructuring. This event caused a major struggle for me since I was instructed to hit my sales targets, yet I had very few active client dollars. I was in real danger of not hitting my first months' sales goal, and therefore I would have easily fallen short on my quarterly quota. (Action) I worked extra long hours and divided these hours by new business development activities. I called dormant accounts and kept my biggest client 'warm' despite their hold on their account. It took a ton of effort, long nights, and creative pitches, but I eventually made up for the gap in my portfolio. I exceeded my first months' sales goal by 4% and the following month by 12%. I continue to see an uptick in my numbers and am on track to be 20% above my quarterly sales target overall. (Result) Through this situation, I learned just how important it is to have a diversified client portfolio. As I grow my account base, I regularly emulate Amazon's Leadership Principle of 'Deliver Results.' I focus on key inputs and deliver quality work to ensure that my goals are reached in time. Despite my initial setback at Company XYZ, I continue to rise to the occasion and exceed sales expectations. I am eager to continue my success and deliver even greater results for Amazon in this Brand Specialist role."
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