Do you do any volunteering in your spare time?
This is another opportunity to showcase your knowledge of Amazon and their offerings, such as AmazonSmile, which allows you to select your favorite charity to start generating donations at no cost to you. The AmazonSmile program donates 0.5% of every purchase you make on Amazon to a charity of your choice. All you need to do is start your shopping at smile.amazon.com. They donate at no extra cost, and you can choose from nearly one million public charities.
"I started volunteering with my mom at a young age and continue to do so in my spare time. My mom taught me to give back to the community by volunteering my time and energy. I currently volunteer twice a month at an assisted living facility, where I take my retired service dog to visit. She's a Golden Lab, and the residents love how sweet and gentle she is. I love seeing the smiles on everyone's faces, which makes my heart so happy."
"I volunteer at Mary's Place, a homeless shelter that assists families. In 2020, when Jeff Bezos worked with Mary's Place to shelter 200 homeless people by housing them in one of their buildings in downtown Seattle on their Amazon Campus, this was a game changer for me. That's when I knew I wanted to work with Amazon, not just in a volunteering capacity, but professionally."
Also, be sure to showcase your knowledge of the philanthropic efforts of Amazon and its founders. For example, recently, Jeff Bezos gifted 100 million dollars to homeless shelter services. As they say in their leadership principles, Amazon believes that their leaders must "begin each day with a determination to make better, do better, and be better for our customers, our employees, our partners, and the world at large. And we must end every day knowing we can do even more tomorrow. Leaders create more than they consume and always leave things better than how they found them." The company believes that local communities, the planet, and future generations need them to be better every day.
If you have or are currently volunteering, describe what you do and why. If you have not had the opportunity to volunteer, be honest and give an example of an organization or cause you would like to volunteer with in the future.
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
A couple of years back I was part of a one-day volunteering group where we prepared and distributed meals to people living on the streets of Brussels. My role was to help prepare these meals and - together with my group of 4 - distribute them to homeless people in a timely manner. Besides that, I follow some animal sheltering institutions on social media based in Brazil where I can follow up on what's happening and make donations.
Amanda's Feedback
This is a solid beginning! This question can help give the interviewer insight into how you'd fit with the team or with the company culture. You can make your response more impactful by sharing why you chose to volunteer in a particular way or why you're drawn to donating to specific charitable organizations.
Anonymous Answer
I do love volunteering and as you may see in my cv, I have worked on some projects as a volunteer. I believe volunteering is important because it enables individuals to help others in a selfless way and makes us humble. I worked on a volunteering project called Discover Slavonia and Baranja in Croatia. I worked there with a diverse group of people and we tried to attract tourists to some hidden and unpopular places in Croatia. It was one of the best times of my life because I met so many nice people from all over the world and they were all such humble and kind people who try to make the world a better place for all of us. I am also an environmental volunteer. I work with an organization called Haytap from Istanbul and we take care of street animals and try to prevent deforestation in Istanbul and the places nearby. Besides, I have always volunteered in projects on sustainability in the companies I worked for. I believe there are two important terms in our lives that will help us slow down global warming and they are sustainability and circular economy and that is why I think that it is important to take part in such projects.
Amanda's Feedback
You have enjoyed some wonderful volunteer experiences! Consider bringing it back to the workplace at the end and telling the interviewer more about the sustainability projects you worked on for your previous employers.
Anonymous Answer
I do pro bono work for cancer researchers. It's something close to my heart because I lost both parents to cancer. For example, I helped cancer researchers calculate the results of experiments in epigenetic gene switching so that they would have objective probabilities to test their hypotheses. That research has actually been published in Bioinformatics.
Marcie's Feedback
Condolences for your losses - that must have been incredibly hard to go through. It's wonderful that you've channeled your loss into a way to help others. Any interviewer will be moved by the fact that you volunteer to help cancer researchers and also impressed that the research you've been involved in was published.
Anonymous Answer
Pre-COVID I did a lot of volunteering in a soup kitchen and giving back at a local shelter. Now, most of my volunteer efforts have been transported to online efforts. I now volunteer my time to 2 boards of directors.
Marcie's Feedback
Great! Why did you decide to volunteer for a soup kitchen and to help a local shelter? What was your motivation to do this and do you believe these actions helped people who have less than you do? Can you also provide more details about being on the boards (for which companies? were you invited? what kind of work have you done while on the boards?) It's fantastic that you have volunteer experience; just be sure to provide plenty of details to the interviewer about these experiences and the skills they require(d). Great job!
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