Prepare for 54 Amazon interview questions covering Leadership Principles and bar-raising scenarios.
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Krista Wenz has been on thousands of interview panels hiring EMS professionals and firefighters for public and private agencies.
Amazon strives to be "Earth's best employer." They've even made this mission one of their leadership principles and encouraged their leaders to lead with empathy, have fun at work, and make it easy for others to have fun. It is not only essential to perform research before your interview but also to rehearse and be able to recall what you learn for your interview. Explain how you identify with this leadership principle, why you think it is important to have fun at work, and how this has allowed you to be an effective and productive employee. As Jeff Bezos puts it, "Work hard. Have fun. Make history. That's going to make it easier for you to make that choice to work hard."

Krista Wenz has been on thousands of interview panels hiring EMS professionals and firefighters for public and private agencies.
"I think it is imperative to have fun at work. That's not to say that work is all fun and games, but if employees are happy, they tend to have better morale and are more productive. In my last job, we had Nerf guns that our CEO bought for us. When we wanted to get a coworker's attention in a cubicle, we would shoot a dart over the cubicle, which always got a laugh. That was one of the most fun jobs I have ever had."

Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
"I'd say it's important to have fun everywhere - at work, home, on your commute. They say life is a flexibility test. But it is also a constant attitude test. It's important to approach everything in life with the right attitude, and if you are not having fun, then you have to adjust some things until you are."

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Anonymous Answer
Absolutely. Having fun helps us get up in the morning.

Amanda's Feedback
It sounds like you really want to enjoy your work so that you look forward to it every day. If you value having fun at work, you can strengthen this answer by explaining what the benefits to you are such as lowering stress levels, encouraging productivity or creativity, and helping you feel more engaged.
Anonymous Answer
Work without meaning is empty motion. Thus, in the past, I've learned to incorporate a positive attitude and this helps me enjoy my work. I take pride in what I do and the work I perform. If I'm unhappy or not having fun it will show.

Stephanie's Feedback
This is an excellent start, but I suggest developing your response a bit more. Can you provide an example of a time when you had fun at work? How did that impact your motivation and ability to meet outcomes? Providing a specific example and tying it to outcomes will improve the impact of your answer.
Anonymous Answer
I think it is imperative to have fun at work. Not to say that work is all fun and games, but if employees are happy, they tend to have better morale and are more productive. In my current job, we have e-meetings for cooking classes. The chef was showing how to make delicious food (e.g: pancakes), and the others follow the video to make the food, then posted the picture on the slack channel. It is pretty fun. All of us relaxed and became familiar with each other through the funny cooking class. That was one of the most fun jobs that I have ever had.

Amanda's Feedback
Well done! This is a great example of a way to build fun into your workplace. Consider strengthening this answer further by explaining how activities like this encourage a strong team dynamic. Do they help you learn more about one another's personalities and strengths? Does having fun build collaborative teamwork skills?
Anonymous Answer
Yes, I think it is important that you get along with your colleagues and have fun while working with them.

Amanda's Feedback
Fun at work is a key element of employee happiness. You can enhance this answer by sharing that fun can help employees to maintain a more positive mindset, enjoy greater well-being, and improve mental health, which ultimately reduces employee absenteeism and work-related errors.
Anonymous Answer
I've found that having fun makes me more productive, especially more creatively solving problems and having a bias for action. For example, there was a time I was tasked with creating a product demo specifically to wow journalists. I was brainstorming with colleagues and we were joking around about some of the crazy political stories that the software was analyzing, and then I realized that I could build a dashboard that showed why some stories were going viral and others were not. Then we built a dashboard showing which words and phrases were driving the outcomes and I presented to journalists about how they could use the tool to fine-tune their stories to have the broadest readership.
Marcie's Feedback
This is a great example to use; it really makes your response interesting and memorable. Excellent response! You've made a strong case for having fun at work!
Anonymous Answer
Yes, I think it is very important to have fun at work. I like the term hard fun. I think it is important to ensure you deliver results while learning and being curious and ensuring putting the customer first.
I was in France for a week putting together a demo for a customer when V6 first came out, before 3DEXPRIENCE. Those were long days and nights. We were exhausted. And we knew it was just the beginning. The following week was the real work when we were traveling to the US and Canada to the customer's sites for the demos.
You know how it is. Late nights. Not regular meals. Whenever someone would get irritable we would play the video of a '60s song which was in French we didn't understand most of it but the chorus repeated the name of the customer so we would all laugh and sing. It really brought us together as a team.
We did win. That was in 2009. And occasionally, we still bring that video up and laugh.
Marcie's Feedback
It's great that you think it's important to have fun at work. Can you explain more what you mean by the term 'hard fun'? Do you believe that having fun on the job makes you more productive and a harder worker? Can you talk about a time when you worked in a fun atmosphere and explain how this helped you to be a better employee?
Anonymous Answer
It is wonderful to jump out of bed in the morning knowing that you will spend another day laughing and enjoying the company of customers and colleagues. Feedback from both customers and project managers is that I bring fun to a project as well as deep technical skills and a can-do attitude. I enjoy approaching a project with humility and transparency. Whilst competent in my role, I do not pretend to know everything and as such approach work with a playful curiosity which I share with the client. For an infrastructure upgrade project, I arrived without having prior experience in the specific software stack. However, combining upfront preparation and demonstrable organizational skills, I created an environment where the customer and I could solve the problems together and have a laugh whilst doing so. Although my role was the subject matter expert, we worked as a team. The project was a great success. The customer later requested me for a subsequent project because they said they had so much fun working with me the first time. Where there is trust, there can be fun - so if you are having fun in your work with your customer, you know you are doing something right.
Marcie's Feedback
Awesome! Your answer is extremely thorough and comes across as genuine. It's great that you give an example that supports your assertions. The only place where you might offer a bit more of an explanation is - how exactly did you create an environment with the customer that enabled both problem-solving and fun? Did you use humor in your conversations? Did you use a particular tone of voice? Adding some more details around this would be great. Otherwise, outstanding response!
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Written by Kevin Downey
54 Questions & Answers • Amazon

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