How to Answer: When was the last time you were right and over-delivered as a result?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an Amazon job interview.
3. When was the last time you were right and over-delivered as a result?
How to Answer
When answering this question, convey how you were motivated to over-deliver because of your passion for the work you are performing. Describe how you carried the success as far as you could take it for the sake of over-achieving your goal. This work ethic indicates that you are the kind of innovating maverick they're looking for.
Written by Kevin Downey on February 13th, 2023
Focus Your Answer On
In 2016, Jeff Bezos said, "You really can't accomplish anything important if you aren't stubborn on vision. But you need to be flexible about the details because you gotta be experimental to accomplish anything important, and that means you're gonna be wrong a lot. You're gonna try something on your way to that vision, and that's going to be the wrong thing, you're gonna have to back up, take a course correction, and try again."
Written by Kevin Downey on February 13th, 2023
What You Need to Know
This is where the Leadership Principle, "Are Right, A Lot," comes into play. "Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to dis-confirm their beliefs." In your answer, exhibit humility, adaptability, and above-average emotional intelligence, qualities they are looking for in their future leadership.
Written by Kevin Downey on February 13th, 2023
Experienced Example
"At my last position, I felt strongly about how dysfunctional the workflow was. We were restricted by the layout of the building we were working out of; our loading dock was on the opposite side of the building from the warehouse. This slowed down the productivity of our shipping and receiving, often delayed shipments, and made the timeframes we promised to our customers somewhat unreliable. I felt like we could be doing so much better for our customers who come to us for their needs. Customers want their needs met quickly. So, I re-examined our processes and asked lots of questions, and everyone said the same thing - it's been tried before and won't work.
One day, I decided that wasn't good enough for me. Others may have tried before and failed, but I wanted to learn why they failed. So I studied what had been tried before and proceeded from there. An emergency exit on the warehouse side of the building exited to the employee parking lot, which was fenced off. I suggested we remove the gate, receive shipments over there, and build an awning off the exit door where they could break down the pallets and hand-truck the shipment through the door. I promised that our revenue would increase with faster shipping times and more reliable service. I got the green light, did the remodel over a weekend, and lived up to my promise, increasing revenue by 20% that year alone."
Written by Kevin Downey on February 13th, 2023