How to Answer: Amazon is looking for a Recruiter with experience mapping target companies, leveraging open source communities, and using creative sourcing techniques. Tell us about a time when you utilized your industry network to source exceptional talent.
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an Amazon job interview.
1. Amazon is looking for a Recruiter with experience mapping target companies, leveraging open source communities, and using creative sourcing techniques. Tell us about a time when you utilized your industry network to source exceptional talent.
The Goal
The interviewer wants to know more about your creative sourcing techniques. The goal of your response is to take the interviewer through your methods for sourcing and engaging top-tier talent.
Written by Rachelle Enns on April 24th, 2022
Pro Tip
Amazon looks for Recruiters with experience building and utilizing a variety of proactive sourcing plans and tools. To succeed as an Amazon Recruiter, you must be creative and competitive in your sourcing techniques. Two specific methods for uncovering candidates in a competitive industry include talent mapping and leveraging open source communities.
- Talent Mapping: This term describes the practice of building an organizational chart to determine where viable candidates within your competing companies might be hiding. Talent mapping ensures that you don't miss a potentially excellent candidate because you spend time looking through the cracks. For instance, talent mapping might uncover that you should entertain one of your candidates' leaders who is more suited for your open position.
- Open Source Communities: A group of people (typically developers) who collaborate on building a product of shared interest. You can find open source communities online in places such as GitHub.
- Other Creative Sourcing Techniques: Moving your recruitment efforts beyond Boolean search and your company's ATS, consider other methods such as reaching out to potential candidates on platforms such as Medium or checking in with your competitors' newest hires and temperature test them for job satisfaction.
Written by Rachelle Enns on April 24th, 2022
How to Answer
Talk to the interviewer about your unique candidate sourcing skills in an industry that requires highly competitive talent attraction strategies. Show that you understand the efforts you will need to exude to be an impactful recruitment partner to Amazon.
Include a brief story describing when a specific creative sourcing technique helped you find and hire a terrific candidate. You can use the STAR answer method for delivering your story-based response. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Written by Rachelle Enns on April 24th, 2022
Answer Example
"One of my strongest skills as a recruitment professional is my ability to develop and execute fully comprehensive sourcing plans. I understand that Amazon is highly competitive in its candidate sourcing and talent attraction strategies. I come prepared to be an active and impactful leader in these efforts. (Situation & Task) As a Recruiter for Company XYZ, I operate in the highly competitive tech recruitment space. I often need to source candidates who seem nearly impossible to find; however, it's a wonderful feeling when I uncover the right fit. (Action) Last week, I was sourcing for a Technical Program Manager with experience in AI and ML hardware. The individual needed to have leadership experience in technical program management in a matrix organization and bring knowledge of infrastructure engineering. Rather than begin looking at my company's ATS, I decided to start with competitors with the same need. I went on LinkedIn and filtered my search to individuals who had just started working for a competitor in a similar role. I found three individuals who matched our ideal candidate profile. Although I was aware that these individuals were passive candidates and may not be looking for a new position, I was equally aware that they might be dissatisfied in their new role. (Result) One of the three people that I sourced was, in fact, open to learning about new roles. We are currently interviewing them and will likely be putting out a job offer next week. This story is just one example of how I have positively impacted my current employer as a creative and diligent Recruiter. I look forward to doing the same for Amazon."
Written by Rachelle Enns on April 24th, 2022