Amazon.

com)
)
Note:) This) document) has) been) prepared) with) inputs) from) several) candidates) who) underwent) the) Amazons)
recruitment)process)in)the)recent)years.)This)is)being)put)up)with)the)view)to)help)the)PGP1s)during)their)summer)
placement)process.)Kindly)do)not)share)it)with)anyone)outside)the)campus.))
)

INTERVIEW)EXPERIENCES/TIPS)
)
Typical)Recruitment)Process)
!
General!Format:!Mostly!2!rounds,!3rd!round!for!a!few!
Round!1:!Cases,!Guestimates,!Aptitude!
Round!2:!Work!experience!related,!personals,!general!&!other!stuffs!
(Round!1!&!2!not!chronological)!
!
Overall)Skills)Tested:)(Major)ones))
1. Logical)and)structured)thinking)
2. Good)communication,)confidence)and)clarity)in)thought)and)expression)
3. Leadership/initiative)taking)abilities)
!
General)Questions:)
1. Why!Amazon!
2. Strengths!&!Weaknesses!
3. Why!left!job!for!an!MBA!in!IIM!Calcutta!
4. Why!operations!in!a!finance!campus!
5. Random! picking! up! of! work! experience! points! &! grilling! on! them! (be! thorough! on! your! CVs! work! experience!
part)!
6. Biggest!failures!&!successes!
!
Personal)Questions)(This)can)be)a)separate)round)or)clubbed)with)one)of)the)2)rounds))
1. Tell! an! incident! which! exhibits! your! leadership! skills.! How! did! you! manage?! Further! grilling! on! why! taken! this!
approach!or!decision!
2. Tell!an!incident!where!you!exhibited!team!skills.!Further!grilling!on!that.!
3. Some!instances!where!I!had!to!convince!my!team!against!the!general!perception.!
4. One!instance!where!you!brought!in!a!new!concept!&!implemented!it.!
!
Questions)on)Cases:)
1. You!have!one!well!which!provides!clean!water.!Others'!well!in!the!village!offer!dirty!water.!You!have!a!chance!to!
sell!the!water!of!your!well!to!others!in!the!village.!How!would!you!price!the!water!supply?!Adopted!health!issues!
for!the!pricing!strategy.!Interviewer!asked!about!some!other!aspects!which!could!be!employed!to!convince!the!
villagers!to!buy!water!from!you.!
2. Case!about!the!pricing!strategy!of!an!innovative!transporter!that!relocates!you!from!one!place!to!another!in!a!
second,!how!to!commercially!use!this.!I!mentioned!that!it!can!be!used!for!recreation!as!well!as!travel.!How!will!
you!price!it!separately!for!both!purposes?!Who!will!be!the!target!customers?!How!much!will!u!sell!it!for!after!
using!for!n!years?!
3. Case! about! supply! chain! management.! Asked! about! warehousing,! costs,! revenues.! ! Started! with! a! one! line!
problem!statement!but!the!interviewer!covered!almost!every!aspect!of!the!case.!
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4. Case!regarding!some!inefficiency!in!the!supply!chain.!Was!asked!possible!reasons!behind!it.!Case!was!about!the!
analysing!the!inefficiency!as!there!was!some!delay!in!the!delivery!of!products.!
5. You! have! a! machine! which! can! transport! people! from! Kolkata! to! Mumbai! in! 5! mins.! How! will! you! price! the!
service?!
!
Guesstimates:)
1. Estimate!the!no.!of!tax!payers!in!India.!Asked!to!describe!the!methodology!adopted!to!find!out!the!no.!
!
Aptitude)Questions:)
1. There!are!two!trains!moving!towards!each!other!at!1000!miles!per!hour.!The!tunnel!is!2000!miles!long.!A!bee!
flying! at! 1500! miles! per! hour! starts! at! one! end! when! 1! trains! enters! the! tunnel! and! moves! towards! the! other!
train.!After!reaching,!the!bee!turns!back!and!moves!in!the!opposite!direction.!It!keeps!on!doing!this!till!the!trains!
cross!each!other,!how!much!distance!will!the!bee!travel?!
2. There!are!100!doors!all!closed.!First!when!walking!from!end!to!other,!all!doors!are!opened.!Then!second!time!
from!start!(after!walking!back),!all!alternate!doors!are!closed.!The!third!time!every!3rd!door!is!opened!and!this!
goes!on.!What!are!the!states!of!doors!after!the!sequence!count!reaches!100?!
3. Find!out!the!square!root!of!your!mobile!no.!without!any!calculations.!
!
Some)individual)instances)(these)were)mostly)asked)in)the)personal)round):)
1. What! role! would! you! prefer! ]! to! lead! a! team! or! to! work! individually?! If! you! choose! the! later,! be! prepared! for!
some!puzzles!to!test!your!aptitude.!Be!consistent!with!what!you!want.!
2. Ending!with!written!document!submission!summarising!my!interview!as!they!also!wanted!to!test!written!skills.!
3. Writing!the!code!for!the!last!project!that!was!worked!on!in!the!company.!Actual!code!was!to!be!written,!not!just!
the!algorithm.!
4. Suppose!Amazons!sales!are!dropping.!What!would!be!your!approach!to!find!out!the!root!cause!of!this!situation?!
What!will!be!the!remedies!adopted!by!you?!
!
If!you!had!to!develop!a!scorecard!to!rank!suppliers!in!your!category!what!metrics!would!you!use?!Why?!
"Why!Amazon",!Why!category!mangement,!Why!MBA!
How!would!you!go!about!taking!decision!on!buying!a!stock!lot!of!merchandise!from!a!supplier!in!
competitive!pricing?!
How!can!you!apply!your!current!degree!and!past!experiences!to!this!position?!
If!another!vendor/company!is!offering!your!exact!same!product!for!less,!how!would!you!approach!the!
situation?!
!

You!are!in!charge!of!launching!a!new!TV!product.!Walk!through!the!steps!to!estimating!how!you!would!
calculate!inventory!needed!for!the!next!month!per!vendor!if!you!can!reorder!on!a!monthly!basis!one!month!
out.!

"can!you!tell!me!of!a!time!you!failed,!and!how!did!you!deal!with!this?"!or!"Please!give!me!a!success!story!and!
why!was!it!successful?"!

how!would!you!improve!the!morning!traffic!outside!the!building?!

!
!
!

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Amazon!recently!launched!Display!Advertisements!on!its!web!page,!and!it!was!a!highly!controversial!decision!
within!Amazon.!!Pick!either!the!pro!or!con!side!of!the!argument!and!explain!your!position!of!including!ads!on!
the!site.!
Assume!you!are!the!new!Product!Manager!in!our!Amazon!Prime!business!and!are!in!charge!of!new!Feature!
Development.!!!What!data!would!you!look!at!to!develop!to!new!features?!!What!new!features!would!they!
be?!

!
!

How!would!you!price!the!Kindle!Fire!HD?!
Assume!you!are!the!new!Product!Manager!in!our!Amazon!Prime!business!and!are!in!charge!of!Pricing.!!!The!
VP!would!like!to!lower!the!price!from!$79.99!per!year!to!$69.99!per!year.!!Making!your!own!assumptions,!
develop!the!financial!projections!of!this!decision.!
Start!a!new!category,!division,!or!international!market!for!Amazon.!!Which!one!did!you!choose!and!why?!
Launch!a!sports!wear!category!&!electronics!from!scratch!
Performance!of!team!goes!down]!your!actions!
Female!colleague!harassment!
!Failures?!
Levers!to!use!against!vendor!who!has!raised!price?!
How!to!price!prime!in!india?!
Why!MBA?!Why!amazon?!Why!category!management?!
Determine!inventory!level!for!any!component!
How!to!increase!penetration!&!distribution!
Against!manger!to!accomplish!something!
Biggest!learning!out!of!work!experience!and!internships!
Instances!when!you!could!have!sat!quietly!but!u!decided!to!act!
What!would!your!seniors!say!about!you!
How!do!you!handle!an!ambiguous!environment!
Your!individual!contribution!and!your!contribution!as!a!team!member!,!where!will!u!rank!yourself?!
Assume!that!you!are!hired..!what!are!the!challenges!you!forsee?!
Some!people!who!might!be!looking!towards!same!job!that!you!got!hired!into,!how!would!you!handle!him?!
How!would!you!handle!people!much!more!experienced!than!you!but!are!juniors!to!you!
Give me a situation where where one of your ideas were not implemented and what did you do
about that
leadership style and few cases where given where one as a leader has to make one of your team
members was not able to increase his productivity
What are the weaknesses in your leadership style
You have to tie up with Canon for digital cameras. How will you negotiate on price. How would you
decide what price to negotiate on. margins what will you do. etc What would you do differently in all
these points for the local brand. You've finalized the brand a How will you select from which vendor
to procure.
You're handling camera category. The country manager o is not doing well and should be dropped.
What will you do?
!
Suppose you would like to introduce footwear category, which the customer may not be willing to
buy until he physically goes for a trial, how would you introduce this category? In the long run what
would be its profitability? Do cost benefit analysis for the same?
b) Suppose there is a book publisher who has got most efficient distribution channel and is getting
good revenues in the present system of distribution. How would you negotiate with the CEO (not
operations manager, S&D manager) to get him on board? (My summers question)
c) Should amazon go for property sales through its platform? Why should? Why not?
d) Do sellers agree for Cash on delivery (COD) model? What would be the incentive for the seller

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in this model? How do you negotiate with him?

e) How do you build sportswear section for amazon?
f) Pricing for membership plan program of amazon, what base price should be taken and what
parameters should be taken to decide the plan?
g) Amazon entered with a site junglee.com? Why the need for a new amazon.in site? What is the
main difference?
If Amazon wishes to open a warehouse in India, what factors will be taken into consideration?
Which city you would prefer and why?
b) Amazon wanted to set up a fulfilment centre in India. Identify the factors involved in selecting the
place & give the place of re commendation? Why?
c) Estimate the number of doors one would require in a warehouse? If demand in a month (say
December) tripled? How would you handle that with the same number of doors you already
designed?
d) Case: Assume one day your workers of warehouse delivery dont show up at last moment and
you as a manager need to deliver custom orders. What will you do? How will you improve the
process?

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