Amazon Interview Course

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Interview Preparation Course

Coursetake

At

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, our mission is to

ensure that every student aces

his or her interview process.

We do that by creating high

quality interview preparation

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You can check out our online

marketplace at

• Congratulations on getting an opportunity to interview with Amazon. Amazon is just a fantastic company innovating at every step of the

way

and slowly but surely capturing every aspect of our lives.

So GREAT JOB getting the journey with them

started.

• You most probably know that Amazon receives thousands of applications

everyday, so you definitely have stood out for them to have contacted

COPYRIGHTS & DISCLAIMER

• This document and its creators are not affiliated in any way with Uber

Technologies Ltd., a transport, and logistics company. The document is solely provided for educational purposes. This presentation, course videos and

website coursetake.com are not affiliated with or endorsed by Uber. All the questions and csv files in the book are created from ground up by

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• This document and relevant files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of individual or entity to whom they are addressed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any

form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods. All rights reserved.

• The information on this document is tried to be as accurate as possible, but no guarantee of usefulness or fitness for a particular purpose is implied. The content is provided on an as-is basis. The advice given may not be suitable for every situation.

Table of Contents

Section 1– The Product Management Role

Section 2 – The Product Management Role at Amazon

Section 3 – Interview Process at Amazon

Section 4 – Amazon Company Information

Section 5 - Questions

Section 6 – Questions to Ask

Section 7 – Preparation Plans and Tips

Section 8 – Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

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• This class is purely about preparing for an Amazon Product

Management Interview

• My aim is to take you through a systematic process one-step at a time to help you ace this interview.

• My approach will be to first teach you a lesson and then give you homework for

You to complete

• This class consists of worksheets and slides, along with the video lectures, that you can download.

• I’ve seen that the most successful candidates are the ones who NOT ONLY follow the lessons, but do the homework at the end of it.

This course will combine theory and practice to help

you succeed.

Agenda – The Course Consists of 8 Sections

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1. The Product Management Role – We’ll start by understanding the

role of a Product Manager in general.

2. Amazon Product Manager Role – We’ll then talk about the

role of a Product Manager specifically at Amazon.

3. Interview Process – We’ll talk about the interview process for a PM

at

Amazon

4. Company Information – We’ll then talk about the details about

5. Questions – We’ll then get into the specific question types that

Amazon

Typically asks its candidates and how to attack each one

1. Behavioral Questions 2. Tradeof Questions 3. Pricing Questions 4. Financial Projections 5. Strategy Questions

6. Customer Experience Questions 7. Metrics Questions

8. Design Questions 9. Vision Questions

6. Questions to Ask – Here, we will discuss what questions to ask

during

your interview.

7. Preparation Plan and Tips – We’ll then cover a number of

preparation tips for the interview process and put together a time table to study.

8. Conclusion – Finally we’ll end by summarizing everything in this

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Section 1– The Product

Management Role

Role of an Product Manager a.k.a. PM

• A PM is responsible for making sure that a team ships a great

product.

• What does shipping a great product mean?

1. Vision and Strategy: The PM sets the vision, strategy and business model for the

product.

• They do so by understanding the market, competition, customers and current company

capabilities and then define the unique value proposition for the product they are working on for the appropriate customer niche that they plan to target.

2. Goals and Initiatives: The PM sets specific goals for the product and defines

initiatives to drive those goals. The PM defines specific success criteria/metrics or Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for the product to achieve those goals and specific targets that the product should achieve.

3. Product Roadmap: The PM defines and maintains the product roadmap,_{that maps out a timeline of these initiatives.} 4. Features: For each initiative, the PM defines features/user stories i.e. a _{business needs or wants of the customer. These come from customers,}

sales, marketing, customer support, internal engineering and other teams and various other parts of the organization.

5. Prioritization and Release Roadmap: The PM prioritizes various _{features and makes decisions on which ones to go after first and which}

ones can go into a product backlog. The PM maintains all this in a “Release Roadmap.”

• PMs prioritizing by taking into account areas such as value add, risk, complexity of _{implementation etc.}

6. Requirements: For the features that are going out, the PM further refines _{each feature into detailed requirements i.e. defines the capability of what}

the product should do to meet the business need of the feature. A feature is essentially a high-level collection of individual requirements.

7. Feature and Requirements Design: The PM works with designers, _{user experience, engineering, QA and others to come up with solutions}

to those requirements and hence features. The PM also defines the specific success criteria for each feature in terms of specific metrics.

8. Implementation: The PM works with engineering teams, QA, data _{analysts and others to ensure on a day to day basis that those features are}

being built and are ready to go out to customers.

9. Release: The PM coordinates all release activities related to launching _{those product features and maintains a timeline of the same.}

• This includes signing of on the final build, going through a launch checklist of various items, _{communicating out to various parts of the organization and to customers and making various} decisions through the process, working with marketing to co-ordinate the “Go To Market” plan etc. etc.

Summary of the PM Process

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Summary of the PM Process

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As you can clearly see, based on the

activities that a PM performs that he or

she is clearly the CEO of his or her

product.

The PM drives activities across an organization right from vision all the way to

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…with one distinction

• PMs have no direct reports.

• A CEO does.

• This means that PMs have to drive their entire product strategy through influence and not through direct authority over anyone.

• Leadership through influence is an extremely important trait that

good

PMs have and it will be tested throughout the interview process.

PMs are great leaders as the success of their product is the direct function

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A PM sits in the middle of the Business, Technology and the

Product

Even though the title says

“Product”, the PM has touch points to various parts of the

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Section 2 – The Product

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Amazon PM

• In this section, we will define the role of a PM as it relates to

Amazon and how the responsibilities differ from the core responsibilities of a generic PM.

• We’ll also define the skills that a Amazon PM needs in order to be both successful there, but more importantly for you to prepare

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Amazon PM Job Description

Here is a typical Amazon Product Manager Role directly advertised on the Amazon Careers Website. Let’s break down some

of the core

responsibilities of this role.

Note one important thing about Amazon – Even

though they are looking for candidates for a

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recruit you into the company.

Amazon PM Core Responsibilities

• Create, build, and implement groundbreaking new customer experience-related features and benefits that will impact

millions of Amazon customers

• Thing 4/Features, Thing 7/Feature and Requirements Design, Thing 8/Implementation

• Write business requirement and functional specification documents

• Thing 6/Requirements

• Lead and coordinate eforts cross-functionally with business teams, software development engineers, retail teams, other product

managers, UX designers, and external partners to guarantee a smooth and efficient product delivery

• Identify and mitigate bottlenecks, provide escalation management, balance business needs versus technical

constraints, and maximize business benefit while building the best customer experience

• Thing 9/Release

• Manage roadmap projects from inception through implementation

• Thing 1/Vision and Strategy, Thing 2/Goals and Initiatives, Thing 3/Product Roadmap, Thing 5/Prioritization and Release Roadmap

As you can, the Amazon PM role is very similar to the core role of PMs as defined in the industry.

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Amazon Company Culture

• The Amazon culture is well published on their website in the form of 14

Amazon Principles

• https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles

• As a PM, its extremely important to internalize these 14 principles as Amazon takes their culture very seriously. You’ll get tons of

questions on these principles.

• We’ll get into the details into Section 4 in the Questions section,

however, its important early on to understand these 14 principles very well.

Amazon Principles

1. Customer Obsession

• Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.

2. Ownership

• Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job".

3. Invent and Simplify

• Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and

always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here". As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.

4. Are Right, A Lot

• Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.

5. Learn and Be Curious

• Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are

curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.

6. Hire and Develop The Best

• Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the

organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching

others. We work on

7. Insist on the Highest Standards

• Leaders have relentlessly high standards - many people may think these standards

are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar and driving their teams to deliver high quality products, services and processes. Leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.

8. Think Big

• Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think diferently and look around

corners for ways to serve customers.

9. Bias for Action

• Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking.

10. Frugality

• Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size or fixed expense.

11. Earn Trust

• Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They

benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.

12. Dive Deep

• Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote difer. No task is beneath them.

13. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit

• Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.

14. Deliver Results

• Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the

right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.

What do you need to have to be a good Amazon PM?

Amazon PM = PM Job Description +

Amazon

Cultural Fit

The Questions (Section 4) will cover how to showcase both these skills during your entire interview process.

But, this means that a good Amazon PM needs to showcase all the skills of

What do you need to have to be a good Amazon PM?

What do you need to have to be a good Amazon PM?

Needs to be obsessive about the customer.

2. Needs to take full ownership for his

or her products.

3. Needs to innovate and simplify. 4. Needs to have strong

judgement and good instincts.

5. Needs to learn consistently and be

curious.

6. Needs to hire and develop the

8. Needs to think big. 9. Needs to take action.

10. Needs to be frugal. 11.Needs to earn trust of others and

lead

through influence.

12. Needs to dive deep. 13. Needs to have backbone,

disagree

and commit.

14. Needs to consistently deliver results.

Some additional information on Amazon PMs

• But they also have Technical Program Managers and Program Managers (Non Tech) to drive the day to day execution with the various teams.

• PMs don’t need to come from a technical background unlike some other companies.

• Amazon is a very data driven company, so PMs need to have strong

analytical skills.

• Amazon prefers documents instead of presentations, so PMs write something known as a “Business Case” memo for their ideas –

normally 6 pages + appendices. This forces the author to be precise.

Some additional information on Amazon PMs

Next…

• So with this lecture, hopefully you’ve got a good sense of what it

takes to be a good PM at Amazon and also what the Amazon culture expects out of its PMs.

• Its important to keep these in mind as tons of questions will be

centered

around the cultural aspects of Amazon.

• For example: If a question asks “Tell me about a time when you had to lead with influence”, the interview will spend a lot of time with you digging deep into your answers to see if you as a PM candidate just did the high level stuf or you dove deep into the details on your ownership.

Next…

• But before we get there, lets talk about the interview process at Amazon.

Section 3 – Interview Process at

Amazon

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Interview Process

3 Phone Screens + Onsite Interview to the

Amazon

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First (Optional) Phone Screen – Recruiter Phone Screen

• The first phone screen is with a recruiter who will walk you

through the role, judge your general interest for the position and ask you some general questions on your background.

• Sometimes Amazon recruiters will look at your resume and directly connect you with the hiring manager as the first phone screen.

• They also judge which team would be a good fit for you based on your background, interests etc.

• Their goal is to see whether it makes sense to pass you onto to the hiring manager for the next screen.

Second Phone Screen – 30-45 minutes

• Goal of this screen is to test how you match up against the 14 principles

that we discussed.

• The recruiter won’t go deeper into your skills here, but basically ask you 2-3 general questions on the 14 principles.

• The interviewer will try to cover 2-3 principles. • E.g. “Tell me a time when you did X”

Third Phone Screen – 30-45 minutes

go deeper into some other question types:

• E.g. of other types that may be asked. _{But typically these are common.} 1. Case Based Questions

2. Pricing Questions 3. Strategy Questions 4. Vision Questions 5. Tradeof Questions 6. Estimation Questions

• DO NOT expect any technical questions _{or design questions during this screen.} • Unless you are interviewing with an _{extremely technical group within the}

Onsite Interview

• Once you get through these phone screens, Amazon will fly you

over to their offices to conduct a thorough interview process.

• Expect to go through 5 rounds of 45 minutes to an hour where you will be asked any of the question types in Section 4.

• One of the interviewers will be with the hiring manager. He or she will

meet you again (after having spoken to you on the phone.) • One of the interviewers will be with the “Bar Raiser”.

• The bar raiser is a neutral person that does NOT belong to any team. • His or her role is to determine whether you will be above 50% of the

candidates at your level. In short, are you raising the bar?

• The bar raiser’s interview is typically the toughest interview. So expect to be challenged during this interview.

• The bad news is that even if all interviewer’s say YES to you, the bar raiser

has the ability to say NO. He or she has veto power.

That’s it…

• You should know pretty soon the decision of the hiring team -within a

week or so after your interview.

• Next lets focus our attention on the actual interview

questions and get

you ready for the interview.

Section 4 – Amazon Company

Information

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Studying Amazon

• If you have ever interviewed before, you should know that questions

regarding the company are common throughout the process.

• You want to show throughout the process that you have done

your research about the company, know where the

company is going and why you’re excited about the same.

• This module will give you a list of areas that you need to prepare for, specifically about Amazon.

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When studying information about a company, its

important for us to have a framework in place.

Here is a good framework to use when studying

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a. Amazon’s Vision and Mission

• Amazon’s vision statement is “To_{be Earth’s most}

customer-centric company, where customers can find and

discover anything they might want to buy online.” This

vision statement underscores the organization’s main aim of

becoming the best e-commerce company in the world. The

following components or

characteristics are emphasized in Amazon’s vision statement:

• Global reach

• Customer prioritization

• Widest selection of products

• Amazon’s mission statement is as follows: “We strive to offer our

customers the lowest possible prices, the best available

selection, and the utmost convenience.” This mission

statement promises an attractive e- commerce service to satisfy customers’ needs. The following components or features are

identifiable in Amazon’s mission statement:

• Lowest prices • Best selection

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* Note that there are no “Take Profits” here. It’s a closed loop.

b. Amazon’s Culture and Values

We have already covered in this great detail earlier in this class. You can either refer to that section of read more about Amazon’s

principles of leadership here.

c. Products and Services

Amazon’s key businesses:

https://www.amazon.jobs/ en/business_categories

d. Customers

• This section should be answered specific to the group/product/category that you are

considering.

• Few examples:

• Age bracket

• Household Income (HHI) • Male/Female Ratio

• Average Spend per Year

• Amazon has tons of diferent customers, each diferent for the diferent products it ofers.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-demographics-chart-

• Amazon customers consist of upper & middle class social groups who have inclination towards using E-commerce portals and are

Competitive Advantage

• http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/05/18/amazons-

Other Competitive Advantages (Strengths)

1. Strong background and deep pockets – Built on its early successes

with books, Amazon now has product categories that include electronics, toys, games, home and kitchen, white goods, brown goods and much

more. Amazon has evolved as a global E-commerce giant in the last 2 decades.

2. Customer centric: Company’s robust CRM has created customer centric

processes in order to carefully record data on customer’s buying behavior. This enables them to ofer individual items, related items or bundle them as an ofer, based upon preferences demonstrated through purchases or items visited. Also, the company claims that 55% of their customers are repeat buyers resulting in low cost of acquisition of new buyers.

3. Cost leadership: In order to diferentiate itself, company has created

several strategic alliances with other companies to ofer superior customer service. The most important strategic tie ups are with logistics provides

who control costs. Because of playing on economies of scale, Amazon is able to lower the inventory replenishment time.

4. Efficient delivery network: With its strategic partners & due to its

Amazon fulfilment centers, Amazon has created a deep & structured network in order to make the product available even at remote

locations. It also has free of cost delivery charges in certain geographies.

5. GLOCAL strategy: By using the strategy of “Go global & act local”,

Amazon is able to fight with domestic E-commerce companies through absorbing & by forming / partnering with supply chain

companies. The branding too is done as per local taste. For example-In example-India, Amazon is currently using the “Aur Dikhao” campaign to

encourage users to browse more of their products.

6. Acquisitions: Acquiring companies like Zappos.com, Junglee.com,

IMBD.com, woot.com etc. has proven to be a successful and revenue generating for Amazon.

Weaknesses

1. Shrinking margins: Due to extensive delivery network & price wars

Amazons margins are shrinking, which is resulting in even losses.

2. Tax Avoidance issue: Amazon has attracted negative publicity on

account of Tax Avoidance in countries like U.S & UK. Most of its revenue is generated from these well established markets.

3. High Debt: In many developing nations Amazon is still struggling to

make the business profitable thereby afecting the overall profitability of the group resulting into High debt.

4. Product flops – Amazon launched the fire phone in the US which

was a big flop. At the same time, Kindle fire did not pick up as

strongly as Kindle did. Thus, there were several product flops which caused a dent in Amazon’s deep pockets.

f. Management Team

Key man behind Amazon is Jef Bezos.

Statistic Value

# of Active Users 244 MM

# of Amazon Prime Customers 54 MM Users Average Monthly Active Users (MAU) for Amazon

App

30 MM MAU

More Statistics on Amazon

http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/amazon-statistics/

h.

1. Backward Integration: Amazon can come up with its in-house

brands in diferent product categories. They can also diferentiate their ofering. This will help them make profits in highly competitive E-commerce market.

2. Global Expansion: Expansion mainly in Asian & developing

economies will help Amazon because those are the markets with low competition in E-commerce industries & are not saturated like developed economies.

3. Acquisitions: By acquiring E-commerce companies it can decrease

the competition level & also can use the specialized capacity of the other company.

4. Opening physical stores outside U.S: By doing this Amazon can

help the customers to engage with the brand, resulting in increase in repeat purchases & increase in loyal customer base.

i.

1. Low entry barriers of the industry: Low entry barriers afect the

current player’s business as more & more company means tough competition, price wars, shrinking margins & losses resulting into questioning the sustainability of the players.

2. Government regulations: Not having clarity on the issues related

to FDI in multi brand retail, has been a big hurdle in the success of the E- commerce players in many developing nations.

3. Local competition – India has SnapDeal and Flipkart who are

local E commerce retailers and are taking away majority of the market. Similarly, there are many local players who take bites

from the market share thereby making it hard for a big player like Amazon to make profits.

More Detail

• http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-

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Questions

• Now we’re going to get into the meat of the course. We’re going to cover a number of diferent question types that PMs get during their interview process at Amazon.

• We have covered a total of 10 Question Types in this course.

Template on how

to answer each question.

and Sample Answers

Questions

Questions to Practice

Sample

Please do not move forward with any

section till you practice a few

questions and start getting confident.

Take Action.

Order of Question Types

• Note that the 10 question types that have been presented here are in order of their importance to

Amazon.

• This means:

• Design questions are not asked much at Amazon as compared to Behavioral

question types.

• If you don’t get time, you can ignore the bottom 2-3 categories.

What

Strengths, Motivation and Fit

• If you have to remember one thing for any interview in your life, just

remember this.

• There are only 3 interview questions for any interview that you are part of.

Strengths – Can you do the job? Motivation – Will you love this job?

Fit – Can we tolerate working with you?

• Any question type that is asked if some variation of these three types of questions.

3 Interview Answers

•

My strengths are a

match for this job.

•

My motivations are a

match for this job.

•

I am a good fit for

this organization.

Organization = Problems

• Organizations are full of problems. Sometimes managers know them and

sometimes they do not. • Whatev

er

proble ms.

the case, you need to position yourself as a solution to those

• But that goes beyond the technical know how of the job, it comes down

to your strengths, motivations and fit.

• Through the process, right from when the recruiter gets in touch with you

Organization = Problems

for the first time, reinforce these 3 key points to ensure that you are the

Examples

• Tell me about yourself. Type—Strengths

• What do you know about this company’s products? Type—

Motivation

• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with conflict? Type—

Fit or Strengths (based on the Job)

• Give me an example of a time when you behaved with integrity?

Type— Fit

• Why <Company X>? Type—Motivation

Tips When Answering Questions

• Ask clarifying questions before you

start.

• Be decisive

•

Have conviction

•

Always say ”I’d love to give you 3

reasons for the same. 1…. 2.... 3....”

Let’s get into the questions

• So with that background in place, lets get started with the individual

Question Type 1 - Behavioral Questions

These questions test your ability to showcase how you would and

have reacted in various situations – both good and bad.

1. "Tell me about yourself” Questions 2. "Goals" Questions 3. ”Why" Questions? 4. “Strengths

and Weaknesses: Questions

5. "Tell me about a time" questions. 6. ”Culture" Questions

Behavioral Questions

The main types of questions that are asked in any interview process come under the

category – Behavioral Questions.

These questions are extremely popular today and specifically at Amazon, so its important that you prepare well.

There are 6 main question types that we will cover. Almost every behavioral question you get will fall under these 6 types.

If there is one thing that you have to remember….

ICJC

I

C

J

C

everything that you have learnt here. Just

remember this key – ICJC

What this means is that when asked a question, you can talk about the

Industry Company

If there is one thing that you have to remember….

1. "Tell me about yourself” Questions

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• This is probably the first question you will get in any interview that you

have.

• The famous words from almost any interviewer when starting an interview.

Why don’t we start by you telling

me a little

1. "Tell me about yourself” Questions

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•

This is probably the first question you will get in any

interview that you have, whether it’s a recruiter, hiring

manager or someone else.

Your Story

• This question is one of the best questions for you to be able to “Tell

your Story”.

• … and thats exactly what it should be.

• The answer to this question is not to repeat your resume, but to really

showcase your strengths, motivation and fit for the the company

and job.

Framework to Answer – With Work Experience

Pick 3-5 main requirements from the Job Description.

Highlight your last 3 jobs where you did similar work using the same verbiage in the job

description.

End your story by highlighting “Why are you looking for a job” and

Framework to Answer – With Work Experience

additionally "Why this company and or role?"

For Each Job – Use This Framework

2. As part of this role, I do <Work C> (Using verbiage from the job description).

3. I’d love to highlight <Results D>. 4. Repeat 2-3 times

1. Prior to that I was <Role E> for <Company F>.

2. As part of this role, I did <Work G> (Using verbiage from the job description). 3. I’d love to highlight <Results H>.

5. Additionally I have <Education I>.

6. I’m leaving my current role because of <Reason J>.

7. And I’m excited about this opportunity with Amazon for the following reasons:

1. <Reason K> 2. <Reason L>

For Each Job – Use This Framework

Framework to Answer – With NO Work Experience

Pick 3-5 main requirements from the Job Description.

Highlight 3 projects where

you did similar work using the same verbiage in the job

Framework to Answer – With NO Work Experience

End your story by

highlighting additionally “Why this company/job?”

For Each Project – Use This Framework

1. I’m currently student at <University A> majoring in <Degree B>.

2. As part of studies, I have done <Project C> (Using verbiage from the job description).

3. I’d love to highlight <Results D>. 4. Repeat 2-3 times

1. Additionally, I have done <Project E>. 2. I’d love to highlight <Results F>.

5. I’m excited about this opportunity with Amazon for the following reasons:

1. <Reason K> 2. <Reason L> 3. <Reason M>

1. This is my

background

2. This is why I'm

looking

3. This is why I

will be a good fit for the role/company

Example “Tell me About Yourself” answer

I’m currently the Chief Operating Officer of Unikrn, an eSports and

Gaming technology company based in Seattle, WA. As part of my role, my core responsibility is to work with the management team on the overall strategic plan for Unikrn, including specific goals for the

company. But more importantly, drive the individual teams across the company to achieve Unikrn’s objectives. My most notable achievement as part of this job to was to take the company from 5 employees to 40 and to a $7MM Series A round. I believe I’ve put the company onto a growth path for massive scale in the future.

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Prior to that I was a Senior Manager of Product and Strategy at

Groupon, where I led a autonomous product and engineering to launch Groupon’s consumer commerce marketplace on its web platform. This project added 2MM active users to Groupon’s web platform in Q3 of 2015, a growth of 25% from the previous quarter.

Additionally, I’ve spent 6 years at Microsoft as an Engineering

Manager leading teams between 5 and 40 in the Office, Windows and Dynamics groups. My most notable achievement was the launch of the online app store for Windows 8. This enabled Microsoft for the first time to compete efectively with Apple by creating its own app platform.

Also, I have a Masters in Computer Science from Clemson University and an MBA from The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business in

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I’ve started exploring opportunities recently due to significant change in the direction of my company. The co-founders have decided to move the company to Australia, something that I can’t do personally at this point of time. Hence, I’m very excited to interview with your firm.

I normally look for 3 criterion when looking for new companies:

1. Companies that ofer products and services that solve a true need for its customers.

2. A role that gives me an opportunity to drive product and engineering teams to achieve company goals.

3. A culture that encourages entrepreneurship and an action oriented attitude.

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Tips

• Don’t focus on the negatives. Make sure to spin any negative into a

positive.

• For example:

• Never complain about your current role. • Never focus on money.

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Practice and Take Action

• Please practice this question multiple times as it will be your “ice

breaker”

question in any interview.

• PLUS it will showcase your confidence and communication

skills as you

kick things of in an interview.

• Here are some questions to ponder over:

1. Tell me about yourself.

2. Tell me a little more about what you’ve been doing over the past few years. 3. What brings you here to this opportunity?

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2. “Why” Questions?

• These are questions that ask you questions around “Why this

job?”, ”Why

this role?” etc. etc.

• Anything that starts with a “Why”?

• These questions will definitely will be asked by the recruiter in your first phone screen and also by the hiring manager when you speak to him or her.

• These are great ways to understand your motivation and just like the

”Tell me about yourself” questions are great ice breakers and

Framework to Answer

• Probably one of the oldest rules in the book – The Rule of 3. • Give exactly 3 points when answering these questions.

• Next look at a framework to specifically answer this question.

Summarize the answer to the question, then give 3 reasons:

1. Talk about the Company 2. Talk about the Job/Role/Position

3. Talk about the Culture/Values

Framework to Answer - Why Company?

C

J

C

Again, a reminder of why I asked you before to study the

company, its culture, values etc.

Summarize the answer to the question, then give 3 reasons:

1. Talk about what you love about the job and what you bring to it.

Framework to Answer - Why Role?

Summarize the answer to the question, then give 3 reasons:

1. Talk about your interests and passion.

3 Typical Examples

• The next 3 examples are typical examples that we’ve seen in and out in

almost every interview we’ve been part of.

• So I highly recommend practicing these 2 examples before you go into

your interview.

• “Why” Amazon?

• “Why” Product Management?

Example – Why

Example: Why do you want to join us at Amazon?

• There are 3 main reasons why I’d like to join Amazon:

1. Amazon over the past few years has been on a strong path of

innovation, specifically in the cloud space. The company has come

up with interesting services on the cloud such as Kindle Direct

Publishing and Fulfillment by Amazon that have taken the world by storm. I want to work for an innovative company that is poised to change the world through its innovative products and services. I strongly believe that winning companies are those that constantly innovate and are ahead of the market. Amazon is one such compny.

Example Why

2. Secondly, I’m excited about what I bring to the company. My

Job

experience and passion has been in conceptualizing and bringing

products to market and I have done that over my 10 year career in

my previous roles. I’m excited about bringing this experience and passion to Amazon and help successfully launch many innovate products afecting millions of customers.

3. Thirdly, culture is very important to me. I thrive well in

entrepreneurial cultures. The Amazon principles of leadership “Taking Ownership” and “Taking Action” appeal to my style of

Example Why

operating on a day to day basis and I believe I’ll be able to perform at my peak there.

Example: Why ”Product

Example: Why do you want to be a Product Manager?

• There are 3 specific reasons why the role of a Product Manager is appealing to me:

1. Product Managers sit between the business, engineering and the Product. The ability to be the CEO of my own product that I can drive

both strategically and operationally towards hitting company goals is what I’m passionate and good at. In my last job, as part of launching Groupon’s marketplace to the Indian market, I had to strategically think about our value proposition, our target customer demographic, competitors, pricing strategy. I had to work with various groups internally (sales, marketing, engineering) and externally (partners, customers) to be able to deliver on company goals.

Job

2. Good Product Managers are analytical - I’m a firm believer in

data driven decision making. I believe good Product Manager’s keep their biases out of the equation and use data to make

decisions whether qualitative or quantitative.

3. Finally, Product Managers lead through influence – My

personal leadership style is all about leading via influence,

irrespective of whether I have reports or not. Great Product Managers are relationship builders and achieve company goals by bringing

teams together to do so. This

is one of my key strengths that makes me a good fit to this role.

Example “Why Technology

Example: Why are you interested in the

• There are 3 main reasons why I’d love to join the technology industry:

1. My Personal Interests and Passion – As I was going through my

undergraduate year in college, I started meeting with a few alumni Product Managers at Amazon from my university and started developing a keen

interest for the Product Management. I loved the challenge of owning a Product end to end leading teams to execute on our collective vision. I started loving the aspects of delivering projects with a clear focused

deadline and goals. More importantly the tech industry, given its nature lets me test out product features faster with customers directly, the

feedback of which can be incorporated into the product as soon as possible.

2. Secondly, my long term goals play an important part in my decision. In

the long run, I see myself starting my own technology company. I believe the best CEOs are very Product driven. They can think strategically about the market dynamics, but more importantly, can deliver a value

proposition towards the needs and wants of the

customer.

My Goals

3. Finally, the tech industry is at the forefront of innovation in every

industry. Technology is working today on problems for the future. That’s what excites me

about this

So its this combination of my personal passion, my long term goals and the opportunity that this industry brings that attracts me to this industry.

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Practice and Take Action

• This is the list of questions you should be ready for in your interview:

• Why this company?

• Why do you want to work here? • Why this job/role?

• Why not go to <Company X>? • Why <Industry X>?

3. “Goals” Questions

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• This is the next set of questions that you should prepare for. There are

really two questions here that you should prepare for.

1. What are your short term goals? 2. What are your long term goals?

Summarize your Long Term Goal. Then summarize 3 reasons

1. I want to be

part of the right company.

Framework to Answer – Long Term Goals

copyright ©

2. I want to be part of the right next job/role.

3. I want to be around people with the right values/culture.

Framework to Answer – Long Term Goals

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Talk about your long term goal (yes that’s correct)

1. Talk about your short term goal – This Job.

2. Talk about the company. 3. Talk about values/culture.

Framework to Answer – Short Term Goals

Framework to Answer – Short Term Goals

Example “What are your long term

• In the long run i.e. over the next 10 years, I see myself becoming the General Manager of a Business Unit at Amazon, where I can run various cross functional teams and manage P&L to be able to

successfully execute on company goals.

• In order to get there:

1. I want to work for a company that encourages my long term plan and provides a growth part for me.

2. Secondly, I believe the role of Product Manager is the great next step for me. I believe the best CEOs are Product people who can think critically about customers, their needs and wants.

3. Thirdly, leadership is an important aspect of getting there and a company such as Amazon and its leadership principles put me a strong growth path to getting there.

Example “What are your short term

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• I’d like to start by outlining my long term goal. I see myself becoming the General Manager of a Business Unit at Amazon, where I can run various cross functional teams and manage P&L to be able to

successfully execute on company goals.

• In order to get there:

1. My short term goal is find a position that puts me on the path towards the long run. In my case, the Product Manager. I aspire to grow in that role, prove

myself and then to expand that out to becoming a Senior Product Manager managing an entire product instead of only a few features.

2. Additionally, I’d want to do this at a company such as Amazon that encourages growth this kind of growth.

3. Thirdly, leadership is an important aspect of getting there and a company such as Amazon and its leadership principles put me a strong growth path to getting there.

4. “Strengths and Weaknesses” Questions

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• The next type of question is the “Strengths and Weaknesses” questions.

• Another extremely important type of question that is definitely going to be asked to you through the entire process.

• So its best to be well prepared.

• Similar to before, the goal here is to use the ”Rule of 3”. Give exactly 3

strengths and 3 weaknesses.

• Additionally, for your weaknesses you will need to also add the following:

“What have you been doing to overcome your weakness”.

Strength 1: State your core PM Skill, then give example.

Strength 2: State your core PM Skill, then give example.

Strength 3: State your core PM Skill, then give example.

Strengths – Framework to Answer

• Focus on the core strengths of a PM – the ones we discussed in Section 1.

You want to be able to highlight these skills.

• Bonus points if you highlight 3 strengths directly from the job description like we covered in Section 2.

Example “Give me Your top

• Absolutely. I believe I have 3 top strengths and they are as follows:

1. I’m extremely analytical. As an example, this one time using

insights on our customers, I was able to significantly influence a

change in our product direction. I make tons of my decisions based on the data which enables me to keep any biases out of the

equation.

2. I believe I have strong leadership skills. The ability to influence

others and bring the best out from them is a core strength of mine. I didn’t have any direct reports in my last job, but was successfully able to pitch the idea of our next product to the company CEO and rile together a group of engineers to execute on the same.

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3. Finally, I’m relentless and see things through. In my first job as

a Software Engineer at Amazon, there were tons of bugs in one of our older projects that management had given up on due to the

volume of bugs. This was an opportunity for me to step in and spend extra hours to fix those bugs and get the product launched. The

launch earned tons of kudos for both me and our department in general and was considered a huge success for the company.

Weakness 1: State your weakness, what are you doing to overcome it, and if there have been any improvement. Weakness 2: State your weakness, what are you doing to overcome it, and if there have been any improvement. Weakness 3: State your weakness, what are you doing to overcome it, and if there have been any improvement.

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Weaknesses – Framework to Answer

• Be honest here and don’t give something vague like “I work too

hard”.

• Pick a genuine weakness.

• Be professional and talk about work related weaknesses, as compared to something personal.

• Finally, make sure you mention what you are doing to overcome this

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Example: What’s Your Biggest Weakness?

In my last performance review, my boss wrote that “John has a straightforward and direct approach. For those not familiar with John, they will be taken aback by John’s bluntness and find it ofensive.”

The reason I am blunt is that I get impatient with others. I am eager for my team to do a job and do it well. Over the last 3 years, I’ve worked on becoming more patient by:

1. Meditating. It helps be more calm and contemplative.

2. Be more compassionate. I have begun to accept that not everyone can operate by my standards.

3. Take time for breaks. Whether it’s exercise or grabbing a beer with co-workers, it helps me

break me away from the must-get-it-done routine.

Recently, my peers & direct reports have noticed a change in my behavior. One person told me, “John you’re more laid back now. Small things don’t seem to bother you as much. You’ve been more patient with others, and your working relationships have improved.”

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Sometimes employers will ask you questions related to both your

Strengths

and Weaknesses. The key is to answer both.

• For example: You could be asked – “What would your coworkers

have to say about you?”.

• The key to this question is to recognize that the interviewer is trying to see whether you are critical about yourself, but at the same time you recognize your strengths.

Sample Strengths

analytical scrappy creative

energetic organized decisive

Thinking outside the box Risk taking Calm under pressure

thorough See things through Understand people’s feelings

flexible initiative Detail-oriented

Good planner quantitative multitasking leadership Good to taking feedback persistent

persuasive Data-driven independent

Self-critical Good mentor; caring Not afraid of challenges

Sample Weaknesses

Not detail oriented Overly confident Lack of confidence Too negative Makes too many assumptions unrealistic

unassertive impatient indecisive

stubborn Intimidating to others procrastinator

Take feedback personally Difficulty admitting failure Hesitant asking for help Too direct/blunt overanalyzing argumentative

Easily distracted Can be very vague Bad at multitasking Micromanages people Short attention span shy

Practice and Take Action

• What are some of your strong points? • Tell me your strengths.

• What would be reasons we would promote you at your job? • Why should we hire you?

• What's your style of leadership?

• Weaknesses

• What are some of your weaknesses.

• If you are not here in this company 1 year from now, what do you think would be the

reasons?

• Strengths and Weaknesses

4. “Tell me about a time” Questions

• Example: “Tell me about a time when you successfully shipped a

feature”.

• This is probably the most important set of questions in the Behavioral category of questions.

• Amazon asks tons of these and they will NOT stop after your first

answer. They will consistently dig deeper looking for deeper answers to the answer to ensure that you are a culture fit – (Remember the 14 principles in Section 2 ).

• Before we get into the heart of the types of questions and how to

Specify the dramatic situation you came into.

Talk about the goals that you intended to achieve and (optionally) the metric and target to measure success. Talk about actions you took in the situationTalk about the results that were achieved.

Framework to Answer

5 Main Categories

• Normally these questions fall into the following categories:

Category Example

Leadership and Influence Tell me about a time when you made a decision that wasn’t popular.

Challenges Tell me about a time when you weren’t able to reach a deadline. Mistakes/Failures Tell me about a time when you

failed.

Successes Tell me about a time when you solved a problem in a creative way.

Teamwork Tell me about a time when you had to do something you

What do the Categories Mean?

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1. Leadership and Influence – is all about influencing other people to

bring the best work out of them with our without direct responsibility over them, so an interviewer will want to understand what tactics you use to build teams, persuade or influence others.

2. Challenges – The interviewer is looking not just for challenges

that you faced in your job or in your personal life, but how did you deal with them. The interviewer is looking for how you solve

problems.

3. Mistakes and Failures – For one the interviewer is looking for

your humbleness in admitting that you failed or made a mistake. Secondly she or he is looking for how you handled the situation appropriately.

When Talking About Mistakes

Please avoid anything that will represent a red flag to

the company.

• Don’t go overboard.

• For example: Giving an example of when you lied or cheated is going NOT going to help here.

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What do the Categories Mean?

4. Successes – This is another opportunity to sell yourself. Use this

opportunity to talk about a project in your past where you made the most impact but at the same time, its relevancy for the role.

5. Teamwork – Teamwork questions are used to assess your

interpersonal skills, particularly in times when you are working with your immediate peers. Communication, specially in areas of diverse cultural and “working style” settings will be useful to

Example – Leadership and

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Tell me about a time when you were leading a team that faced a significant challenge, and how you led your team to

overcome that challenge.

“We had a final class project during business school where we needed

to deconstruct a business case scenario and make a formal

presentation. I was elected team leader to make sure things stayed on track and to take the lead in the presentation. Everyone got along fine at first – we were making good progress on understanding the key

issues the business faced

– but as we neared the deadline, we couldn’t agree on what the solutions were for those key issues. People simply disagreed, and given that everyone was tired and stressed, it led to a lot of fighting and tempers really flared.”

“The problem was that the team had essentially two opposing views of the solution. I tried to wait it out a bit, but it seemed like we were getting

nowhere, so eventually I took the lead and simply said, “Look, you guys

appointed me as your team lead, so this is what I propose.” Then, I laid out a compromise solution that actually had parts of each side’s thoughts. Next, I pointedly asked each person, one at a time, if they were okay with this

solution, and if they weren’t, what their concerns were. By doing this, I really isolated the problems and made sure to get buy-in.

Miraculously, we were able to finish the project on time and we got a great grade. What I took from this experience was two-fold: one, that as a leader your job is to make sure the team delivers on key deadlines and deliverables, and two, that both individual and group buy-in are necessary to move forward and reduce friction.”

Example –

How did you deal with a difficult boss?

Situation, Goals and Action

“My manager in my last job, where I worked for 2 years, was tough. Really tough. I struggled the first few months I worked with him – in retrospect, I realized that had no idea what he wanted from me.

So finally, I decided I couldn’t take it any more, so I scheduled a lunch with him to address the issue. At lunch, I basically said that I was having a

challenging time working under him. Then I gave him 3 examples of where I’d spent an enormous amount of time working on a specific assignment, only to have him change what he wanted at the last minute. I then talked about how,

Example –

I could’ve done 5 other things for him and helped the company if I hadn’t wasted that time.”

coursetake.com 12 6 “He was a little taken aback, but because I was so specific about the opportunities to use time that would have been freed up had he been more direct and consistent, he really took to it. After that, I think he respected me a whole lot more. He really listened, and became more thoughtful about his early decisions so he didn’t change directions 180 degrees at the last minute. I took away from that experience the need to be facts-based when having sensitive conversations, and to show how resolving a conflict can benefit both parties by really trying to see priorities and concerns from someone else’s perspective.”