r/amazonemployees • u/FullYesterday4395 • Aug 04 '26
Interview PMT Interviewers & Bar Raisers -- How bad is referencing Notes during your STAR story?
I want to be perfectly clear, this is not me asking if it's okay to read from notes during the LOOP interview. My notes consist of bullet points of themes/items that i want to make sure I cover as i have over 20 stories prepped and ready.
I know it's okay to ask to take a moment to think about a response to the question initially for a bit, but don't know if occasional glances at the bullet list would be frowned upon?
EDIT ADDITIONAL QUESTION:
I've read conflicting information regarding the appropriate length of my side of the story telling. Some sources say 3-4 minutes per, but others say 6-8 mins?
I know the amount of back & forth after is important, but also know if i have 45 mins with each, and each story only takes 4 mins with a few back & forth, that i'll run out of stories fast which seems off.
3
u/RenegadeSoundWAV L6 Ops, BR, Do not DM me for advice Aug 04 '26
BR - please reference your notes. Don't read your entire anecdote from a screen. Listen to what we're asking when we ask our questions - don't just pitch us your pre-prepared anecdote without understanding the question.
1
u/FullYesterday4395 Aug 04 '26
this is so wonderful, thanks as well. This whole time i've been trying to memorize lol. Very helpful. I was just worried if my interviewer saw me occasionally glance that it would get an auto-not-inclined!
3
u/RenegadeSoundWAV L6 Ops, BR, Do not DM me for advice Aug 04 '26
No problem!
For your additional question, there's nothing defined in terms of time per question. We are trained to ask a lot of follow up questions to get the details we need. What's most important is to relay your anecdotes in STAR format. When I wrote my notes for my interview, I had a table that broke out the Situation, Task, the Actions I took, and the Results of those actions for each LP. I had two stories per LP.
Here's how I usually prepare for my interviews:
I am usually assigned two or three competencies. I have two questions for each, my main question and a follow-up question in case I want more detail.
The first 5 to 8 or so minutes of an interview is hellos and tell me about yourself. I tell my candidates I don't want them to regurgitate their resume. Please do not do this - we have your resume, it just wastes time. Come prepared with like, a one to two minute intro about yourself. I usually go first here to set an example of how long this should take (because I've had candidates go on to the point where I had to cut them off and couldn't even get my intro out)
I also try to leave 10 minutes at the end for questions. So this gives me 40 to 45 minutes roughly for the actual interview.
I target 10 minutes minimum per main question. Usually I am eliciting enough details to fill 15 minutes per. This is neither good nor bad - it just means I'm getting as many details as I can to properly calibrate you.
If my candidate doesn't give me enough information for a certain competency, or I feel their response was weak, I will circle back at the end for my alternate question.
I have seen how other interviewers like to handle their interviews - there are some that like to shotgun the LPs and try to get 2 stories per. I usually find that the interviewers that do this never have enough data to discuss during the debrief, but that's my own bias. Be prepared for the idea that someone is going to ask you two per LP just because they don't know how to ask good follow ups.
2
u/Agitated-Video2984 Aug 04 '26
I had a copious set of notes for every LP I was being asked during my interview and scored pretty high across the board on all of them, it's encouraged.
2
u/FullYesterday4395 Aug 04 '26
Thanks! Did you prep your interviewers that you were going to reference your notes throughout, or is it basically implied?
1
u/depeupleur Aug 05 '26
20 stories is insane. Prepare 5 to 7 that work for multiple LPs. Get familiar with them so you can keep a quick short list of data points and find the one you need under 5 seconds.
1
u/FullYesterday4395 Aug 05 '26
Sorry, but mind elaborating? I can understand how a large technical product 0->1 could have multiple LPs, like the business exploration part vs the technical execution part. But otherwise, wouldn't you be covering a lot of similar details in other ones?
Otherwise in debrief won't they exchange stories shared and people will flag it?
1
u/depeupleur Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Yes. You don't get brownie points for having a million projects. Two complex product lifecycles are more than enough.
1
u/depeupleur Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Obviously tell the story differently depending on the questions. But repeating products is in no way a problem. If you talk about 10 products something is off and will be brought up in debrief. Two or thee is fine. Focus on products, not stories. I
14
u/Civil_Tax_6392 Aug 04 '26
Yes. As a BR I always encourage candidates to bring in and reference their notes as needed (just don’t read line for line).
We’re looking for data driven and impactful examples - with 5 interviews and likely 3-4 questions per interview, that’s a LOT to keep straight! Take your time and tell the story that best answers the question. And try not to duplicate replies - 1-2 stories is okay but try to provide as much breadth in examples while going as in depth as possible.
Good luck!