Preparing for your Amazon

Interview – Operations Manager

Thank you for the time you’ve invested so far in the Amazon
Interview Process. Here we’ll share some tips we hope you’ll
find helpful in preparing for your virtual interview.
What is Fulfillment?
Fulfillment is at the heart of the Amazon experience. We deliver millions of
products to hundreds of countries worldwide. Our teams possess a wide range
of skills and expertise, from business analysis and inventory management to
engineering. With more than 150 Fulfillment Centers in North America,
Amazon Fulfillment is growing at a pace that requires the best and brightest
talent to be brought in to our company to help us continue to make history.

The evolution of Amazon has been driven by innovation. It’s part of our DNA.
We are doing things every day that have never been done before—providing
a huge selection of products and continuing to fulfill orders quickly. We
accomplish this by solving complex problems with ingenuity and simplicity.
We're making history and the good news is that we've only just begun!

We create. We build. We take ownership for what we do – whether we’re

developing a new technology in-house or launching a new Fulfillment Center.
Together, we’re constantly creating the ideas, services and products that make
life easier for Amazon’s millions of customers. Regardless of role, each
Amazonian is completely focused on working hard, having fun and making
history.
What is an Operations Manager?
Overview:
• Ideally have 5-10+ years of management experience.
• Have managed 5 or more front-line supervisors, teams of 60-150+
(directly and indirectly), and a strong background in mentoring, training,
and developing.
• Are flexible to work any shift. We operate just about 24/7, 365 days a
year. Reasonable accommodations can be made. Please contact your
Recruiting Coordinator.
• Are leaders and exhibit that in everyday work.
• Have the ability to thrive in an ambiguous environment, like adventures,
and take risks.
• Have led large-scale process improvements through Lean process,
Kaizen, Six Sigma, or something similar.
• Don’t hesitate when tasked with public speaking or writing a paper.
• Enjoy working with numbers and using data to provide thought-
provoking and workable solutions. Look to data when given a problem
to solve.
• Have a track record of taking ownership and driving results. Volunteer to
lead projects and help the team achieve goals.
• Know how to motivate themselves, their managers, and their associates
to meet deadlines and goals.
• See value in long term thinking and large scale impact to a company.
Have interest in developing a long-term career through assignments in
multiple operational buildings across the nation.
• Optional: Willing to relocate to any of our sites in the country with
assistance provided.
What to Expect for Your Interviews:
Our full interview process consists of 2 phases. The first phase is a phone
interview. Only candidates who successfully pass the phone interview will
proceed on to phase two, a virtual interview event scheduled for a later date.

Phase one:
For your phone interview, you will speak with one Senior Operations Leader for
about 30-45 minutes. This is an opportunity for you to learn more about the
Operations Manager role, and for us to learn more about you, your career
history, and goals.

Phase two:
For your virtual interview event, you will meet with four interviewers comprised
of Senior Leaders from both Operations and Human Resources. Each virtual
interview session will be ‘one-on-one” conversations, and last approximately
45 minutes each. These more in-depth conversations will be focused around
your prior work experiences; possibly specific to the job description. One of the
four interviews will include a review of a writing sample, which you will receive
further instruction on later, when given your formal interview schedule by our
recruiting coordination team. You will also be required to go over math flow
questions. You will see sample questions provided here on pages 14-16.

**Please keep in mind, interview schedules can change often, so we appreciate

your flexibility.
Tips to Prepare for Your Interview:

• Our dress code is casual. We encourage you to dress comfortably. We

are interested in what you have to say, not what you are wearing.

• Prepare a 2 minute introduction of what makes you- you. This is your

time to tell us something about you that may not be on your resume.
You will have time during the interview to share your work experience.

• Know what interests you about Amazon and the team or teams you
will be interviewing with.

• It may also help to spend some time researching our specific products
and features as well as competitors relevant to the job description.
Knowing about our product groups and how they all interact with
each other will give you more context around the role and will likely
prompt deeper conversations and provide a richer interview
experience.

• It is important to ask high scope questions with each interviewer. This

gives you an opportunity to highlight your level of thinking.
More Tips:
• Please ask questions if you need clarification. We want the interview
process to be collaborative. We also want to learn what it would be like
to work with you on a day-to-day basis in our open environment. If you
are asked a question, but not given enough information to solve the
problem, drill down to get the information that you need. If that
information isn’t available, focus on how you would attempt to solve the
problem given the limited information you have. Often times at Amazon,
we have to make quick decisions in the absence of all of the relevant data.

• When answering questions, be as concise and detailed in your response

as possible. We realize it’s hard to gauge how much information is too
much versus not sufficient enough; an effective litmus test is pausing after
your succinct response to ask if you’ve provided enough detail, or if the
interviewer would like you to go into more depth.

• We want to hire smart, passionate people. Please reflect on what

motivated you to pursue a career with Amazon and be prepared to speak
to it. Although “Why Amazon?” is a standard type of question, it’s not a
check-the-box type of formality for us. We genuinely want to understand
what inspired you to explore an opportunity with us, so we get a better
sense of who you are. It’s also appreciated when a candidate has put
thought into a few questions for the interviewer. It goes a long way when
you’ve taken the initiative to research the company prior to your interview.

• After the interview please be aware in advance that per company policy,
regardless of interview outcome, we will not be able to provide detailed
interview feedback. We will always strive to inform you of the outcome in a
timely manner.
The STAR Method
Amazon is a data and metric driven company. We love to hear about metrics
and data that you have used to make decisions and measure results! Make sure
you are prepared to talk about the impact of your work. Consider highlighting
continuous improvement projects and the metrics from them when providing
your explanations.

You should keep your focus on the question asked and make sure your answer
is tangible. We suggest the STAR Method.

A STAR story should be about 2 minutes long, and delivered with energy and
enthusiasm about a real experience you have had (it does not have to be a
work experience, as long as it describes a relevant skill or behavior).

The STAR method is a structured manner of responding to a behavioral-

based interview question by discussing the specific Situation, Task, Action,
and Result of the situation you are describing.

Situation: Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed
to accomplish. You must describe a specific event or situation, not a
generalized description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give
enough detail for the interviewer to understand. This situation can be from a
previous job, from a volunteer experience, or any relevant event.

Task: What goal were you working toward?

Action: Describe the actions you took to address the situation with an
appropriate amount of detail and keep the focus on YOU. What specific steps
did you take and what was your particular contribution? Be careful that you
don’t describe what the team or group did when talking about a project, but
what you actually did. Use the word “I,” not “we” when describing actions.

Result: Describe the outcome of your actions and don’t be shy about taking
credit for your behavior. What happened? How did the event end? What did
you accomplish? What did you learn? Make sure your answer contains multiple
positive results.
 How to Prepare for a Behavioral Interview
Recall recent situations that show favorable behaviors or actions, especially
involving work experience, leadership, teamwork, initiative, planning, and
customer service.

• Prepare short descriptions of each situation; be ready to give details if asked.

• Be sure each story has a beginning, middle, and an end; i.e., be ready to
describe the situation, including the task at hand, your action, and the
outcome or result.

• If an example has a negative result (such as “lost the game”), you can still
highlight your strengths in the face of adversity.

• Be honest. Don’t embellish or omit any part of the story. The interviewer will
find out if your story is built on a weak foundation.

• Be specific. Don't generalize about several events; give a detailed accounting

of one event.

• Vary your examples; don’t take them all from just one area of your life.

• BE AS SPECIFIC AS POSSIBLE at all times, without rambling or including too

much information. Eliminate any examples that do not paint you in a positive
light. However, if an example has a negative result (such as “lost the game”)
you can still highlight your strengths in the face of adversity.

• Be sure to highlight YOUR unique role in each situation or example. We love

team players, but are interested in how you drive change and lead teams in
collaborative spaces.
Sample Behavioral Questions
Practice using the STAR Method on these common behavioral interviewing
questions incorporating examples from the Amazon Leadership Principles:

• Tell me about a time when you have been faced with a challenge where
the best way forward or strategy to adopt was not “clear cut” (i.e. there
were a number of possible solutions). How did you decide the best way
forward?

• Tell me about a time where you Implemented a process improvement -

how did you determine the improvement was good (data) and then the
process of implementation. How did you gather this data?
o Is this solution still being used today? Was this carried out to the
entire network?
o How did you ensure your targets were met? How did you prevent
from negatively impacting the team in the future?

• Give me an example of a time when something you tried to accomplish

and failed.

• Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills

to solve a problem.

• Describe a time when you significantly contributed to improving morale

and productivity on your team.

• Give me an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead.

• Give me an example of a time when you motivated others.

• Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively.

Example 1: Hire and Develop the Best LP
When I was an Area Manager for Roadrunner Trucking, I was approached by an
associate (Joe) who asked if I could help him promote. I had known Joe since
he started as a loader 8 months ago and so I agreed to sit down and talk with
him a little more in depth. Joe and I went over what was happening in his
current role, what he wanted to see in his growth and what might be holding
him back.

Throughout our conversation, Joe shared that he was struggling to lay out his
personal development plan. He knew that he needed to improve in logistics
planning, knowledge of Excel and leading a team, but wasn't sure how to get
there or approach his manager. To help him get started, Joe and I set up
weekly meetings so that we could work on his goals and create a plan that he
could take to his manager. Over the course of three months, I worked with Joe
to develop his short term goals and ensured that these goals addressed the
areas of growth. Our one long term goal that we set for him was the
promotion to yard supervisor.

Joe then also signed up for night classes for Excel training and a leadership
course. After Joe completed these 2 short term goals (2 months), we revisited
his plan to see where he was at in the process. Joe shared his development
plan with his manager and asked if he could learn the logistics side of the
business, which resulted in them setting up a two week shadow period. Since I
had started as a Logistics Planner at Roadrunner, I offered Joe advice on best
practices and lessons learned. As Joe continued his upward growth, he was
able to interview for the Logistic Planner role and is now a Night Shift
Scheduler for Roadrunner. This gave him exposure to leading a small team of
4 drivers and 3 yard members. He is now working towards his long term goal
of becoming an Area Manager and I continue to mentor him.
Example 2: Continuous Improvement LP
I worked at the Acme Plant last year and our plant was in charge of making the
boxes for our part plants. I was the Operation Manager for the side of the plant that
banded the bundles of corrugate together and shipped them out to our sister plants.

One day while I was out on the plant floor, a box machine operator (Tom) asked me
to come over to the line. Tom shared with me how the box machine that bands the
small bundles together had not been banding them completely. I watched the
operation of the machine and noticed that it did in fact not complete the glue part
of the process. I thanked him for that observation and asked him what a potential fix
would be. We met with the engineers, maintenance and GM to discuss what was
happening with the equipment and quality of our product. We discussed options
including replacing the glue mechanisms or replacing the box machine all together.

While out on the floor later that day I went through the 5 why’s of the process and it
dawned on me that we could skip the banding all together. If these bundles were
going across the street to have our parts put in them, why would we need to bundle
them and stack them on pallets? What if we had a container that we could stack
directly to without having to band them?

I found a container that would fit our perimeters, ordered 10 test containers and,
when the containers came in, we proceeded with the testing phase. These containers
had wheels and siding that could be removed for loading and unloading. The
engineers retrofitted our box machine line so that these containers could go before
the banding step in the process. We worked over the next week to finalize the
process steps, identified the steps and products we were able to eliminate from the
process, created new PMV’s and worked with the part plant to set up the new
process of getting their corrugate straight from the new container.

The data showed that we eliminated $1.2 million in banding cost annually,
eliminated shrink wrap cost (wrapping bundle pallets) of $232,000 annually, and
increased the BPH (bundles per hour) from 56 bundles to 75 BPH. The part plant
was also able to increase their pack productivity from 87 UPH to 98 UPH. This was
due to having a container right at their pack station which reduced the time it took
to travel down the line to retrieve two bundles of corrugate for the station. This
increase in rate resulted in a savings of $980,000 annually for a total of
$2,412,000.00. The container cost was $854,124.00 so the plant saw an ROI in less
than 6 months.
Our Leadership Principles
Amazon’s Leadership Principles are the specific characteristics necessary for successful leadership at
Amazon. These Principles work hard, just like we do. Amazonians use them, every day, whether they’re
discussing ideas for new projects, deciding on the best solution for a customer’s problem, or interviewing
candidates. It’s just one of those things that make Amazon peculiar.
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.
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”.
Invent and Simplify
Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from
their team 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.
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.
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.
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 behalf of our people to invent
mechanisms for development like Career Choice.
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 drive 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.
Think Big
Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders
create and communicate a bold direction that inspires
results. They think differently and look around corners
for ways to serve customers.
Bias for Action
Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions
are reversible and do not need extensive study. We
value calculated risk taking.
Frugality
Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed
resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are
no extra points for growing headcount, budget size or
fixed expenses.
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.
Dive Deep
Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the
details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics
and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.
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.
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.
Tips For When You Are Preparing
• STAR Method
o Practice using this method in the mirror, with a friend, a colleague,
or your neighbor’s dog. The more you use it, the better you’ll get
at following the format.

• Leadership Principles
o To best prepare, create detailed work-related examples for each of
Amazon’s 14 Leadership Principles using the STAR Method.
Remember, it’s important to support your stories using data and
metrics.

• Potential Pitfalls – Avoid these!

o Using the same example throughout the interview.
o Answers are too surface level, general, or lack data.
o Using “We“ throughout the conversation VS “I”.
o No questions for interviewers. Show your curiosity and ask smart
questions about our operation! Avoid questions you can ask your
recruiter (compensation, start date, etc.)
o Having no passion for Process Improvement and Curiosity.
Practice Math Flow
You are the operations manager of a department within a warehouse, with 4 area
managers reporting to you. As an operations manager, one of your daily tasks is to
create the plan for the day based on volume, rates, and overall headcounts. Each of
your 4 area managers own specific departments that each have different rates, so you
need to determine the headcounts they will need today based on your overall volume
goal. See below for the flow diagram.

Inbound

Sort Pack

Outbound

Of your 4 area managers, one owns the inbound area and one owns he outbound area.
Each of these managers is involved with processing ALL of your total units during the
day, as all units come in the facility and all go out. The inbound team processes these
units at a rate of 530 units per hour, while the outbound team processes at a rate of
500.

The other 2 managers own the processes in between. After inbound, units either go to
Sort or to Pack. Sort is responsible for processing 60% of total units that come in. The
rest of the units go to the Pack team. Sort has been averaging a rate of 322 an hour,
while Pack has been processing at a rate of 115 units per hour.

You have a total of 50 people between all 4 areas coming in today, and Sort must
process a total of 32,180 units today. Pack must staff all 19 of their stations.

Given that you are working a 10 hour shift, how many people will you have to put in
each area to hit the volume goals? What is the total volume, and how much is being
processed in each path?

Please complete the rest of your labor plan below. Round any decimal answers to the
nearest whole number.

Area % of Volume Rate (uph) Daily Volume People

Inbound

Sort

Pack

Outbound
Practice Math Flow
Area % of Volume Rate (uph) Daily Volume People

Inbound 100 536 53633 10

Sort 60 322 32180 10

Pack 40 115 21453 19

Outbound 100 500 53633 11

% of Volumes
Of your 4 area managers, one owns the inbound area and one owns the outbound area.
Each of these managers is involved with processing ALL of your total units during the
day.
• If Inbound an Outbound own ALL units, you know that 100% of total units go
towards both areas.
Sort being responsible for processing 60% of total units that come in, and the other
processing the rest (Pack).
• Sort would be the 60% and Pack would be the rest, or 40%.

Rates
The inbound team processes these units at a rate of 536 units per hour, while the
outbound team processes at a rate of 500.

Sort has been averaging a rate of 322 an hour. You are missing the rate for pack, which
has been processing at a rate of 115 unites per hour.

How to Get the Total Volume

Let’s start with what we know.
1. You have a total of 50 people between all 4 areas coming in today, and Sort must
process a total of 32,180 units today. Pack must staff all 19 of their stations.
a) So you now that you can have a max of 50 people you can place between all 4
areas, you can go ahead and fill out 32180 units in Sort under volume, and 19
people in Pack.
b) You know the shift is 10 hours long, so to get the number of people for Sort,
you take the total volume, divided by 10 hours to get the units per hour, then
divide by the rate per hour to get the total people.
i. Volume / # of hours per shift / rate per hour = # of people per shift
ii. 32180 / 10 / 322 = 10 (rounded)

Continued on next page…

Practice Math Flow – Continued
How to Get the Total Volume – continued
c) Now, you can do a similar process for Pack. You have the rate, # of people, and
# of hours per shift.
i. # hours per shift x rate per hour x number of people = total volume
ii. 10 x 115 x 19 = 21453
d) You have the 60% of the total volume, and you have the 40% of the total
volume. There are two ways to get 100% of the total Volume
i. You can add the 60% and the 40% :
 32180 + 21453 = 53633
OR
ii. If you didn’t have one of those numbers, you could use the % of the
total. For example, let’s use the 60% of the volume.
 You know 60% of the total volume is 32180. If you take that
number and DIVIDE by 0.6
 32160 / 0.6 = 53633

Number of People
Now it’s time to fill in the remaining spaces, which is the remaining number of people.
1. Let’s start with inbound. You have the total volume (53633), the rate (530), and the
number of hours (10).
a) 53633 / 530 / 10 = 10
2. You can get the last number (Outbound) two ways:
a) Subtract the three numbers you have from the total number of people in the
shift (50)
i. 50 – 19 – 10 – 10 = 11
OR
ii. You can do the same math from before
 53600 / 10 / 500 = 11
We appreciate your interest in Amazon and
look forward to meeting and learning more
about you. Good luck with your interviews!