How do you apply for a job at Amazon?

Answer

Use the search bar at the top of your page to work through jobs; you can choose a location, category, or keywords. Once you’ve found one that piques your interest simply click ‘apply now’ next to their title.

How to Apply to a Job at Amazon

The following is from an article by Scott Galloway, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business. It details how to apply for a job at Amazon in 2017. Apparently, the process hasn’t changed much since it was last written about in 2009.

Here are the bullet points:

Amazon asks you to send them your resume and a cover letter with three references ahead of time Resumes must be PDFs (no other formats) The email address to send these documents needs to be formatted as “[email protected]” You’re told not to include attachments or any special formatting. This can cause some problems if you have one of those fancy newfangled jobs where formal education and work history aren’t listed on your resume. Amazon then sends you a survey to fill out, which asks questions like:

-What is your religion? -How many golf balls would fit in this building? -Why are manhole covers round?

(Yes, that’s really what one of the questions was.) If at least two references don’t respond or give thoughtful answers within 2 days, the process stops. Otherwise, it continues to step 4. At this point, Amazon gives you a personality test (similar to those taken by law firms and consulting firms). This has over 100 questions and takes about 20 minutes to finish. You’re then given a “sentence completion” exercise where you have five-second to answer eighty sentences with an appropriate response. Here are some examples:

How to apply for amazon jobs

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who would love to work for Amazon.com Inc.(NASDAQ: AMZN). It’s a great company with amazing growth potential that’s run by some really smart and ambitious people. But the way this job application process is set up just seems so unlike a modern professional environment. Rather than focusing on your skills and abilities, it comes off like they’re trying to figure out if you’d be a good fit in their corporate culture (i.e., will you get along with the other employees? Do you have similar hobbies/interests?). And can you really judge someone based on how they answer the question, “How many golf balls would it take to fill this building?” It seems like a lot of work for something that could just as easily be done by an automated software program. That’s not even getting into how risky it is to use your applicants’ personal information to further narrow down who you want to interview.

An article from The New York Times confirms that Amazon does hire for attitude and culture fit. And CNET reported in 2012 that Zappos was also moving away from hiring “nerds” towards hiring those with more social skills (although the company has since scaled back on its original ambitions). In an environment like Amazon’s where everyone wears a name tag and there are no private offices or cubicles, how can it not be important to hire people with the right attitude? But would you ever see a process like this at places like Google or Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)? I doubt it.

The other strange thing is that some positions have a different interview process than others. This was confirmed by an article on Slate which said that if you’re applying for an executive position, they’ll ask your “bar raisers” about their opinion of you before interviewing you. And after the interview, they ask your bar raisers if they would have given you a thumbs up/down. It seems kind of pointless since these execs are already in charge and everyone else needs to ask permission from them before even interviewing someone! Why not just skip this step and save everyone a lot of time?

Another thing I noticed is that all job postings as of the writing of this article are in Seattle. As far as I know, Zappos’ headquarters is still located in Las Vegas. Is Amazon really trying to take over the company or have so many positions been cut recently that they need to refill some key roles? Either way, it’s interesting how they haven’t announced any jobs elsewhere (especially since they’re opening up new warehouses around the country). In fact, an online search for “Amazon warehouse jobs” will only bring up postings for call center agents with no outside hires…

But whatever. Amazon has done very well for itself over the last decade-plus, but I can’t help wondering how the company’s corporate culture is affecting its ability to attract talent. In a way, Amazon only accepts top performers who are used to working in top-notch environments under strict deadlines. The problem is that many of these people come from the likes of Google and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) where everything was tailored specifically for them and their needs as employees. They will have been spoiled by perks like free meals, gyms on campus, laundry services, etc. And they’ll be used to having their opinion count…

I’m not saying this isn’t possible at Amazon; it just seems so different than what other companies are doing with their workforces right now. A lot of things you hear about Amazon’s hiring and interview processes have the word “elitist” in them. Apparently, Jeff Bezos wants to hire only “A+ players” which is why he hires recruiters who are actually hired from top companies themselves. But if this is true, then it begs the question, how many people are they turning away?

It seems like an uphill battle for anyone that isn’t a former Google engineer or anything similar. And even then, these employees will probably still be asked some stupid questions! In any case, I’m not sure what this all means. It could simply mean that Amazon has extremely high standards (which we already knew) because they know exactly what their customers expect out of them and refuse to settle for anything less. Or it could mean that they’re just being elitist and won’t hire any applicant who isn’t the best of the best.

But like I said, even if Amazon is a great place to work at now, Zappos probably still has more potential in terms of growth (as long as they don’t waste all their money on stock buybacks). In fact, Amazon’s growth may seem very slow compared to what it once was because investors were spoiled with 50%+ increases year after year! But over time, these high standards have helped them become an industry leader and one of the most successful companies of our generation…

So overall I’ll say this: Regardless of how you feel about its corporate culture, there are thousands upon thousands of Amazon employees who love working there. The company has a reputation for going above and beyond when it comes to customer service, so I’m sure that makes the day-to-day grind more tolerable! And if this is how they want to operate as an employer, then more power to them. At the end of the day, Amazon is one of the most successful companies around in terms of market cap and revenue. They obviously know what they’re doing…

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More on Forbes: Analysis | Amazon – Sometimes It’s Better To Be Late Than Never Hi, I am a tech and mobile enthusiast who loves covering interesting news and reviews. I’m not that good when it comes to writing lengthy articles though so I try to make up for it by being thorough and accurate with my posts. More Posts – Website Follow Me.