Part 11: Second interview
I’d started to prepare for my second interview at Amazon as soon as I’d found out I’d made it past the first round. I went one afternoon to a bookstore and stood around for hours, flipping through marketing books and trying to dredge up any recollections of pricing strategy I possibly could from my days at UCF. I was really sweating it out, but as the day of the interview drew nearer I couldn’t bear the thought of trying to prepare anymore. I meant to go to an Internet café the day before so I could do some last minute preparation (as well as post all these entries on my blog), but when push came to shove I just couldn’t make myself do it. It’s just like it was when I’d prepare for a big exam in college…I reached that point of mental exhaustion where I just had to accept what I’d done and hope that would be good enough.
I wasn’t as nervous as I made my way to Slough that day. It was a nice enough day outside, so I just stared out the window of the train and didn’t let any doubts or worry creep into my mind. I walked from the station to the Amazon building and sat in the waiting room, still not too stressed about things. I had to wait a while, though, which didn’t help much. Finally, someone came and got me and took me up to the 5th floor, where I’d be spending the next 3 hours.
The first person I met with was great; she was incredibly friendly and took the edge off the nerves I did have. I think the only reason I liked her so much was because she wasn’t actually interviewing me. She was an HR person who asked me a few questions about my previous work experience and then told me a bit about Amazon’s employee compensation package and what the company is all about. I really thought I liked her, until she dropped a bombshell on me and told me that should I do well in this interview, there would definitely be a third stage to go through before I’d find out if I got the job or not. I couldn’t believe it; I had to repeat what she’d just said to confirm I’d heard it right, “A third interview?” I’d been told that there would likely be only the two, and that a third round would be an unlikely event, but there I was, being told I’d not only have to come in again for yet another grilling, but that I’d have to do a presentation. I was none too happy about that. When I told Kelly about that she asked if I was interviewing to be a bodyguard for the queen or something; I think those guys might have it slightly easier, and I doubt very seriously that they had to invest in a book on Excel.
Once the HR lady had left, Wendy came up with her laptop to administer the second Excel test. This one didn’t go much differently than the first. I had expected as much, so I wasn’t shocked and didn’t have to suppress any tears this time around. I got on with it and did what I could and didn’t let myself get too worked up about it. It was similar to the first test where I had to design a promotion for a list of several hundred titles, but in this instance it was a single title promotion. I came up with some answers, realized I’d done it wrong, and then changed it all in the last 5 minutes, finishing just as Wendy came back. We went over my answers, which turned out to be wrong, unsurprisingly. As it turned out, I’d been right the first time. Luckily there was still one section that had my original answers so Wendy could see that at one point I had been on the right track. The worst part about taking the test isn’t doing the work or explaining how and why I arrived at my answers, it was Wendy prodding me to find the answer she was looking for. One of the worst feelings in the world is to be in a situation where you know you have no idea what you’re talking about and someone else is there questioning you relentlessly. When I was in school I hated it when teachers kept at me if I didn’t know the answer. If I don’t get the answer after the second or third explanation, I’m better off taking it home and going over it on my own till I figure it out…I don’t like it when people say, well what if you do this, then what? or, consider that number, how would that change your answer? I’m left sitting there, saying, “Umm…well…I guess it would…” and then fumbling for yet another wrong answer.
I wasn’t sorry to see Wendy go after that. I hoped it would be the last time I’d ever have to see her and her laptop again, at least in that kind of a situation. Next I had to interview with some guy who was an expert on the academic book industry, and then with an American woman who was in charge of the entire media division of Amazon.co.uk. These went fairly well. The first was fine and the second could have gone a bit better. I was asked lots of questions about different business scenarios, like what I would do if I wanted to promote a book on the Website but we’d already sold the advertising space to another publisher. I thought I answered the questions okay until she then came back at me with new variables to factor into the equation.
I was so happy to get out of there when the interview was over. Ecstatic would be a good word to describe it, in fact. I was out of the building and heading down the street before I’d even got my second arm in the sleeve of my coat. I was in that state of limbo again where I didn’t have to worry about anything until I’d heard back about the results of the interview. Until then, I could enjoy myself and the Kanye West concert Kevin was taking me to that same evening.
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