Our Hiring Process

First, read up on Our People Principles. These are what guide us every day as a company, from decisions that impact our business, customers, and community right down to the candidates we hire. You should definitely consider what each principle means to you, specifically, and how you’ve applied them in your professional life.

A significant portion of each interview conversation will be dedicated to understanding how you’ve already been demonstrating Audible's People Principles in your own professional experiences. You should expect every interviewer to discuss multiple People Principles with you, and they may even ask multiple questions about each one.

We want to know how you’ve solved problems in the past, made decisions, motivated others, and changed your perspective on something. It’s generally a solid idea to use the STAR format for answering questions:

Situation – Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. Give enough detail for the interviewer to understand the complexities of the situation. This example can be from a previous job, school project, volunteer activity, 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. Use the word “I,” not “we,” when describing actions, because we want to know about your particular contribution.

Result - Describe the outcome of your actions, and don’t be shy about taking credit for your behavior. How did the event end? What did you accomplish and learn? Provide examples using metrics or data if applicable.

People Principles questions are behavior-based. They ask about past experiences and challenges you’ve faced, as well as how you’ve handled them and what you learned from them. After all, your past behaviors are a great indicator of your future performance and success.

Interviewers focus on the “what” and “how” of your past experiences, as well as the “why” of your decisions along the way.

First, consider some of the most memorable days in your previous professional experiences. Spend some time recalling the specific details of those circumstances (e.g., who, what, when, what challenges, what mistakes were made and corrected). Then, consider how you’ve applied one or more of the People Principles in those experiences.

Use specific examples to showcase your expertise, and demonstrate how you’ve taken risks, succeeded, failed and grown in the process. Keep in mind, some of Audible’s most successful programs have risen from the ashes of failed projects. Failure is a necessary part of innovation. It’s not optional. We understand that and believe in failing early and iterating until we get it right.

Download this guide to reflect on how you’ve already applied the People Principles in your professional experiences.

While there are many ways to answer an interview question, we suggest following the STAR method. The STAR method enables you to provide the interviewer with the information they need to evaluate your past experiences and behaviors to determine your potential for success in the role and at Audible. So, let's break down the STAR framework.

Situation

Provide context and background for the situation that you were in. You should describe a specific event or situation, not a generalized description. This example can be from a previous job, school project, volunteer activity, or any relevant event. Be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand the complexities of the situation.

Task

Describe the task that you needed to accomplish. What goal were you working toward? Be sure to consider quantitative and qualitative goals.

Action

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

Result

Describe the outcomes of your actions and don't be shy about taking credit. You should be able to answer: What happened? How did you measure success? What results did achieve? What trade-offs did you have to make to achieve this? What did you learn or what would you have done differently?

Note: In the event your initial response does not include each component of the STAR framework, interviewers will ask numerous follow-up questions to get at each STAR component.

You’ll likely be interviewing with managers and people from the same team, as well as people from other teams who work closely with the role and know what will be valuable.

Make sure you see our guide to preparing for your virtual interview—it lays out in detail what tools you should have handy so you can put your best foot forward.

If coding will be part of your interview, we will use our code editor, LiveCode. This will allow you to use any coding language while the interviewer views it in real time.

Please see our Technical Topics Page for more information on the skills we look for in our technical interviews.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, the Amazon group of companies is committed to a diverse workforce and is also committed to a barrier-free employment process. In order to ensure reasonable accommodations for individuals protected by Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, individuals that require accommodation in the job application process for a posted position may contact us at 866-437-9078 for assistance. For individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation, please visit https://www.amazon.jobs/en/disability/us.

Please explore our careers site fully, especially these resources.

• Our People Principles
• How to Prepare for your Virtual Interview
• Technical Topics Page
• Working at Audible YouTube Playlist
• Hear from Veena Patange, Technical Recruiter
• How to Land a Job at Audible with Aviv Wecler, Director of Tech Recruiting

Your interview will be conducted via Amazon Chime. Instructions for installing Chime can be found here. If you are unable to install Chime, you can still access it via your web browser. Make sure to download and test Chime prior to your interview.

Our attentive recruiting coordinators will be there with you every step of the way! They are happy to set up a practice call with you if you request one.

We ask that you use video for your virtual interview. Let your recruiting contact know if you do not have access to a webcam.

Yes, there will always be breaks worked into the schedule. If at any time you need a break during the process, please let the interviewer know, and take the time you need.

Your recruiter should be in contact within 5 business days of your interview.

Of course! Just send your thank you notes directly to your recruiting coordinator and they will pass them along to the team.

In addition to your qualifications, we’re looking for promising additions to our culture and fresh perspectives on how we do things. Recent hires say that being totally authentically themselves had a lot to do with how successful their interviews were. We will do our best to help you relax and ease you in with regular conversation, because we want to get to know your personality and your passions.

For your phone screen and final interview, you might give evidence of some fresh new approach you took to solve a problem in your career or personal life. Or you might talk about the importance of storytelling in the work you do. We want to have some idea of what you would bring to our mission.