In 1998, Jeff Bezos wrote a letter to shareholders in the annual report where he outlined three qualities he looks for in someone when they interview with him. This is part of the cultural DNA of Amazon. Here’s what they are and how to prepare.
In 1998, Jeff Bezos wrote a letter to shareholders of Amazon where he spoke about
qualities he looks for when he hires people.. He did this partially for the shareholders
and partially for hiring managers and candidates to be prepared for when they interview with the
firm. I'm Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter.. I coach people. Let me outline the three
qualities that Bezos outlined in that report and how you might prepare for it. The first
quality he outlines for a hiring manager to decide upon is will you admire this person.
Thus, if you think about the people you've admired in your life, they're probably people
you've been able to learn from and take an example from, he wrote. Thus, a question they might ask
is pretty simple. Can they be trusted? Did they use diplomacy to solve a problem? What were their
intentions in situations? What does a straight thought process or, what does their thought
process say about them as a person? Are they creative? Are they linear? Someplace in between?
Understand what the goal is is to get a sense of whether or not they admire you.
Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group that they're entering?
So the problem is for many organizations, there's already a high bar. So one of the things he might
ask is "where do you see us," or "what sort of a contribution do you think you might make
five years from now?" So, visualize the firm. Where is it five years from now?
What kind of impact have you had on the organization during that time? And then,
the third one, which is a fun one, "Along what dimension might this person be a superstar?"
Now he there's a story that's relayed about someone that they hired who's a national
spelling bee champion and although it doesn't affect their work every day, basically people
interrupt her in the hall and throw a quick challenge out to her to spell a word. And thus
it becomes fun. It's written that they can be mavericks, radical and a little bit rebellious,
which can be annoying but the goal is to stretch the organization. Thus, being prepared for the
interview you need to have extracurricular activities to talk about, hobbies, unique
skills that are unrelated to your job because they offer a different perspective. Think about that
different perspective and not being completely linear with your answers. These three are what
he looked for in 1998 and are part of the cultural dna at Amazon. Be prepared wherever you interview.
These are three great qualities to be prepared to talk about. I hope you found this helpful. I'm
Jeff Altman. My website is TheBigGameHunter.us. Go there and go exploring. There will be a lot there
to help you. If you're interested in one-on-one coaching or have a question for me, at the site
there are buttons that you can click where you can schedule a free discovery call, schedule time
to ask me a question, schedule yourself in for coaching. I'd love to help you. I'm also starting
to put up my classes on my website that you can order my courses and do that, as well. There's a
great one about interviewing and answering certain types of questions. I want to be able to help you
whether you can afford to pay for my coaching directly or in other ways. Lastly, subscribe to
my channel on YouTube. Click the small icon in the lower right that says subscribe. You'll get
notified whenever I release something new. Hope you have a great day and be great! Take care!
