The Amazon application process is incredibly rigorous, but if you succeed, it can be a life-changing opportunity.
At least, that’s what an Amazon employee recalled before finally meeting Jeff Bezos.
Ann Hiatt, before achieving a successful career, was just another hopeful individual looking for her big break.
After earning her degree from the University of Washington in 2002, Hiatt noticed her peers struggling to find jobs. She decided to venture into a field she hadn’t originally planned on – the tech industry.
Despite lacking experience as an assistant, Hiatt felt she had nothing to lose and applied for a position at Amazon as Bezos’ junior assistant.
Though inexperienced, Hiatt received a call-back from Amazon and secured an interview opportunity.
This interview process, however, was ‘dizzying’ for her, involving ‘back-to-back interviews with the senior assistants.’
Her persistence paid off as she advanced to the final interview stage.
What she wasn’t informed of was that this final interview would be with Bezos himself.
Imagine the nerves.
Being interviewed by the CEO, one would expect a grilling session, but Bezos only asked Hiatt two questions.
“Bezos started the interview by promising that he was only going to ask two questions and that the first one would be a ‘fun’ brainteaser,'” she shared in a CNBC article.
The first question required Hiatt to estimate the number of panes of glass in Seattle.
Quite the puzzler.
Initially ‘terrified’ by the question, Hiatt quickly composed herself and began her calculations.
She explained, “I outlined how I would start with the number of people in Seattle, which I thankfully correctly guessed as around 1 million, just to make the math easier.
“Then I said that they would each have a home, a mode of transportation, and an office or school – all of which would have windows. So I suggested that we base the estimate on averages of those.”
After about 10 minutes of calculations, Hiatt shared her estimate with Bezos.
“That looks about right,” he remarked, evidently satisfied with her answer.
The second question from Bezos concerned her career aspirations.
“I told him that Amazon had proven to be a company full of ambitious and passionate people,” Hiatt recalled.
“I wanted to be like them and learn what they knew. Their strengths were in the areas I personally wanted to develop, so the value of the experience was obvious, even though it felt like a diversion from my goal of being a professor.
“I explained that I had no idea how to be an assistant, but that I knew the importance of being consistently outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to jump into an astronomical learning and growth curve.”
Hiatt’s impressive answers led to her being hired ‘on the spot,’ and the rest is history.
She began as a junior assistant and, over time, worked closely with Bezos. Her diligence eventually led her to become one of his Executive Business Partners.
What an achievement!