Introduction
If you are someone you have failed interviews and applications at major companies such as Amazon, you have felt the disappointment and pain of the process that comes with the rejection. You might not understand why you failed, or how to get back into it. Worst case scenario is when you have failed multiple times for the same company. The rejection fear creeps in and it gets harder to make a solid plan to get back out there.
In this article, we will deconstruct a flashpoint problem that causes the applicant to be rejected, how a resume is a beast that gets you what you want, and when you should stop trying for a particular position. Our goal is to equip you with the tips to stay resilient in the face of failure and be rational about when you should change tracks.
What happens when you fail your Amazon Job Interview?
You should know that the application process can be very uncertain. Some applicants who worked their tail off for two months with me in my program got a verbal offer and were waiting for a final offer taken away. Some passed the first interview but later found that the position has been filled. Companies will often prefer an internal candidate over a new applicant for a position.
Never resign, by the way, until you have a physical offer and you signed that offer, and your background check is clear. You need to also keep tabs on every single person who has interviewed them, connect with the recruiter and the hiring manager every two business days. You should work your tail off in getting that offer until that offer is firmly in your hand. The process can span multiple months and even years for some candidates.
Candidate failure cause: Poor personal branding
If you are someone who’s absolutely stuck and not sure why you’re interviewing for a position that you don’t feel you qualify for, then your branding is lacking and you’re confused. Worst scenario, you fail your interview four, five, six times, and you don’t know what to do.
When you fail so many interviews, it’s not just your storytelling. For example, if you were asked to talk about yourself. Every single person will fumble. Even if you have worked for a company for over a decade, you will have a hard time figuring out what that experience means to you. The story you’d come up with might be good, but it would probably be long-winded. This is true even if you are even a great interviewer or you haven’t been interviewed for a long time, you’re also getting rusty.
Fix your branding before you take another interview. “I can’t land the right job interview because I’m not a salesperson. I am in customer service, or I’m an engineer. I’m not a program manager.” None of these reasons are your real cause of failure. It is because you cannot articulate yourself, your story, your strengths, the goals that you cannot get that job. It’s because of your branding.
Figure out your value, your core value, and your purpose in your workplace. If you don’t have that, you’re going to be lost. And that’s why you’re probably ending up with the same type of interview and not sure why you can’t pass them. Remember that Amazon has thousands of jobs and you don’t have to apply just to ones that are similar to the ones you have already done. You might have skills that can be used in other fields. Part of figuring out your purpose is to identify areas of competence you have not considered before and expand your potential.
Think like a recruiter. Remember that storytelling is not just above weaving pretty words together. It needs to be your story and your articulation, what you wrote and what you say, what comes from YOU, your life, your experiences. You’re probably not talking about things that are in your credentials, your high-level achievements in a manner that highlights their importance. That’s why your resume is a beast for personal branding.
Resume as a personal branding beast
First thing first, please don’t pay someone to write your resume for you. Please do not do that. Don’t be lazy. Because if someone writes your resume, writes your story, writes anything for you, you’re not getting it up here. If you don’t feel the things that you have done, areas that you could have done better, then your resume is nothing more than a piece of paper.
As mentioned, a resume is a beast, it truly is, because it breaks down every single section of your life in digestible pieces so you will know every little piece of your wonderful experiences and so will anyone who reads it. If someone writes your resume for you, not only do they not have the right branding for you because they’re not you, how are they supposed to know what you have done, especially when they have never worked for your role before, or your position? It’s great if it works, but it probably won’t and you’d waste your money. If you are someone who doesn’t have a problem landing a job interview, or passing an interview, and you just needed fixing, then it is absolutely okay to pay someone to have a glance. Getting a second opinion doesn’t hurt as long as the first opinion was yours.
Because once you’re done with your resume and you review your resume, you could probably be a fit for a number of positions and not just that. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Tailor your resume for every position you apply for. Change stuff, highlight what matters most for that particular position. This is basic resume advice that will never get outdated.
When people land another job interview with their resume, it is because they’ve changed a lot of things in it to fit that position. For data-driven companies like Amazon, some of the most valuable additions to your resume would be numbers. Provide quantifiable, measurable units of your worth such as the amount of time saved by innovative ideas or cost saved in a process. This kind of data will also help you keep your resume concise and simple.
When a recruiter says you can’t apply for an Amazon job anymore
One of the reasons why you might end up getting blacklisted from a company is that you don’t listen to the advice above. You keep sending the same resume over and over. You do not change any of your patterns. So you fail over and over. You do not self-reflect, you do not improve your branding, you do not value your resume properly, you don’t listen. And if you don’t listen, you’re going to fail over and over and over again for the same pattern. Cut that behavior out. Do yourself a favor. You don’t want to be that person in anyone’s internal application system, where all the notes are there and you’re failing the same thing over and over again. Eventually, you’re going to be on a blacklist, where they’re not going to call you again.
There is another potential scenario where a recruiter might clearly ask you not to reapply when you get rejected from a job. If you fail your interview, and you’ve been told to not apply, it means you’re not qualified. It comes out a little bit harsh, but that’s the truth. When a recruiter says you can’t apply anymore, that means you need to gain the experience for that role. That experience also includes improving your ability to articulate what you have done.
Key Takeaway
Don’t get haughty. Don’t overestimate yourself. If you have been failing your interviews and not getting callbacks, there is definitely a reason for that. Stop applying for positions until you figure out where or what went wrong. If you go back to the interview, you think about the type of question that’s asking, and who you connect well with, and who you didn’t. You can pretty much tell in what part you did not do well. Fix that problem first. Remember that your resume is key to your personal branding. After writing your resume, you articulate it in your interview. To be able to do so, you need to know, on cue, answer every possible question that might be asked from it. People who landed a job offer record themselves, on average about 70 times. Record yourself that many times so you’re able to know every single thing about your background. If you were asked about the most complex problem you have solved, you should be able to answer it immediately. Just think and practice. Create your story with the STAR method, and practice yourself narrating it 50 or more times. Not one question. All of them, all at once. It will put you in a better situation.
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