6 Reasons You Failed the Phone Interview

RE: Sparky the QA tester dog's Amazon Interview Experience

Dear Sparky, here is how you may contact me: testingfromatoz gmail.com

Testing from A to Z of WA @ Jul 01, 2009 13:03:52 PM

RE: Sparky the QA tester dog's Amazon Interview Experience

Dear Sparky,

I'm a Software QA Engineer at Amazon and I apologize for the poor experience you had with your Amazon phone interview. I am one of the folks who performs phone interviews for my group so if you'd are willing to give Amazon a second chance let me know and I'd be willing to interview you for our groups open QAE position.

Testing from A to Z of WA @ Jul 01, 2009 12:43:16 PM

opportunity of a lifetime wasted by a incompetent interviewer

I prepared for weeks for a phone interview with Amazon, and when the big day came..the interviewer called 20 minutes late, asked terrible and unclear questions that were not even remotely relevant to the job right after saying hello, and at the end as I tried to salvage it, he cut me off by saying he had a meeting!

The first question out of the box was technical, and although I tried my best, I could not even understand what he was asking for!! That's how bad the communication gap was. And it got worse from there. I knew WHAT he was talking about, I just did not understand what he was ASKING for. Pathetic.

The biggest problem? The interviewer was foriegn. He clearly spoke English as a second (or third?)language. I had to ask at least a dozen times for him to repeat questions or clarify what he was saying, because he was making no sense at all.

It took forever to get on the same page communication wise, and when I finally started to hit my stride somewhat because he finally asked a reasonable and straightforward question, he cut it off to go to a meeting.

I cannot believe that a company like Amazon would use that type of tactic, or create such a mismatch that it was doomed to failure. I would like to think they did it on purpose to test my mettle, but I don't believe he was even listening to me!

I would chalk it up to attempting to frustrate me from the beginning to see how I handled adversity, but to be honest, I think he was completely unprepared, did not care to do the interview, was detached, and focused on things not remotely relevant to anything the position entailed.

I was applying for an Amazon QA Tester position, and found out at the end of the interview that he was an SDET. Nice matchup, Amazon! He had NO clue about test process or methodologies. It was painful, but to my credit I did hold it together and did everything possible to show NO frustration or annoyance (VERY HARD to do).

There went my one great opportunity. I guess, however, that if that is the way they do things, maybe it is for the best that I don't work there. If I had failed by messing up and I felt it was on me, I'd be the first to admit it, but this one fell squarely on Amazon. Guess they won't have to a chance to evaluate my true skillset, and what I could have brought to the company.

Life ain't fair. Sometimes you draw the short end of the stick. The one thing that bugs me is it took 5 weeks to secure a phone interview, and that was the best Amazon could do? Find a SDET reject who could not care less if I got a chance to showcase my skills? after the initial anger wore off, I've come to the conclusion that "Whatever. Life is not fair, but God knows what I need."

I'm certain my talents will eventually be appreciated somewhere else. IMO, it's their loss to not at least let me talk more in-depth about my experience, beliefs and methods as a QA tester for Amazon.

Shocking. horrible. Disappointing. But perhaps meant to be...:(

Sparky the QA tester dog of WA @ Jun 02, 2009 18:59:36 PM

Regarding phone interview

I received a phone call today from a potential employer...I was almost getting ready for work and the person asked me for a 15 minutes interview, right there and there!!!!...at first I asked the person if she could postpone the call for the next day...but for her tone of voice I immediately thought it was not a great idea...so I said " Let me see what time is it...okay if you wish we could maintain the phone interview now"...so we did....

Was it a smart thing to do or was it no so great?

Carmen of NY @ Apr 30, 2009 19:48:57 PM

get some support

Very good points.

Another thing to consider is that if you live with others, you may want to give them a head's up on potential employers calling you.

I don't know how many times I've spoken to roommates or family members that clearly do not want to take a message and/or cannot tell me when a candidate will be home.

Also - if you are actively looking for work, you may want to consider a grown-up message on your machine. It's all part of the overall impression you provide us.

Julie @ Nov 06, 2008 08:15:02 AM

and conversely

As an applicant, I'm amazed at how often the recruiters have NO CLUE what the job entails. All they have is a couple of boiler-plate bullet items about language x and communication skills.

Frank Booth of NC @ Sep 18, 2008 14:38:19 PM

A 7th Point

Alison -

Good points all.

<b>7. Use a Cheesy Cell Phone<b>. Nothing enhances your interview image like a partial connection that hisses, pops and drops every third syllable. Instead of this, double-check your coverage, and plan to use a land-line where ever possible. Oh - and just because you can do a phone interview while walking down a busy urban street doesn't mean you should. The honking and traffic noises will interfere with your interview.

Troy

http://notjobs.wordpress.com/

Troy Bettinger, SPHR of CO @ Sep 06, 2008 17:41:58 PM