Questions I asked interviewers at the end of my Amazon interviews - Part 2
How to effectively use interviewer-specific questions and active listening
Hey, Prasad here 👋 I'm the voice behind the weekly newsletter "Big Tech Careers."
Asking questions at the end of an interview is crucial, as it is an essential part of the evaluation process. In Part 1, I covered the key research components and the company and role-specific questions that you can ask interviewers. In Part 2, I'll dive deeper into how to effectively use interviewer-specific questions and active listening.
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Quick Recap of Part 1
In Part 1, I introduced the four steps I followed to prepare the questions I asked my interviewers in my Amazon loop interview. I prepared a list of 10 questions, two per interviewer, before my interview.
For those unfamiliar, the Amazon loop interview consists of a series of five interviews. When I interviewed in 2019, all five interviews took place on the same day, back-to-back, with a few breaks in between. Here are the four steps:
Step 1: Key Research Components
Step 2: Company and role-specific questions
Step 3: Interviewer-specific questions
Step 4: Active Listening
I covered Steps 1 and 2 in Part 1. In this article, Part 2 of the series, I will cover Steps 3 and 4.
Before we continue, a quick update on the launch of BeSA (Become a Solutions Architect) Q1 2025 batch.
For those who are not aware, Become a Solutions Architect (BeSA) is a FREE mentoring initiative designed to help you to excel in your cloud career. The 8 week program focuses both on technical and behavioral skills. It's is an unique opportunity for you to be mentored directly by technical professionals working at AWS.
Here are the details for Q1 2025 batch:
⏰ Duration – 8 weeks
📅 Dates –15th Feb to 5th Apr 2025
🕒 Livestream Timings – Every Saturday from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM GMT
Topics covered :
- 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤: 𝐀𝐖𝐒 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬-𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐬
- 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤: 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐖𝐒Watch the launch video for the full 8-week agenda
Registrations are now open! Link in the video description.
Back to the article now!
Step 3: Interviewer-Specific questions
Most candidates stop at Step 2 when preparing questions for the interviewer. They research the company and role and ask questions pertaining to those. However, if you know who your interviewer is and are able to check their LinkedIn profile, it's great to research the interviewer and ask questions that are specific to them—questions that can be answered only by them.
Don't misunderstand—the questions should still be very relevant to the company, role, and team you're applying for, but they should dive deeper and connect with the interviewer's experience when possible.
I'll give you two examples of questions I asked during my Amazon loop interview that were very specific to the interviewer.
Question 1 - For an Ex-Startup Employee
This is the question I asked the interviewer who had previously worked at a startup for 5 years:
"I see you have worked in a startup before joining Amazon. I've read that at Amazon, every team is a startup and there is a concept of a 2-pizza team. In your experience, what similarities or differences do you see in both setups? Does each team at Amazon actually operate like a startup?"
Pro tip: While preparing questions that are specific for an interviewer, I always ask myself, "Can this question be asked to any interviewer?" If the answer is yes, I think hard to come up with questions tailored specifically to the interviewer.
Let’s look at another example.
Question 2 - For a Former Enterprise Sales Head
The interviewer had worked with big enterprises like Dell and HP, and had held sales head roles in those companies before joining AWS as head of the specialists team.
Here is the question I asked:
"Your previous experience as Sales Head in companies like Dell and HP would have probably been different from your current role, which is much more customer-focused than sales-focused. And it's quite similar for me, as I come from a consulting background where the focus is a lot more on sales. How did you adapt? What helped your mindset shift?
Follow-up question: What is one good thing from your previous companies/roles that you would like to see implemented here at AWS?"
Pro tip: Having follow-up questions prepared shows depth in your research and allows you to adapt based on the conversation flow and time available. However, only use them if the moment feels right and there's sufficient time remaining in the interview.
As you can see, it not only requires research but also a lot of thinking to come up with questions that are very specific to the interviewer. So, if you have an upcoming interview, please invest some time to research your interviewer and prepare questions for them.
Now, let's move on to Step 4, which is most powerful when used correctly to ask interviewer questions.
Step 4: Active Listening
This method involves paying careful attention during the interview and formulating questions based on the ongoing discussion. This approach demonstrates your engagement and genuine interest in the conversation.
However, people often fall into traps here by asking inappropriate questions.
For example, never ask "How did I do in the interview?" Your interview isn't over yet, and while it's natural to be eager for feedback, there's a clear line between enthusiasm and desperation. Show the former, not the latter. If the company has a feedback policy, they'll follow it—asking won't change their process.
Second, avoid asking for answers to questions you couldn't solve during the interview. If you don't know something, acknowledge it in the moment, express your willingness to learn, and move forward. Don't remind the interviewer of your knowledge gaps at the end by asking for solutions.
Instead, use active listening to formulate questions that dig deeper into the company, role, and team based on hints from the conversation. When the interviewer mentions specific topics, build on them to showcase your curiosity. For example:
"We discussed microservices and event-driven architectures in depth. Are there any interesting projects using these technologies that the team is currently working on, or in the pipeline, where I could contribute?"
Or:
"Thank you for explaining the role and cross-team collaborations in detail. I'd like to understand more about how this role's responsibilities differ from Team X's, which you mentioned earlier."
Pro tip: Keep mental notes of interesting points mentioned during the interview that you'd like to explore further. This demonstrates that you're actively engaged in the conversation and genuinely interested in the role.
Final Words
Even in the last 5 minutes of your interview, you have the power to influence the interviewer for a positive outcome—so don't lose that opportunity.
Infact, the biggest red flag is not asking any questions at all. Take time to prepare thoughtful questions using the four steps: research key components, develop company and role-specific questions, prepare interviewer-specific questions when possible, and actively listen during the conversation to formulate relevant follow-up questions.
A well-balanced mix of these questions demonstrates your genuine interest in the role, your curiosity, your thorough preparation, and your ability to engage meaningfully in professional conversations.
Have an upcoming Big Tech Interview?
I covered in depth how to successfully clear big tech interviews using behavioral skills in the live workshop I conducted in December. To read what students are saying about the course and to get access to the course resources at 50% off, check the post.
