What it takes to get hired at Amazon? Executive reveals ‘secret’ interview tip during office tour

In the segment titled Gate Crashers, host Siddhaarth Aalambayan visits the newly opened campus and is given a tour by Deepti Varma, who has been with Amazon since 2011. Early in the conversation, Aalambayan asks what PXT stands for. Varma explains that it refers to People Experience and Technology, which broadly functions as the company’s human resources division.

As the tour progresses, Varma walks Aalambayan through various features of the campus and shares key milestones about Amazon’s presence in India. She notes that the company has already invested more than $40 billion in the country and has committed an additional $35 billion investment by 2030.

However, it is a candid hiring insight that becomes the highlight of the interaction.

“When we interview people, we ask them this question – ‘Have you failed and what have you learnt?’,” Varma says, calling it something she does not often share publicly.

She adds that the company values candidates who are honest about setbacks and growth. “We want people who would have actually failed and then bounced back and learnt something instead of people who say, ‘Oh, I have never failed.’”

Reacting to the tip, Aalambayan turns to the camera and jokes, “Guys, note this,” suggesting viewers keep it in mind during interviews. Varma, however, quickly counters with a smile, saying, “It’s not so simple to fool around.”

Later in the tour, she points out another aspect that fascinates her — the consistency in Amazon’s office design across geographies. “Irrespective of which geography you go to, the standard of office is the same. The office in Seattle and the office in India, both setups are similar,” she explains.

Echoing the observation, Aalambayan notes that Amazon’s internal workspaces tend to look alike worldwide, creating what he describes as a sense of “perceptual constancy.”