Tell me about a time when you hired a nanny...?
The most important lesson I learned from my 4+ years at Amazon was how to hire. I’d been on both sides of the process in different industries in different roles (including CEO) over 20+ years, but Amazon’s remarkably structured, consistent, objective, and largely dispassionate approach to hiring is a skill I’ll take with me for the rest of my career. So when did this come in handy most? Hiring our nanny.
TLDR: we adapted the Amazon Leadership Principles for our family (here) and instituted a modified version of Amazon’s interviewing approach. The result: we have the world’s best nanny. You could ask our kids, but they’re probably busy with her making banana bread from scratch.
Context:
Earlier this year, our nanny of five years left with two weeks notice and we were stuck. (Thanks Papa Fred and Grandma June for filling in for a while!) We scrambled to find a replacement, asking everyone we knew for candidates. Trying to do my part (my wife had done the lion’s share of the sourcing etc., naturally), I decided I could do vetting and reference checks. I honestly had no idea what to ask despite being the second best parent in our household, so I fell back on what I knew: Amazon.
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Amazon’s interview process:
You can learn about Amazon’s interview process by reading The Everything Store or checking out sites like this or this. But, here are the highlights:
You’ll do two phone screens that will be more casual, review background, feel out fit and excitement etc. If you make it through the phone screens you’ll be invited to do a formal interview loop.
A loop is roughly half a dozen back-to-back behavioral interviews testing on Amazon’s Leadership Principles (LPs). I cannot stress enough how critical Amazon’s LPs are for interviewing (and thriving) at Amazon.
Behavioral interview questions won’t ask: “Tell me about a time you were Customer Obsessed…” (which is Amazon’s first LP). Rather, you’ll be asked something like: “Tell me about a time when a customer wanted one thing and you thought they needed another….”
The interviewers will be people from the group that is hiring as well as a “Bar Raiser.” A bar raiser theoretically makes sure new hires are “better” than half the people at Amazon, thus “raising the bar.” But the best explanation of a bar raiser that I’ve heard is a specially trained employee that is not emotionally invested in filling the role. For every bad hire I’ve ever made (and there have been plenty), I can think back to what I saw during the interview, but overlooked because I was excited to hire someone. This is the proverbial friend that meets your new significant other and tells you: “Hey I know Lorena is cute, but that scissor obsession of hers gives me pause.”
Interviewers will submit their vote (yay or nay) and feedback (before being able to see anybody else’s vote / feedback). Everybody on the loop will review votes and feedback and the bar raiser will organize and host a debrief to review and make a decision as a group.
But for a nanny?
Of course. Choosing someone to care for children is a bit more important than any other hire. That said, we had to make a few adjustments to the Amazon LPs (and interview questions) to accommodate our family. For example, “Customer Obsession” became “Children / Family Obsession” and “Hire and Develop the Best” became “Finding and Friending the Best Nannies.” But ironically many of other LPs transitioned just fine as written (e.g., “Are Right, A Lot, “Bias for Action,” and “Disagree and Commit.”)
A complete list of our Nanny Principles is here.
What happened….
We phone screened and / or interviewed a dozen or more candidates - taking notes and sharing feedback.
“Tell me about a time when a child or parent wanted one thing, but you felt that needed something else…”
“Give me an example of a childcare situation where you wish you had done better….”
“Tell me about a time when you had an idea for the parents that was strongly opposed…. How did you handle negative feedback….”
We narrowed it down to two candidates for whom we did 2-3 reference checks each - relying in large part again on the Amazon interview approach (consistently probing for specific examples). We made a decision. We made an offer. And we hired our nanny.
(We’re still deciding on which one of us was the bar raiser.)