Who or what is the Amazon Bar Raiser and why should I care?
Who (or what) is the Amazon “bar raiser”?
This is probably the #1 question my clients ask me.
The bar raiser is one of the interviewers in the Loop interview (the final round).
Are there any clues who the bar raiser is?
The easiest way to find out who the bar raiser is is to be told, and sometimes you will be. You can ask the recruiter if you think it would make you feel better to know, but they may not know/may not tell you.
They won’t be in the department that is hiring. This is usually what will clue you in to their identity.
The bar raiser is usually someone who has interview experience, meaning they’ve hired and retained employees.
They’ll have probably been at the company at least 3+ years; they’re an experienced Amazonian.
What is the bar raiser’s task exactly?
They are deciding whether the candidate’s answers “meet the bar or raise the bar.” In other words, are they average or well above average?
They are not in the department that is hiring, so they are supposed to give a department-outsider, unbiased perspective on the candidate’s abilities. Even though the other interviewers are evaluating the candidate too, the bar raiser is supposed to have higher standards because they aren’t worried about filling the job quickly (since they don’t work in the department). The bar raiser is protecting the company from a Hiring Manager who is so eager to hire someone because they need short-term relief that they might hire an average or below average candidate.
Does the bar raiser have veto power?
Before the hiring meeting, all interviewers write up their notes and vote on the hire. During the hiring meeting, the interviewers share their notes and then discuss the candidate, including their strengths and weaknesses. After this round of discussion, some interviewers may change their vote since they now have more data. A lot of effort is made to reach a decision where everyone agrees.
The bar raiser and the hiring manager will listen to the feedback and then will need to agree for the candidate to get an offer. The bar raiser does ultimately have veto power but they are not going to be making the decision without having had input from everyone, most importantly the hiring manager.
Will everyone have a bar raiser in their interview?
Bar raisers are used in interviews mostly for the corporate or professional roles at Amazon, so if you’re applying for a job in the warehouse or delivery services, for instance, you don’t need to worry about this.
How is the bar raiser going to be different than the other interviewers?
Bar raisers are experienced interviewers who excel at getting data from candidates.
If the interview isn’t delivering the right information, the information they need in order to decide if you’re the right candidate, it's their job to fix that. They only have a limited amount of time to get the data they need to get so they’re under pressure to lead you to answer the question with the information they’re looking for.
In order to guide you, sometimes they have to be tough and ask the hard questions, interrupt if you’ve gone off track, or ask for another example because the one given didn't yield the right data.
All of your interviews need to get information from you, but the bar raiser will generally be more experienced at this. Sometimes being questioned by an experienced interviewer can be uncomfortable because they won’t ask you the easy questions. They’re not trying to make you uncomfortable but you may end up being uncomfortable as a side-effect of them trying to get you to answer the question in a way that’s useful for them.
So how do I prepare for the bar raiser?
You prepare for it the same way you prepare for the other interviewers.
The bar raiser is looking for the same things that the other interviewers are in your answers. What is that? That’s a huge question - if you don’t know how to answer interview questions, see some of my other posts.
Preparing for all of the interviewers is a worthy goal. But forget about preparing differently for the bar raiser.
You should assume each of your interviewers is going to have an unpleasant personality, a difficult accent to understand, and a list of very hard questions to answer. Then you will prepare accordingly and won’t be surprised if someone gives you a tough time with their attitude or their questions.
Stop wasting your time trying to figure out who the bar raiser is going to be and spend your time practicing your answers.
My clients get really hung up on this bar raiser question. I get the feeling they spend more time Googling “Amazon bar raiser” than they do preparing. If you’re doing this too, instead of writing your answers and practicing them, you’re wasting your time. Are you watching endless YouTube videos about this? Stop.
I know you’re worried about the bar raiser if you’ve done some research on Amazon interviews, but when you’re spending all your time worrying about this one piece of your interview you’re probably not preparing for every interviewer to ask you tough questions.
How tough/mean/hostile/demanding can the interviewers be?
What if someone who is or is not the bar raiser:
Asks you hard questions that have multiple components?
Is arrogant and doesn’t seem at all interested in you?
Doesn’t bother with any small talk at the beginning?
Cuts you off every 10 seconds?
Types the entire time you’re talking without looking at you once?
Says “That isn’t a good example, do you have another one?”
Asks you 10 follow up questions after your first answer?
Those are all things my clients have told me have happened to them. Could you handle all of those situations? If not, you might want to stop Googling interview tips and start preparing for those negative situations.
Bar Raiser Questions with Sample Answers
This is a trick section. There are no specific questions that the bar raiser will ask you. They will focus on one or two principles, but that is what the other interviewers will do too because the interviewers divide them up.
People ask me all the time “What are the Bar Raiser questions?” Other interview coaches write articles and make videos about bar raiser questions. They just do this because it’s a way to get you to read their blog or watch their video. There are NO specific questions that the bar raiser asks. I know I keep saying this over and over, but I keep seeing more and more videos made with these titles.
There is no secret list of bar raiser questions. There isn’t.
Go work on your answers and stop reading posts like this…
Related reading:
How Amazon rates answers to behavioral questions in interviews