'How long should a behavioral answer be? I
usually go for 4 to 5 minutes. Is that OK
or too long? I have read all sorts of 'keep
it under 2 to 3 minutes'.
No. Don't try to fit it within 2 to 3 minutes.
That would backfire. If you try to truncate
it too much, without explaining all those
illustrations and make all the relevant topics,
you're going to give the interviewer a lot
of work to come up with fact-finding questions
during their Q&A session. So, do not constrain
yourself. If you follow this framework, you're
doing the job for the interviewer, and they're
not going to cut you off. 5 to 6 minutes is
usually a good idea. It really also depends
on the level where you are interviewing at
Amazon. If you are interviewing with more
senior-level folks, at the Director level
or above, the interview is going to feel more
like a conversation. It's not going to be
this boxed question-and-answer session. Or
it also depends on the type of accomplishment
you are describing. If you are describing
an accomplishment that took you three years
to complete: you devised the project, then
you built it, then you shipped it, then it
had a bunch of service issues. You can talk
about that for a while. So, read the interviewer
and figure out what is the best approach there,
but try to stay within 5 to 6, 7 minutes,
maybe and read the interviewer along the way.
