Many software engineers dream of working for one of the elite FAANG companies—Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. But interview processes are rigorous across the board, ensuring only the most qualified candidates are hired.
And at Amazon, the bar is even higher—literally. The e-commerce giant has had a unique hiring practice in place since the late 1990s called “bar raisers,” where an interviewer who typically sits on another team serves as an objective third-party adviser during the hiring process. There were a whopping 3,600 bar raisers at Amazon as of October 2019, but they had been removed from the interview process for entry-level software engineers in recent years during a pandemic hiring boom.
But Amazon is reinstating bar raisers into the interview process for entry-level software engineering jobs, called “SDE-1 (L4)” roles, according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider.
“We’re constantly reviewing and improving our hiring practices to ensure we’re hiring the best talent to innovate for our customers,” Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokesperson, told Fortune.
Amazon declined to say whether removing bar raisers from the SDE-1 roles had led to a drop in talent quality, as Business Insider reporting suggests. However, reinstating the bar-raiser program for these roles “is addressing a direct business need and aims to enhance the quality of SDE-1 candidates hired,” according to the memo obtained by Business Insider.
What are bar raisers?
There are thousands of bar raisers at Amazon who volunteer their time contributing to the interview process. They undergo a rigorous training process, sitting in on dozens of interviews before officially entering the program. Bar raisers aren’t paid extra for the work they contribute as part of the interview process.
“These individuals, who are typically experienced employees from different departments, are trained to evaluate candidates not just for the immediate role but also for long-term potential and overall fit with Amazon's culture,” Tearra Bourgeois, a former Amazon human resources business partner, told Fortune. “They bring an objective perspective and help mitigate biases that might occur when hiring managers are pressured to fill positions quickly.”
Amazon employees must be nominated by their manager, peers, or another bar raiser in order to be considered for the program. They can come from any part of the company, ranging in roles including product management, software development, human resources, and marketing. Aspiring bar raisers also have to complete an “extensive training” on Amazon’s 16 Leadership Principles, which include “customer obsession, ownership, think big, and frugality.”
Bar raisers are charged with understanding the full picture of a candidate, Callahan said, and can help drive final hiring decisions. They’re “especially important during the evaluation stage” by driving the debrief discussion following an interview. A major part of their role is also to evaluate whether a candidate has the potential to grow in their role, Callahan said. Hence the name: The main purpose of a bar raiser is to keep the hiring bar high, she said.
“One could speculate that Amazon brought [bar raisers] back based on data to continue and maintain this consistent, high-quality hiring standard and to reinforce the importance of cultural fit and long-term potential in their hiring decisions,” Bourgeois said.
While Amazon declined to share with Fortune the types of questions a bar raiser might ask during an interview process, they’re in charge of evaluating the candidate’s core competencies for the job they’re applying for and whether they’ll meet the desired performance outcomes.
Bar raisers typically ask questions to assess a candidate’s long-term cultural fit and alignment with the company’s leadership principles, Bourgeois said, which can include detailing a time when they’ve had to make a difficult decision with limited information or how the candidate has “demonstrated customer obsession” in previous roles, she said. Candidates are also asked questions such as “Imagine you are leading a project and the timeline is cut in half. How would you adjust your approach to ensure success?” and “Describe a complex problem you have solved. What was your approach, and what were the results?”
Amazon bar raisers also ask fellow interviewers questions during the debrief following an interview.
“I've learned some key questions that get hiring managers to really think about the role and the decision,” Annie Groeninger, a former software development manager, told Amazon for an article about the bar-raiser program. “Some of my favorites to ask are, 'What does Amazon miss out on if we don't hire this person?' and 'What about this person makes you want to work with them?'"
Groeninger, who worked at Amazon for more than a decade, became a bar raiser after completing 800 interviews.
Are these procedures common at other tech companies?
While one might tend to believe software engineering interview questions and practices would be solely tech-focused, candidates are more frequently being asked and evaluated on behavioral questions.
“Similar practices are becoming more common in tech companies, though they might go by different names. The tech industry is highly competitive, and companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft implement rigorous hiring processes to ensure they attract and retain top talent,” said Bourgeois, who now serves as an HR business partner for AmTrust Financial Services. “However, not all companies adopt this practice due to the resources and training required to implement and sustain this type of program effectively. Smaller companies or those in less competitive industries might not find it as feasible.”
One of the main benefits of Amazon’s bar-raiser program is balancing out a hiring team, Matt Collingwood, managing director of VIQU IT Recruitment, told Fortune.
“The main benefit of a bar raiser is they can balance out a hiring team,” said Collingwood, who has more than 27 years of experience in IT recruiting. “When the hiring team [is] overly positive about a hire, a bar raiser could offer a more cautious or balanced view. This can contribute to a more stringent hiring process.”
However, it’s important that bar raisers are trained rigorously, but also have an understanding of the individual team’s culture and identity ahead of the interviewing process.
“A drawback of a bar raiser is that they may not understand the team culture they are looking to hire into,” he said. “The individuals in that team will know what type of personality would fit best.”
But Amazon’s bar-raiser program is more about building a cohesive company culture—and not just a team.
"The role of a bar raiser is unique because we will not be involved in the day-to-day interaction with the interviewee, so we're completely focused on making hiring decisions for Amazon, not for a specific team or role,” Groeninger told Amazon. “Our ability [is] to maintain a long-term vision rather than focus on an immediate hiring need."
