The Amazon Bar Raiser program is a unique mechanism within the company’s talent acquisition strategy. It commits to maintaining a consistently high standard for new employees globally. This specialized role operates independently of the immediate hiring team, ensuring decisions are grounded in long-term organizational fit rather than short-term necessity. The process safeguards the quality of Amazon’s workforce.
Defining the Bar Raiser Role
A Bar Raiser (BR) is a trained, tenured Amazon employee who serves as an objective, third-party interviewer. They are intentionally not a member of the specific team or organization filling the open position, nor are they the hiring manager. This separation ensures the BR has no vested interest in filling the role quickly or with a candidate who addresses an immediate team need.
The primary function of the Bar Raiser is to act as a steward of the company’s hiring standards and culture. Operating as a neutral advocate for quality, the BR helps mitigate potential biases that arise from a team eager to staff a role under pressure. Their presence standardizes the evaluation criteria, ensuring consistency across all locations.
The Origin and Purpose of the Program
The Bar Raiser program originated in 1999 as the “Barkeeper Program,” initially intended to maintain hiring standards. The name was quickly changed to “Bar Raiser” to reflect a more ambitious goal: improvement, not just maintenance. The core mandate is that every new hire must be better than 50% of employees in a similar role.
This strategic approach is linked to the company’s long-term growth and innovation strategy. By constantly elevating the caliber of the workforce, Amazon aims to build stronger teams equipped to invent on behalf of customers. The system reinforces a preference for quality over speed, deterring compromises made to meet aggressive hiring targets.
Key Responsibilities During the Interview Process
The Bar Raiser’s involvement extends across the entire interview process, from preparation to the final decision. Before interviews begin, the BR collaborates with the hiring manager to define the competencies and the specific Amazon Leadership Principles that will be assessed. This preparation ensures the interview loop is structured and focused on collecting relevant data.
During the interview, the BR focuses on assessing a candidate’s long-term potential, cultural fit, and behavioral evidence of the Leadership Principles. They use deep-dive, behavioral questions to uncover how a candidate approached a problem, rather than just what the outcome was. A BR might probe past actions to evaluate the demonstration of “Ownership” or “Learn and Be Curious.”
Following the individual interviews, the Bar Raiser moderates the debrief session with all interviewers. The BR ensures the discussion is objective, fact-based, and centered on the evidence gathered against the defined Leadership Principles. They guide the panel to reach a consensus, ensuring all interviewers adhere to best practices and achieve a fair, accurate assessment.
The Bar Raiser’s Impact on Hiring Decisions
The influence of the Bar Raiser culminates in the debrief session, where they hold significant authority. While all interviewers provide input and a recommendation, the Bar Raiser’s final vote carries substantial weight. The BR acts as the ultimate quality control mechanism.
The Bar Raiser is empowered to veto a hiring decision, even if the hiring manager and the rest of the interview loop favor the candidate. This authority checks against short-term hiring pressure or affinity bias. The BR ensures the candidate is evaluated against the company-wide standard of “raising the bar,” safeguarding the integrity of the talent pool.
This veto power ensures every hire is viewed through the lens of long-term success and cultural alignment, rather than a temporary fix for a staffing gap. The presence of a Bar Raiser forces the hiring team to present a data-driven, compelling case, knowing an objective party must be convinced the standard has been met.
The Selection and Training Process
The Bar Raiser role is not a full-time job but a volunteer duty undertaken by respected, senior employees who maintain their primary roles. Employees are nominated by managers, peers, or existing Bar Raisers based on strong performance, sound judgment, and a deep understanding of the Leadership Principles. Only those who have proven their ability to evaluate talent objectively are considered.
Once nominated, candidates enter a rigorous training and certification process that can span several months, sometimes up to a year. This intensive period includes training on structured interview techniques, unconscious bias mitigation, and the nuances of the Leadership Principles. Trainees must shadow veteran Bar Raisers across multiple interview loops, learning to facilitate debriefs and provide objective feedback before they are certified.
Preparing for a Bar Raiser Interview
Candidates preparing for an interview involving a Bar Raiser should structure their preparation around providing specific, detailed evidence of past performance. The most effective method for answering behavioral questions is the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Using this framework ensures responses are comprehensive, measurable, and clearly articulate the candidate’s contribution.
Multiple detailed examples should be prepared for each of the Leadership Principles, as the BR will focus on these extensively. Candidates should anticipate challenging, deep-dive follow-up questions that explore failures, long-term business impact, and the rationale behind their decisions. The Bar Raiser is less interested in technical knowledge and more focused on uncovering how the person thinks, problem-solves, and demonstrates growth potential.