The Job Interview Question that Everyone Gets Wrong

What I learned at Amazon about building innovative teams – and why it matters more than ever in the AI age.

I kind of hit the jackpot when it comes to careers. For close to the past decade, I was fortunate to have worked in a special division of Amazon focused on incubating “moonshot” ideas. This division was an amazing place. We were responsible for launching a variety of new state-of-the-art products and services, including Amazon Care (telemedicine), Amazon Explore (live, real-time, interactive tours around the world), and Echo Frames (eyeglasses that connect to Alexa).

This experience (and my reflection on it) has had me asking a question lately: What if everyone had the opportunity to wake up each day and go to work at a job that they truly loved? Not a job loved because it was comfortable and paid well, but rather, because it was the perfect fit for one’s personality and purpose. A job with a mission that resonates deeply with core beliefs and life goals. A job that simply feels right — inspiring, challenging, and truly understanding. A job where one’s unique talents are put to their very best possible use.

If that’s your dream—work that aligns with who you are—then you can’t just expect it to land in your lap. You have to start with knowing what matters to you. Of course, that doesn’t mean you’ll know all the opportunities out there – you won’t. But when you’re clear on your values and what gives you energy, you’ll be far more likely to recognize the right fit when it appears. And that’s why one of the most important questions in any job interview is also the most revealing: Why are you applying to this job?

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One of the most unexpectedly rewarding parts of my time at Amazon was getting to interview and hire for our new projects—a task that taught me a lot about what really matters in building a great team. In these interviews, my task was to ask specific questions (usually from a template) to assess (i) the candidate’s skill in 1-2 functional abilities and (ii) the candidate’s demonstration of 2-3 of Amazon’s 16 Leadership Principles (LPs).[1] For functional abilities, applicants would typically have to perform a programming task (for software engineering roles), or to walk us through business case study (for management roles). For leadership principles, we would usually ask the applicant to “describe a time…” that he/she showed competency of that principle. Naturally, candidates who demonstrated functional competency and had good stories from their lives on how they demonstrated LPs would get high ratings. Within a few days of the interview loop, the hiring team would convene and discuss their answers to these questions.[2]

This interview structure was pretty good at helping the hiring team objectively compare the qualifications of candidates competing for a role. However, to me? It never felt complete. You see, unlike other parts of the company tasked with continuing to build XYZ at 5% greater efficiency or 5% lower cost, the goal of our special division of Amazon was to come up with new, world-changing ideas from scratch. To imagine. To create. To build before the plans were written. Our division lived in an ambiguous world where everything was possible but not everything could (or should) be done. So, for us, more important than functional capabilities or stories of past accomplishments was knowing if the candidate was motivated in the right way. Think about that: you can find someone who has all the capabilities to do a good job, and has all the stories to show that they have leadership qualities, but how do you know if he/she really cares about what you’re trying to accomplish? How do you know if that person is going to show up each day and give it his/her all, or just show up each day and clock-in and clock-out?

In Amazon, we called this question the "Mercenary vs. Missionary" question. Let me explain. Mercenaries in a workplace—much like mercenaries in battle—are working for their pay.[3] They will deliver 100% of what you ask them, collect their paycheck, and go home, fulfilling their obligation.[4] Mercenaries make up the vast majority of job applicants, and being one is by no means a bad thing. The good ones can be excellent and even ideal employees for many teams.

But when you’re hiring for a moonshot division like Google X or Amazon Grand Challenge—places focused on building things brand new to society—you need more than just reliable, clock-in, clock-out employees. You need people driven by more than just a paycheck. To build a team like that, you need missionaries: people who believe in the mission itself. Missionaries aren’t motivated by salary or promotions to help climb the corporate ladder; their real satisfaction comes from building the product, launching the service, and seeing the greater impact in the world. They understand that meaningful work often demands more than 100%, and the best ones will find ways to push even further. They stick around to work after business hours, not because their boss told them to work later, but because they want to — because it gives them energy and joy.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: Adam, isn’t this just a sneaky way to find people who will work all day and all night? Isn’t this focus on “mission” just a cover for exploitation, like we sometimes see at tech companies? Honestly, I used to worry about that too. But over time, I realized that’s not the goal — and it’s definitely not the point. Yes, I want people who are willing to work a little longer and stay a little later. But not because someone tells them to, and not because they’re being pushed or punished. I want people who choose to put in that extra energy, because they believe in what we’re building. Because the work itself gives them meaning.

When you build a team like that, something powerful happens: people show up excited every day, and that excitement is contagious. The energy becomes self-sustaining, creating a virtuous cycle of motivation, collaboration, and real joy in the work. It isn’t about pushing people to exhaustion — it’s about unlocking a deeper sense of purpose that makes teams truly come alive. In my experience, the difference between a team driven by the mission vs. one driven by personal goals (money or status) is night and day. When people believe they’re making a meaningful impact, the culture transforms, performance accelerates, and the work becomes both productive and deeply fulfilling.

But here's the problem – you want missionaries, but you can’t just ask interview candidates if they are mercenaries or missionaries. You can’t say: are you willing to work more than 100%? I mean you could, but it makes you sound like a dick and you won’t get an honest answer. So you have to be a little more coy in your questioning. You need to ask what I call the “secret question”.

The secret question of all interviews is so simple that few notice how powerful it is: Why are you applying for this job? The magic of this question is not in the question itself, but in the answer. Case in-point: almost 9 out of 10 jobseekers I ask this question to will answer it in the following way:

“I’m applying for this position because I think it would be a great opportunity for me to use my knowledge of machine learning, to build my managerial skills working with dynamic, cross-functional teams, and to collaborate with a group of really interesting people. Plus, Amazon is a great company that’s doing some amazing work in the world. And honestly, I’d love living in Seattle — the access to nature and the outdoors is incredible. Overall, I think this would be a great role for me.”

This is a perfectly honest and rational answer to the question – the candidate is very clear about why he/she is applying for the role. But there is something a little misaligned. Something really, really big. And that misalignment is that the interviewee’s energy is not focused toward the mission, but towards his/her needs. There is no mention of the reason the job exists. No mention of what the team needs. Let’s contrast the answer above with this one:

“Why am I applying for this position? Honestly, because it’s one of the coolest projects I’ve ever heard about. I recently read your group’s paper about building a new generative AI agent to help people earn a bachelor’s degree for a fraction of the cost they would pay at a traditional university — and I thought, wow – that could improve the lives for millions of people. How can I help? So, I started researching: what kinds of ML tasks would be critical for making this happen? I even put together a list of key tasks that might be helpful [applicant hands over the list]. What do you think — could I just start building some of these today? I mean, I really believe in this project. I can’t think of anything more exciting than getting up every day and using my skills to help make it real.”

See how much more energy is in this answer? See how motivated the applicant is? I would 100% hire this applicant over someone with higher technical competency, but a more mercenary attitude.[5]

Understanding a job applicant’s motivation is critical — not just because it predicts how much energy he/she will bring to the work, but because it signals something even more important: his/her capacity to learn. In zero-to-one jobs, answers are rarely obvious, and challenges often fall outside anyone’s existing expertise. In these moments, the ability to stay curious, self-teach, and push into new areas matters more than simply “already knowing” the right answer. People who are truly motivated by the mission are far more likely to do that — to keep learning, even when it’s hard or inconvenient.

So, whether you’re an employer building a team or a jobseeker looking for your next role, remember what’s at stake: the chance to create a world where more people feel deeply connected to their work. For employers, that starts with asking the right question—and listening closely to find those rare candidates who believe in the mission, not just the perks. And if you’re lucky enough to find them, don’t just compensate them, but invest in them by paying them very, very well and giving them opportunities to grow – missionaries can’t survive on passion alone. For jobseekers, it means being honest about why you’re applying. If you truly care about the work and the people doing it, say so—and show it. That kind of alignment isn’t just good for productivity. It’s how we move closer to a world where more of us wake up, go to work, and feel like we’re exactly where we’re meant to be.[6]

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[1] The LPs are not just corporate blah. They are taken very seriously in Amazon, and form the basis of the company’s culture: the “glue” that binds 1.5 million employees worldwide.

[2] For those unfamiliar, Amazon’s interviewing process comprises two stages. Stage 1, called a “phone screen,” is a 30-60-minute call with a recruiter or hiring manager to confirm the candidate meets the basic qualifications. If successful, the candidate moves to Stage 2: a full-day interview known as a “loop.” A loop typically comprises 5-7 one-on-one interviews with members of the hiring team over the course of 8 hours (usually you get a 30 min break for lunch – classic Amazon!). Each one-on-one interview lasts an hour, with most of the time spent with the job applicant answering questions posed by the interviewer.

[3] Mercenaries don’t have to be focused exclusively on the paycheck. They can also be focused on professional ambition (e.g., seeking to use the job as a stepping stone to a better position within the company), or for a title that their family can be proud of. But the motivation remains the same – a primary focus on personal goals.

[4] I say 100% here, but for the teams that I’ve been part of, if we ever got the impression in an interview that someone would work less than 100%, that would be an immediate "no-hire".

[5] Within reason. Energy alone can’t make you a great programmer or give you the wisdom that comes from deep experience and competency in a subject. But it really helps.

[6] Special thanks to

CansaFis Foote

,

Lily

, and

Cam Houser

for providing valuable feedback on this essay!