American Express · Primly Community

American Express behavioral interview questions and the values they're actually testing for

sam_recovering · 3 replies

I went through the amex process earlier this year, targeting a senior individual contributor role on the consumer products side. The behavioral portion was a bigger deal than I expected, so writing this up.

Amex openly talks about their leadership competencies. Before your interview, look them up. They map their behavioral questions directly to these. The interviewers are not subtle about it.

Questions I got across the behavioral and values rounds: Tell me about a time you had to influence without authority to get a project over the line. Describe a situation where you disagreed with a direction your team was taking. What did you do? Give me an example of a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information. Tell me about a project you led that didn't go as planned. What happened and what did you learn? Walk me through a time you built a relationship with a difficult stakeholder.

All STAR-format. They literally told me to use STAR at the start. The hiring manager was taking notes and would prompt me when I skipped a part: "and what was the actual outcome?"

A few things that seemed to matter: Specificity over impressiveness. A moderately sized story told with precise detail landed better than a vague "I led a major initiative" claim. Ownership language. They noticed when I said "we" for everything. Some "I" is expected. What you'd do differently. The learning question isn't a trap. Say something real.

Culture-wise: amex has a reputation as a more corporate, process-oriented environment than a startup. The behavioral questions probe for people who can operate in that kind of structure without constant frustration. If you hate bureaucracy, be honest with yourself before applying.

3 replies

consultant_cam

The 'influence without authority' question is basically standard across all large financial companies. The answer they're looking for almost always involves: stakeholder mapping, finding the right frame for each audience, and demonstrating you moved something without a mandate. Worth having a solid story prepared.

ae_andre

The 'we vs I' thing is real and cuts both ways. I've coached people who over-corrected and said 'I' for everything when it was clearly a team effort. The panel can tell. Just be accurate and natural about it.

firsttime_mgr

The bit about specificity over impressiveness is something I've noticed on the hiring side too. A well-told story from a mid-size project is way more credible than a vague claim about transforming a $10M system. The vague stuff doesn't hold up to follow-up questions.