Creating a personalized career path at Amazon

The Amazon workspace has built a relearning, retraining, and upskilling culture to help support their employees’ career goals. Whatever goals you have for your future, you can create a personalized career path at Amazon.

Amazon offers career advancement opportunities to employees who desire to upskill and launch better careers. You can use the opportunities available to create a fully customized career trajectory at Amazon.

This article reviews the steps you should take to create your personalized career path at Amazon.

What are the steps to creating a personalized career path at Amazon? 

Self-assessment and goal setting

The first step toward fulfilling your career vision and goals is self-assessment. You need to determine your value and core values. Ask yourself:

• What are the unique ways you contribute to work every day? 
• What are your strengths, and how can you capitalize on them?

The principles that are important to you will help guide you. They influence the things you do and how you do them. Use these principles to set your goals.

It’s essential to set SMART career goals within the Amazon ecosystem. Using the SMART framework will help you achieve your short-term and long-term career goals.

Understand your strengths as an employee. Have a clear vision of where you want your career to go in the company. Upskill and reskill yourself. This will set you up for career advancement.

Exploring Amazon’s diverse career opportunities

Create a vision of where you want to be in your career within the next few years. Explore the various career opportunities that Amazon has to offer. Picking a field to settle in will help you focus your energy on preparing for your dream job.

Here are some of the options available to you:

• Corporate roles
• Technical roles
• Operations and logistics roles
• Remote and flexible work opportunities

The career opportunities have different requirements and will guide you in selecting the specific knowledge and skills you need to acquire.

Aligning your career path with Amazon’s culture and values

Very few companies operate on the same level as Amazon. This is largely due to their leadership principles. Understanding the principles that guide the company and applying them to your work life is vital.

When you understand the company’s principles and core values, it’s easier to demonstrate alignment with the company in your career growth. As with any other company, setting yourself apart as a stellar Amazon employee opens you up to career advancement opportunities.

Networking and building relationships

The importance of networking to your career growth cannot be overstated. Making strong connections with coworkers and bosses is important. It can help you learn, develop, and gain valuable skills. These skills can benefit your career in the long run.

You can start networking, no matter your position at Amazon. Connect with your colleagues for mentorship and potential collaboration. Here are a few tips to help you connect with your colleagues both horizontally and vertically:

• Demonstrate your initiative and drive
• Strive for open communication
• Connect with them on platforms like LinkedIn
• Be friendly and helpful
• Be strategic about your networking

Watch our workshop to learn more networking tips:

Developing relevant skills and competencies

Create a roadmap for your desired career path. Identify the specific field. Determine the skills needed in that area.

If you want to start a career in the corporate world, you must possess certain skills. Examples of the skills you need to learn are project management, leadership, emotional intelligence, communication, and problem-solving.

After identifying the skills you need, you can effectively strategize on how to acquire and enhance them. The next section covers how you can work on developing the skills.

Leveraging Amazon’s internal resources and opportunities

Programs like the Amazon Career Choice Program and other internal resources and opportunities are essential to your career advancement. You can take Amazon-sponsored upskilling and reskilling courses through Pathstream.

Pathstream is one of the leading platforms designed to help frontline workers work towards achieving their career goals. You can browse Pathstream courses and choose the most relevant course that will equip you with the digital skills you need to succeed in today’s workspace.

Working at Amazon also gives you access to mentoring programs to help you grow your career. Their programs offer the chance to build strong relationships. You can also learn from people who have experienced similar situations. Group and one-on-one programs are available.

You can also use performance management as a growth opportunity. Maintain an open line of communication with your supervisor. They should provide you with constructive feedback that helps you achieve your goals and those of the company.

Find out how Yaimara leveraged Amazon’s Career Choice to land a new job in Sales Operations:

Tracking your progress and staying adaptable

It can be disheartening when you don’t recognize your progress. This can lead to a lack of hope in achieving your goals. Tracking your progress is one of the best ways to stay motivated. It’s essential to regularly review and update your career goals to reflect your growth.

In today’s fast-paced world, change is the only constant. Stay adaptable and embrace change. This will enable you to make adjustments to your career path when necessary. 

Staying adaptable is essential for success. It can help you manage unexpected problems. It is also a hallmark of strong leadership.

Celebrating milestones and achievements

Fulfilling your career dreams is a journey with many milestones, and it’s important to celebrate every achievement. Honor your successes throughout your career. This will give you more confidence and courage. You can then take risks and seize new opportunities.

Willingness to learn and improve goes a long way in helping your career growth. You should utilize feedback from trusted sources like mentors and your peers. The information they give you can be used to refine your career path.

Conclusion

A personalized career path makes achieving long-term success easier. If you’re interested in further developing your personalized career path, look into Amazon’s Career Choice Program. It can help turn your job into a career.

How? First, determine if you’re eligible to participate in the program. Amazon employees must be employed as regular, reduced, or part-time hourly staff for 90 days to be eligible.

Regular staff must work 40+ hours per week. Reduced staff must work 30+ hours per week. Part-time staff must work 20-29 hours per week. These employees must have a blue badge (L1-L4).

This includes all hourly non-exempt associates from the following:

• Fulfillment Centers
• Customer Service
• Corporate
• AWS
• Amazon Fresh Stores
• Amazon Books
• Amazon 4-star
• Amazon Pop Up
• AmazonGo
• Certain retail and eligible subsidiary associates. Eligible subsidiaries include A9, A100, A2Z, Audible, Brilliance, ComiXology, CreateSpace, Fabric.com, Goodreads, Amazon Pharmacy, Shopbop, Ring, and Woot.

Once you have confirmed your eligibility, you should determine which program would be most beneficial in helping you achieve your career aspirations. Learn more about our program here.