Tell us a little bit about yourself – where you’re from, what you like to do outside of work?
Jordan: I joined Amazon Pay in July of 2020 as an intern in the Consumer Marketing Team. Based in London, I love taking in everything that the city has to offer. Outside of work, I enjoy finding new places to eat, drink, and hang out with friends. Music means a lot to me and since being in London have spent many weekends digging for vinyl records!
Olly: I started my career in car insurance, working for LV in sales and progressing into a customer compliance role. I quickly learnt that I was not going to be able to progress my career any further without a degree, therefore, I enrolled at Oxford Brookes University as a mature student. This was the best decision I have made; it allowed me to start my own business in Oxford in my first 2-years and eventually go on to start an internship at Amazon Pay.
Peter: I’d describe myself as someone who’s diligent and motivated by new opportunities and challenges, so I’ve really enjoyed my year at Amazon. Living here and experiencing everything the city has to offer has been great, from art galleries to the amazing parks! Outside of work, I’m an avid rugby fan, I’m really interested in horology, and can be found walking my dogs when at home in the countryside.
Describe your experience of onboarding virtually and starting an internship in a remote environment. How did Amazon support you? What were some of the highlights and challenges?
Jordan: Luckily, Amazon has great infrastructure in place to help you on-board virtually. All the equipment you could need was readily available, and I think this really helped me to have a smooth transition. I think not having the team in the same room/office was challenging. I missed not being able to just ask the person next to you for some advice or help as if you were in an office environment. However, in the long-term this made me more resilient and helped fuel the ‘Learn and Be Curious’ aspect of the job, which I am very grateful for.
Olly: The pandemic changed the way everyone works but Amazon was quick to respond; they sent me IT equipment which allowed me to work from my home. The comfort of home helped to ease the new-job nervousness, but after visiting the office for my first and only day last month, I would have preferred the fast-paced environment of both the office and London itself.
Peter: Onboarding virtually during a pandemic was a very unique challenge, but Amazon was setup so well to deal with this. Being able to use tools like Embark to manage my onboarding tasks or Amazon Chime to communicate with my manager really helped the process of getting started in my new role. One of the highlights for me was being able to attend so many virtual events that were put on for EMEA interns, such as the quiz. It was nice to have some social time despite being out of the office. Not being in the office did present challenges. I think it made it harder to get to know colleagues, but having virtual events and introductory calls helped with this!
Can you share some of the accomplishments you are most proud of from the last year of interning at Amazon Pay?
Jordan: I would have to say getting the chance to write a ‘Doc’ is something I am most proud of doing. This allowed me to display all the skills I had learned over the course of my internship. The project resulted in me hosting a readout meeting with a following Question & Answer session to really pressure-test everything I had presented in the document. The recommendations that I proposed helped the Consumer Marketing Team prepare activities for the second half of the year, so it was nice to know that my work would continue to have an effect on the team after I had left.
Olly: Thanks to the high standard of training and support from Amazon and my colleagues, I was able to win new business for Amazon Pay. This is my proudest achievement and it shows that you will not just be pouring teas and coffees when you intern at Amazon Pay; you will actually have the opportunity to deliver significant value for Amazon Pay and its merchants.
Peter: There are a number of accomplishments that I’m proud of from my time at Amazon, from delivering results to my own personal development. It was really pleasing to see some of the results I was able to deliver. I’m also proud of the skills that I’ve developed from my time at Amazon, whether that’s competencies like Excel skills, general skills such as organisation and problem solving, or industry-specific commercial awareness. I feel like I’ve developed a lot in my time with Amazon Pay.
What’s your top piece of advice for a future Amazon intern?
Jordan: I think my top piece of advice would be that there are no stupid questions. Do not be afraid to ask questions when you first start, learning about your role and how it affects all the business functions is very important. One of my favourite leadership principles is ‘Learn and Be Curious’ and I think this is something that anyone starting out at Amazon should try and showcase at the start of their internship. Do not forget — be sure to have fun as well!
Olly: Think big; you are not bound to the one role at Amazon Pay. If you identify a problem, show bias for action and invent ways to simplify the process by connecting and earning trust with other teams across the world. It took me a while but the sooner you realise that you have the power to take ownership, the sooner you can positively impact Amazon Pay and its stakeholders.
Peter: My top piece of advice for a future Amazon intern would be to take advantage of the time at the beginning of your internship to learn as much as possible, making sure to ask lots of questions to the people around you, as they’re such a great resource of knowledge! The more questions you ask, the more you’ll learn about your role and the business, which will speed up your development and set you up to succeed in your internship.