Pros
-No other company will give you experience directly leading up to 500 people as quickly as Amazon will, and you will quickly become a leader of people by necessity. -Its really interesting to learn what makes the engine of the beast that is Amazon fulfillment tick. -Working here still looks extremely attractive on the CV, and can provide you with some interesting exit opportunities - even after just one year of employment. -There is scope for quick advancement for EXCEPTIONALLY good performers (promotion to Sr. Ops Mgr within two years, GM within 2.5-4 years, regional director 4-5 years). The merely ‘good’ performers however will get stuck at SOM and have limited scope to advance beyond. -Your sign on package will include a healthy amount of restricted stock units (RSUs) that can become very valuable later on if the stock price happens to double or triple - assuming you can stand to last long enough until they fully vest (4 years). -You’ll deal with so many ridiculous situations and individuals that acing the behavioral interview for your next position after you leave Amazon will be no problem. -While you’re in the Pathways program you’ll get to attend a week long Pathways conference in Seattle once a year, which is extremely informative, interesting, and actually a ton of fun. -I’m not sure why you would be, but if you’re absolutely, 100% set on working within Operations within Amazon, the Pathways program is a million times better of an entry opportunity than coming in as an Area Manager or even standard Operations Manager. -If for some reason you live, breathe, and die for the Amazon culture and the Amazon way you just might make it here and be an Amazon success.
Cons
-Although the starting salary + bonus is in fairly in line with other post MBA employers, you’ll be working i Banking hours, without the i Banking pay, nor the scope for fairly rapid and substantial income jumps that the field provides. On top of this, the work you’ll do for Amazon is actually more demanding than finance because you’ll be doing work that is incredibly physically exhausting, and will probably spend all of your off days lying in bed trying to get your energy back. -Opportunities to enhance your income and salary through promotion pale greatly compared to other industries and companies. There are both less openings for advancement, and the jump in compensation you’ll see when promoted will typically be lesser than that of other companies. -Annual salary raises for employees that meet or even exceed expectations are pitiful and are less than inflation (<1.5% Outstanding performers are only bumped 2.0%). The promotion to Sr. Operations manager (which is a big deal to the company) only consists of a ~5% base salary increase from the starting Pathways salary. This makes the in-line-with-industry offer that Pathways starts you at feel like it is really just to get you in the door. -This is NOT a typical post-MBA role. Business acumen and overall intelligence and value to the business mean nothing in this role and is not valued at all - the role is really all about relentlessly barking down orders to your team in order to ‘drive’ improvements to the limited scope of metrics that your SOM silo’s you into, often at the expense of the well being of other people or the operation at large. You’ll also get sick of people using the word ‘drive’ all the time and feel a slight urge to throw someone under a bus every time you hear it. -Due to the secluded and low SES location of most fulfillment centers, you’ll have limited opportunity to develop relationships with other young post MBA professionals and expand your professional network. Completely forget happy hours or meeting colleagues or friends for dinner after work. In fact, completely forget being able to do ANYTHING after work, because as I mentioned above you will be so physically exhausted. -All businesses have office politics, but due to the unreasonable metrics pressure that everyone from all areas is constantly under, the office politics game at Amazon is particularly shameful and terrible, with political capital being used or gain to get or give assistance with trying to help someone else out with their metrics constantly. -Expect to get minimal or no support from your peers, manager, or HR. -While the rest of the world is enjoying the Christmas and holiday season (Peak at Amazon) you will be working 6 days / week, 12-15 hours / day and your life will be worse than hell. -The illogical interactions and senseless gibberish you’ll be slammed with - particularly by the hourly associates - but perhaps unexpectedly by many of the other AMs and OMs, your boss, and, god forbid, even the GM, will make it seem preferable to be instead sticking hot needles into your eyeballs. Overall, as you can see, there are many more negatives to this job than positives. I’d recommend to take it if you have no other options and you need a big brand name on your CV, otherwise I’d recommend a pass, and for you to congratulate yourself on the bullet you’ve just dodged.
