After almost a year my extended internship with Amazon is now over. I traveled around Europe creating recruitment videos, scoped out and launched an EU-wide social media recruitment project and helped launch then run Amazon’s new EU careers website. I’ve also put recruitment reports together, built up a thorough understanding of how a large corporation like Amazon runs and gained a wealth of training and new skills along the way.
So what’s next for me?
Working for Amazon has been an amazing experience and I learned a lot from meeting and working with great people who have truly proved inspirational. While there were unfortunately no permanent positions available within the team I worked with, I had my manager’s full support if I wanted to apply for a role on one of the other teams, in Luxembourg or elsewhere in the world. But in a way this was almost a blessing in disguise as I had already decided I wanted to do something else. So, why not stay with Amazon?
Primarily because I’d like to go back to something with more of a journalism focus, or else find some more exciting projects to get stuck into! It’s been great to get a taste of a company like Amazon but it has also really made up my mind that my future needs to have a journalism or current affairs side to it -sitting in an office in isolation of big events going on in the real world just isn’t something I can stay passionate about over the long-term. Whether the journalism part of my career comes in the form of more blogging in my free time or something more full-time…well, we’ll just have to see what happens!
The great thing is I don’t feel tied to any one particular career path. I have a wide range of skills and interests, I love the challenge of new projects and I thrive in fast-paced, fast-changing environments. I’m passionate about current affairs, I love to learn new skills and I enjoy going new places and meeting new people. So it might come as no surprise to hear I’m very flexible about whatever I do next.
I’ve been looking at a doing a masters degree in European Politics at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, I’ve sent off my CV to a few places (can you believe I got headhunted in my final week of work with Amazon? Best. Timing. Ever!) and I’m even thinking of seeking investment for a project I’ve been exploring. I’m also hopeful now I have a bit of time I’ll finally get around to obtaining my driver’s license, completing the TEFL qualification course I’ve started and, you never know, maybe even enjoying a summer break.
