Why Amazon’s Graduate Program Remains a Huge Draw for MBAs

Nunzio Quacquarelli, CEO of QS Quacquarelli Symonds interviewed Selina Bannweg, MBA Recruiter II, Student Programs at Amazon about the company’s MBA recruiting program at the QS World Tour 2019.

Find out what Selina had to say about Amazon's recruiting process below.

Selina is a part of Amazon’s European recruitment team, who recruit for Amazon’s EU ‘Launch’ program.

Launch began in 2011 in London, UK and has since spread to locations across Europe including: Luxembourg, Milan, Madrid, Munich, Berlin and Paris. The number of MBAs hired every year is dependent on business needs, but there are currently over 200 participants on the program.

Amazon’s launch is a three-year program with two rotations. The first rotation is assigned to the MBA and the second can be freely chosen by the MBA candidate.

There are five different teams within the program: Amazon Consumer; Amazon Device; Advertising; Prime Video; AWS.

MBA candidates are offered a lot of support from Amazon in terms of training, rotation office hours, and mentoring. There are also a lot of training sessions and program add-ons to help MBAs be successful in their career at Amazon.

Amazon is looking for fungible candidates as the program covers a lot of business areas and job functions. Selina says Amazon looks for generalists that could be placed in any role; someone with a breadth of experience to adapt to Amazon’s fast-paced environment, and data analytical skills are also a premium.

The company has 14 leadership principles which are imperative to Amazon’s culture. Candidates should take this onboard when thinking about their cultural fit at the company, and the necessity to incorporate these principles into interpersonal skills.

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