Amazon Internal Transfer
Quite a few people from my team have been leaving to other orgs in the last few months. My manager claims they will 'support any career transition we wish to make'. However, that always seems like a quick way to end up on the PIP list if you are actively seeking a different role. Been in role about 2 years and it is really not what I was promised at hire. I'm an average performer in the role when I've always been a top performer prior - because the role itself and the org as a whole is just, eh. I'm curious if the hiring manager would know I've applied to another role internally. Figure I would only tell the current hiring manager if it was post final round / offer time. However, don't want to end up on the bad list without an in-place exit plan if they are gonna know on their own right away. #amazon #transfer #HR
Which org?
Rather not share for anonymity
I guess you can share now xP
How did you apply to internal jobs? Always ask the hm for an informal loop. Once you get a job offer, inform your current manager and within 5 minutes, click the apply button on job finder.
Wait - So you get a job offer without even clicking Apply? I've not applied for any internally yet but have had a few conversations with hiring managers which mostly I've passed on once I've heard full details however I have a few of interest right now. Figured I'd have to officially apply to loop from what most hiring managers have said which would then likely tell me current manager, and I may or may not get an offer.
Some managers, particularly newer ones may want you to stick to a formal process. While these managers could always make an exception based on team needs / your situation / your skills and take an informal loops, some will insist at which point you need to make that risk decision on if you tell your manager or not apply at all (based on how interesting the role sounds). But if they even start to entertain an informal process even just a little bit, go for it :)
Yes the hiring manager will know. Saved from Reddit: • Amazon no longer has a formal/official transfer moratorium, meaning you can theoretically transfer the day you join the company. In practice, however, most managers won't even talk to you unless they somehow already know you, or you've been with the company for some time. There are always concerns about how well you'll perform (there's always a risk), and your commit history, prior work within the company, and connections are one way to gauge that. • You will have to go through an interview loop with any team you're looking to transfer onto. How the team actually does this, however, is up to them. It can range from a series of informal conversations (or even nothing at all, if they already know you personally) to hours of coding and design rounds nearly indistinguishable from that of an outside loop--only difference is that there won't be a bar raiser unless you're also changing job families. There are also biases for and against specific orgs, so if you're trying to move to AWS from some disreputable part of retail (for example), they're more likely to hit you with a formal loop. • HR officially recommends using the job finder tool and "applying" to positions you're interested in through the portal to kick off the transfer process. This is a horrible idea and virtually everybody knows not to do this, because... • Your own manager will be notified the instant you do this. Managers can (at any time and for practically any reason) put you on what's called a "development list" (dev list for short), which is a soft signal that you're "underperforming." In turn, you will need VP approval to transfer (so you're effectively banned from actually transferring). Even worse: if you leave the company while on a dev list, you're also permanently blacklisted from rehire...so this tool has been weaponized by managers who use it to "trap" people they think they're going to lose (especially if they're already bleeding people and don't think they can afford more losses--and, naturally, these are the teams people are trying to transfer out of en masse). • This leads to a clandestine situation where people are doing informal reachouts and interviewing "under the table" (and only "applying" once an informal offer has been extended) because the risk of getting rejected by a team after you apply and then getting dev listed or fired by your own manager is simply too high. The net result is that transfer friction at Amazon is actually pretty high. People often move around, but really only because it's still a bit easier and/or leads to a more desirable outcome than leaving the company entirely, not because it's trivially easy in absolute terms.
F