Amazon Interns Don’t Get Coffee

Business student Mary Hulbert interned for one of the world’s highest-profile companies this past summer. Here, she writes about her experience.

By Mary Hulbert

Photo courtesy of Mary Hulbert

If you’ve ever been curious about what a typical day is like for an Amazon intern in 2021, you have come to the right place! A little bit about me: I am a senior international business student, double majoring in Spanish and business administration and minoring in marketing and music. I am from Lucedale, MS, and from a young age have been an entrepreneur, teaching dance and music lessons.

As part of the international business curriculum at Mississippi State, we must complete an internship. I began looking at internships at a difficult time, during the pandemic. I scoured posts and boards from programs and frequently checked LinkedIn to see what opportunities were out there. Being an adventurous traveler, I looked for any opportunity that would allow me to journey to a new area, gain new experiences and meet new people. Through LinkedIn, I found an Amazon internship application, completed it and was fortunate enough to land a virtual interview. That led to several more virtual interviews, and then I was awarded an Area Manager Intern position in Ruskin, FL. Little did I know that this summer experience would change my life for the better.

Amazon provided pre-internship training through virtual company meetings to give my new peers and me an opportunity to learn the expectations for the upcoming summer as well as connect with each other. Prior to our arrival, we were included in Amazon LinkedIn groups, monthly intern newsletters and virtual seminars so we could generate relationships with our cohorts. When the day came to travel to the “Sunshine State,” I can’t describe the roller coaster of emotions I felt moving nine hours away from home, but I knew this was an exciting business internship that I was fortunate to have earned.

Amazon generates an attractive and worthwhile internship package. It is a paid position with health and retirement benefits as well as hourly pay, overtime, housing allowance and travel expenses. For those interns who are successful, another internship is awarded for the following summer with perks such as upgraded pay and benefits; however, these internships are not given – they are earned. This levels the playing field for advancement for anyone who wants an internship and wants to work hard.

Amazon also provided me with housing and moving assistance, so this made my transition very smooth. With the benefits provided, I was able to select a place to live that made me feel the safest and most comfortable in the new area. After researching the options, I chose to live in Bradenton, which was a 20-minute commute to work but near a lot of attractions.

Working alongside one another was much easier for the new interns because we had already been talking prior to beginning work, thanks to the community that Amazon had built for us. In addition, Amazon made the first days of my internship less nerve-racking and more comfortable because of their mentor program. Each intern was assigned a mentor who helped with work schedules, assignments, tasks and general knowledge of the whole internship experience. My mentor was incredible, always ensuring that I was prepared with the information I needed to complete the task at hand. I know this is one of the reasons my experience was so successful.

Hulbert's intern group enjoyed being together at work and during their time off. Here, from left, are Diane Lee, Hulbert, Miguel Arizmendi, María José, and Mary Catherine Gray.

Photo courtesy of Mary Hulbert

For me, as an intern, there was no “fetching coffee” as you see on television shows. With Amazon, I rotated every week to new departments and managers within our building. Each week, I met with my current manager and my mentor to grasp tasks and review challenges and expectations. Interns also participated in a weekly virtual influential speaker series from the corporate headquarters in Seattle, WA. This provided opportunities to network as well as learn business skills and leadership techniques.

At the conclusion of the summer, each intern was expected to complete an innovative PR/ FAQ intern project that required us to generate an idea of our own that would ultimately benefit Amazon consumers. At Amazon, one of the leadership principles is “Customer Obsession,” and my project addressed this principle as an employee and as a consumer. We presented our projects to the senior executive members and were given feedback and evaluations based on our presentations and our productivity. Our performances would ultimately determine whether we’d have opportunity to earn future internships or jobs. At the end of the summer, I was recognized as the top intern for the region. With this honor, I was offered an upgraded internship for the summer of 2022.

Overall, this internship gave me invaluable hands-on experience, and it provided insight on Amazon from inside the industry. I chose to work with this company to broaden my horizons and get a completely different business experience than I had ever had before. When I am looking for opportunities, I think about what I want to learn and what is interesting to me, rather than just focusing on resumé building.

I believe that working and learning is most important in an internship, but so is connecting with fellow interns and employees. Our intern group became close friends, and we explored areas of Florida together on our off days. We jet skied, went boating and kayaking, explored different beaches, ate in eclectic places and attended local Tampa Bay Rays games. My advice to anyone doing an internship would be to take advantage of your location and get out and explore the city that you’re in. These experiences are a large part of your growth, too!

I know I am a better person and a much more knowledgeable businesswoman due to my summer internship with Amazon, and I look forward to the future opportunities that I will gain because of it.