The Amazon Spheres are spherical conservatories at the Amazon headquarters in Seattle. The three large glass domes are like greenhouses, hosting some 40,000 plants, but they also include work spaces and employee lounges. In the near future, Ellie Murphy '23 may find her office in one of the spheres. Maybe.
"The headquarters are absolutely amazing. I wasn't sure it would live up to the hype, but it did. However, the spheres were incredibly hot inside. They were really neat though."
Ellie was flown out to Seattle, and then Atlanta on a separate trip, as part of her internship with Amazon over the summer (aside from the conferences, most of the internship was remote). Ellie worked in recruitment, often speaking with candidates, and sometimes trying to match the right person with the right position. Specifically, Ellie's team worked on recruiting candidates to fill technical positions with the company.
Ellie loved the work and the career path, even if it's not the path the marketing communications major expected to take.
Ellie's dad manages recruitment for a business management firm, and he helped score Ellie an internship with the company last year. In fact, it's her dad who came across the Amazon internship on LinkedIn and encouraged Ellie to apply. She was reluctant, but figured there was nothing to lose. By the time she landed the internship (and then landed in Seattle) she had to admit, her dad was right.
"I didn't really want to go back to recruiting, but Amazon presents such a great opportunity. And then when I started doing the work, I loved it. I enjoy helping people find meaningful work. I advanced a resume forward, and when the person was hired, my manager said, 'You placed somebody!' It's such a good feeling to get someone a job."
Ellie earned her own job through her internship performance. She was hired back by the same team, and she'll start as soon as she graduates. For now, she'll be remote, which she didn't love during the internship. "I'm at my desk with only my cat staring at me. It gets lonely." But after a year or so, she'll be able to move into an office if she'd like, in Boston or New York or Austin, or maybe a sphere at HQ in Seattle.
