Amazon manager inspires others to engage in new lifelong learning

Fionnula Mooney from Ballycastle works at the Amazon delivery station in Motherwell having risen through the ranks from her first role at Amazon as a graduate.

Fionnula is telling her story during Learning at Work Week, an annual programme run by the charity Campaign for Learning. The charity works with organisations around the UK to help create activities and fun challenges in the workplace to help employees learn and grow.

The theme of Learning at Work Week 2022 is Learning Uncovered, and will focus on deepening society’s understanding, knowledge and engagement in lifelong and continual learning.

Fionnula, who has worked for Amazon since 2019, has used the company’s development and training opportunities to progress and now works as a change manager.

Fionnula joined Amazon in 2019 through the Amazon graduate programme. Upon graduating from Queen’s University in Belfast with a degree in human biology, she wanted something new and fresh for the future, so she applied for a place on the Amazon graduate scheme. Her application was successful, and she moved to Scotland to join Amazon.

Since starting the graduate programme, Fionnula has progressed through the ranks to take on management roles in three Amazon delivery stations across the UK. She’s currently a change manager at the company’s delivery station in Motherwell.

Fionnula explains how the guidance of her managers at Amazon, along with world-class training programmes, has helped her develop her career.

“My training is very personalised and very tailored to me on an individual basis,” Fionnula said. “When I joined Amazon, my manager at the time, and other managers around me, saw what my skills were and adapted what they taught me a daily basis. I was very much supported through my development here.”

Fionnula’s favourite part of her role is mostly the support she gets from her managers and the team she works with.

“I’ve had a lot of different people spend a lot of time with me, developing me, mentoring me, taking me down the right path,” she said. “That sense of shared ownership for development and development of new talent is something I really enjoy at Amazon.”

When looking to the future, Fionnula has aspirations of a more senior leadership position at Amazon. Growing up in Northern Ireland, she hopes to transfer back home to a similar role, or ideally in a step-up role as she continues with her career development.

Amazon Motherwell delivery station manager, Jim Walker, added: “We are extremely proud of Fionnula for how she has risen through the ranks since joining Amazon in 2019. She is a valued member of the team here at Amazon in Motherwell and we hope that her story will inspire others to enrich their own careers through the wide variety of development programmes available to them. Fionnula models the benefits of committing to lifelong learning and we are excited to see her progress even further with us.”

Amazon employees receive competitive pay and comprehensive benefits. They also provides opportunities to improve existing skills or learn new ones through internal career progression opportunities such as cross-training, transferring to a different department and promotion into a managerial role.

Amazon is investing £10m over three years in training up to 5,000 employees in new skills to meet the UK’s future employment needs outside of Amazon. Amazon is also partnering with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and local businesses on the programme to identify regional skills shortages and focus training on local demand.