Top tier recruitment policy for Amazon

If you want to work for Amazon (or Google, or Apple) in the tier of managing the business's strategy, don't think that you can be a high tech drop-out entrepreneur - you had better stay at university and complete an MBA.

Last year, Amazon hired MBA graduates in the 'high hundreds' from top tier business schools around the world, according to their director of university programs recruitment, Miriam Park. They recruited around 30% more MBA's than in the year before and don't anticipate that growth slowing down. They are challenging the investment banks and business consultancies as the top recruiters.

As reported in the FT, the job is financially rewarding. "Starting salaries at Amazon range from $137,000 for a programme manager to $180,000 for a senior product manager, including signing bonuses, according to Transparent Career, a tech company that aggregates self-reported data in first jobs from recent MBA graduates. This compares with an average for consultancy positions of $165,000, and $170,000 for those taking jobs at investment banks."

Amazon is no dot-com start-up. As one of the world's largest companies, it needs people who can develop strategy, manage project teams and create new services, and improve large-scale logistics for delivery from its ecommerce site, rather than teccies who can create product-led innovation.

One view is that they will give MBA graduates the chance to try out their entrepreneurial skills in a low-risk environment, before they spread their wings and try out their luck outside the safety of the Amazon empire. Another is that Amazon will 'churn and burn' their staff for a few years, rather like the investment banks and consultancies with whom they compete in recruitment, in order to see which of them can stay the course.

Something for our business students to aspire to??