Account Manager at Amazon
About
What do you do as an Account Manager at Amazon?
I manage advertising campaigns for my client(s) and analyze overall campaign performance.
Why did you choose to major in Psychology and how has that affected your career thus far?
I found psychology classes most interesting when taking my freshman year intro classes. I think it is important to recognize and understand the why behind my work. It’s much easier to start with the clients and work backwards. When I understand exactly what the client needs and why they need it, my work becomes much easier to accomplish. I have a guiding principle.
What was your career path like?
I held internships in both Human Resources and Marketing. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for a career, but I knew I wanted to work in business psychology. I accepted a job with Amazon in Human Resources after graduation, and soon learned that HR was not for me. I found the work too administrative for my curiosity and desire to hold a role that really challenged me and forced me to think big about ways to innovate on behalf of my clients. I switched internally within Amazon to their Advertising arm of the business. Here, I started off as a Campaign Manager, where I managed the day-to-day technical and creative aspects of getting ads live, making sure the client’s vision was coming to fruition.
After a year as a CM, I moved into the Account Manager role (my job now!). As an AM, I manage and analyze the performance of all advertising campaigns for my client(s). I work to understand what is working well, and why, and then apply my learnings to inform future strategic campaigns to ensure optimal performance. I present end of campaign showcases to my client(s) detailing the return on investment. I build relationships with internal partners, and the external client, agency, etc. I love what I do and where I work!
What advice do you have both professionally and personally for students and recent alumni who are interested in pursuing a career similar to yours?
Don’t be afraid to network. Relationship building is a huge part of figuring out your career. The more you can pick others’ brains, and hear why they chose the path they chose, the more inspiration and clarity you can find. Also, don’t think any job is “below you.” You will need to accept a job that isn’t your dream job at some point in your life. While this job may not be glamorous, it will help you get your foot in the door somewhere. If I never started in HR at Amazon, I would likely not be where I am today.
How has the University of Michigan alumni network helped you thus far in your career?
I got my job with Amazon from attending the career fair senior year! UofM’s strong alumni network allows the school to have a very intense following. Employer’s want to employ UofM grads. If it wasn’t for our leading reputation, Amazon wouldn’t have been there to recruit me!
What is the best career advice that you have received?
1. Finding my strengths via StrengthsFinder2.0. I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels lost in their career search, or anyone who wants to learn what their strengths are. It is important to focus on your strengths and work to improve them by exercising them daily rather than focusing on your weaknesses. If you focus on your weaknesses, you will only improve incrementally. If you focus on capitalizing on your strengths, you will improve exponentially.
2. Your career path is partially trial and error. If you try a profession out that you think interests you, and it doesn’t work out, the worst thing that happens from that experience is that you cross it off your list of careers that might interest you. This puts you closer to discovering what you are passionate about doing.
