The power of learning: Glenrothes technician offers career tips during Learning at Work Week 2024

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A reliability maintenance engineering (RME) technician from Glenrothes is sharing his career story during Learning at Work Week 2024 (13th-19th May) to celebrate the career progress he’s made thanks to the lifelong learning programmes at Amazon.

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

This year’s theme, Learning power, explores how lifelong and continual learning gives people power to change, grow and achieve individual, team and organisational goals.

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Callum Barker, who works at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Dunfermline, has used Amazon’s development and training opportunities to shape his professional career.

Callum Barker from Glenrothes has worked at the Amazon in Dunfermline since it opened in 2011Callum Barker from Glenrothes has worked at the Amazon in Dunfermline since it opened in 2011
Callum Barker from Glenrothes has worked at the Amazon in Dunfermline since it opened in 2011

One of the programmes Callum has taken part in at Amazon is Amazon Career Choice. The programme, which has been running at Amazon for the past decade, pre-pays up to 95% of tuition and fees for courses in high-demand fields, up to £8,000 over four years, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.

Courses available include accountancy, HGV driving and software development, and are designed to help employees build careers at Amazon or elsewhere. It means that eligible employees are given the opportunity to gain the skills and qualifications needed to follow their career aspirations.

Callum, who used the programme to help secure his role as an RME technician, has shared his story to encourage others to take their career to the next level using the Amazon Career Choice programme.

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Callum Barker from Glenrothes has worked at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Dunfermline since it opened in 2011.

Over the past 13 years, Callum has taken part in both Amazon Career Choice and the Amazon Apprenticeship programme to enhance his career. These programmes helped him progress from a temporary role in the outbound picking department to become the RME technician he is today.

Callum joined Amazon after completing an HNC in electrical engineering. He was looking for work after college, saw a post for a role at Amazon, applied, and hasn’t looked back since.

After being made permanent at the fulfilment centre in 2012, Callum started looking for opportunities to work in different departments. A temporary role on the RME team offered to Callum by one of Amazon in Dunfermline’s RME managers eventually became permanent, and Callum used Amazon Career Choice to boost his electrical engineering skills and progress further.

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He completed a PAT testing for electrical safety course in 2014, solidifying himself as a full-time RME team member. This also made Callum one of the first people at Amazon in the UK to take part in Career Choice.

Callum said: “My background in electrical engineering was useful for getting me onto the RME team at Amazon, but I knew that I’d need to boost my skills to be the best at the job. Doing Amazon Career Choice allowed me to broaden my knowledge and start working towards eventually becoming a qualified technician.”

After completing the PAT testing course, Callum was inspired to apply for a Mechatronics apprenticeship at Amazon. He completed the four-year course in 2021, and has been working as an RME technician in Dunfermline ever since.

“The best thing about my job is that every day is different,” Callum shared. “There’s always something new to work on, so you can expect to be challenged. I’m pleased that can still say that after 13 years with Amazon.”

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Callum is hopeful that the next step in his career will be a promotion to shift lead, a role he currently takes on as a proxy.

“I’m taking my time, but when a shift lead position becomes available, I’ll apply and hopefully be successful. I enjoy building things and focusing on tasks until they’re finished, so I’m happy where I am on the RME team and look forward to the years of my career to come.”

Amazon also provides opportunities to improve existing skills or learn new ones through internal career progression opportunities such as apprenticeships, transferring to a different department and promotion to a managerial role.

Amazon Dunfermline General Manager, Jamie Strain, added: “We are proud of Callum’s success through the Amazon Career Choice programme. Career development is at the core of our culture at Amazon, where lifelong learning is promoted at every turn. Many of our team members have taken part in Career Choice and are now fulfilling their potential on Amazon teams all over the UK, Ireland and further afield. Others have gone on to successful careers elsewhere, and we are proud to have supported them in their professional development by giving them extra tools for success in their new roles. We look forward to offering employees even more choices in the future as Amazon Career Choice evolves and grows.”

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Amazon employees receive competitive pay and comprehensive benefits. Pay starts at a minimum of £12.30 per hour in Dunfermline and employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection and an employee discount as well as a company pension plan.

Amazon has been named as a ‘Top Employer UK 2024’ by the Top Employer Institute, one of the world’s most prestigious certifications in the field of human resources management. This award recognises Amazon’s commitment to the development and well-being of its employees. In addition to the UK accolade, Amazon has also been certified as one of the Top Employers in Europe for a second consecutive year.

In 2023, Amazon ranked in second place on LinkedIn’s Top Companies list — an annual list that identifies the most sought-after places to work and grow your career in the UK. Using data from LinkedIn’s 900 million members, LinkedIn’s Top Companies list is designed to help professionals identify the best companies to grow their careers.

To find out more about a career with Amazon, visit Amazon Jobs.

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