A BASILDON woman has been highlighted as an example of what determination can achive by retail giant Amazon.

Corina Mintuleasa from Basildon works at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Tilbury having risen through the ranks from her first role at Amazon as a picker, collecting customer orders. 

She is telling her story during Learning at Work Week 2022 (16-22 May), 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. 

Corina, who has worked for Amazon for five years, has used the company's development and training opportunities to progress and now works as an area manager. 

She joined Amazon in 2017, initially working as a picker, collecting customer orders. Corina said she was drawn to the role because of the multitude of opportunities at Amazon to develop her career and decided to apply for a position with the company.

After three years and various role changes and promotions, her confidence and skill set grew significantly. In 2020, Corina achieved what she describes as her career highlight when she was promoted to area manager. She believes this was due to her experience and dedication for work. She praised the fantastic support she received from the management team at Amazon and attributes much of her success to always being given feedback and advice about her career.

In her current position, Corina is responsible for leading a large team and as a self-confessed people person, she really enjoys this aspect of the role. "The best part of my job is working with the people in my team," Corina said. "Experiencing the different cultures we have at Amazon and having the opportunity to build relationships with many different people is amazing."

As someone who has risen through the ranks at Amazon, Corina has some words of wisdom for anyone who is thinking of applying for a role with the company. "Take every chance that comes your way. It's a place to start your career with lots of opportunities. Never give up, keep applying and developing yourself."

Corina's goal for the next few years is to progress to a senior operations role. She's open to the idea of venturing into a new department and would love to train people and share her experience within the company.

Amazon Tilbury General Manager, Ruzanna Sargsyan, added: "We are extremely proud of Corina for how she has risen through the ranks since joining Amazon in 2017. She is a valued member of the team here at Amazon in Tilbury and we hope that her story will inspire others to enrich their own careers through the wide variety of development programmes available to them. Corina 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. Pay starts at a minimum of £10.00 or £11.10 per hour depending on location and employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection and an employee discount – which combined are worth more than £700 annually – as well as a company pension plan. 

Amazon offers employees Career Choice, an innovative programme which pre-pays 95% of tuition 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. 

Amazon 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 £10 million 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. 

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