Amazon’s Military Pathways Program Eases Veteran's Transition

PHOENIX, AZ — Though he is one of 2,000 employees reporting for work at Amazon’s PHX6 Amazon fulfillment center, Tim Callaham is far from being just a number at the goliath Internet company. Instead, Callaham is a 28-year U.S. Navy veteran hand-selected for Amazon’s Military Pathways program, which helps ease veterans’ transitions back to civilian life through a predefined leadership program path to a GM or VP seat at the company within five years.

Having risen to the rank of captain and served in Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and other conflicts, the self-described “career military” man knew he wanted something totally different when he retired from the Navy in early 2017. “The easy transition for military officers is to stay in the defense industry or the Department of Defense as a civil servant. [But] I wanted to try something completely new,” Callaham explained.

For a year after military retirement, Callaham took a little time off in addition to working at his alma mater Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., from which he had earned a master’s in mechanical engineering many years previous.

Then one day, career inspiration struck when he saw an article on LinkedIn describing another retired Navy captain who transitioned out of the Navy successfully via the Amazon Military Pathways program. “So I read the article and I thought, ‘That’s exactly what I’m looking for,’” he recalled.

But the coveted spot in the program wasn’t just handed to Callaham, who applied and went through the interview process like any prospective employee. But things worked out, and he began the military transition path at Amazon in April 2018.

An operations manager at Amazon, Callaham says the company’s Military Pathways program closely resembles the company’s practice of taking MBA holders on a specific path to executive leadership. “So Amazon took a look at what military officers can bring to the table and mirrored that program for us,” he said.

The Military Pathways program starts its veterans with the title and paygrade of an operations manager, though they spend the first 6 to 9 months learning the company ropes while actually fulfilling an area manager’s role. Then the participants are officially given the operations manager roles and titles as they are ready, with the goal of them progressing to a role of VP or general manager of a building within about five years.

“They monitor us pretty closely to make sure we’re learning the business and moving through all of our progression as we move up. And I thought that was a great trip for me. I’ve been a [military] operator for my entire adult life,” shared Callaham.

The similarities in culture and required skillsets used during military experience and at Amazon include the leadership principles utilized and a dynamic environment, Callaham said. “With the operational environment, in the military, things are changing all the time. You’ve got to be flexible and be able to understand those changes and change your organization based on that,” he detailed. “As you can see out there, Amazon’s growing. We’re always trying to provide the best service, so we’re always changing to improve our processes. So that makes it exciting to be in fulfillment centers.”

A penchant for taking action — while anticipating changes and staying ahead of problems — is also a skill used both in the military and at Amazon, Callaham says, especially amidst those thousands of packages delivered daily to customers and those tens of thousands of units arriving at the fulfillment center to be held by Amazon, then shipped to customers on behalf of sellers.

Engagement with people is also a priority and similarity in the military and Amazon environments, Callaham added. At Amazon this is a particular focus when it comes to assuring that customers and employees both have a positive experience, he said.

Callaham is grateful for the Amazon road he is traveling, and he says his transition from serviceman to civilian wasn’t difficult. “I just kind of stepped out of uniform and went back into my professional life,” he said. The one regret he does have about his year of transition is that he didn't take more time off before he started working again, he said.

But he credits the military with making his transition “pretty easy,” as they provided workshops in resume writing, interviewing, social media usage and job search tactics a couple years in advance, “to make your transition as simple as possible.” He also says having ongoing military retirement pay helped ease any financial anxiety during the transition.

A child of military parents, Callaham now lives with his wife in Phoenix’s west valley and doesn’t really call any place “home,” with 22 relocations during his nearly 28 years of military service. But when Amazon gave him a choice of locations to participate in their Military Pathways program, he chose Phoenix for two reasons. One is that Phoenix is a large Amazon hub with a lot going on, and serves as a good central location, he said. The other advantage to working at one of Amazon’s Phoenix campuses was it meant living closer to the couple’s only son Zacharias (“Zachos”), who is pursuing a B.S. degree in Marketing and lives at ASU.

And after his June 2019 graduation, Zachos will join his dad at Amazon in Phoenix, through the company’s university hiring program. But whether father and son will actually work together from day to day is yet to be seen.

In the meantime, Zachos has specific hopes for his father’s continued success along Amazon’s Military Pathways route. “I hope for my dad’s skillset to be utilized to its maximum potential. I want him to feel satisfied with the pace and sequence of his career path at Amazon,” Zachos explained.

And Zachos has a couple hopes for his own future at the company too. “For myself, I hope to feel challenged and develop my professional skills.”

Zachos says something that drew him to Amazon for his post-graduation career is the Amazon operations pace he has heard about from his father. Additionally, Zachos said, “I felt that Amazon would be a good environment to apply and develop my logistical and management skills so that I can better succeed in my future.”

In the meantime, Callaham said he encourages his military friends who are transitioning back to civilian life to consider applying to Amazon. “We have a pretty big veteran population, so [Amazon’s] very veteran friendly.” He explains that the company supports other veteran employees too, not just those in the Military Pathways program, such as National Guard members who are required to complete active duty training or active duty deployments.

“It’s a good company, and I enjoy coming in to work every day,” he said.

Another thing Callaham advises other vets retiring from the military to do is to prepare as much as they can ahead of time. “My advice to my fellow veterans would be to start preparing early for your transition, and try to find something that you want to be, that you’re passionate about,” he concluded.