Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Aakash Daryanani ’16: The surprising way your RA skills may help your career

Aakash Daryanani ’16

Aakash Daryanani ’16, originally from Curacao, moved to Manchester, UK, after graduation to take on an Area Manager role with Amazon UK. Read below for an insider perspective on Amazon Operations.

Things are going great so far in the UK and with Amazon. It’s been a great experience so far and I’m only growing more and more, day by day. Operations wasn’t necessarily a career I was considering while at Babson, and the first few months on the job had a steep learning curve. Since then, I’ve only experienced amazing things. I’ve learned a lot, grown to love operations, broken records, and I run an outbound packing department with over 100 associates per night. I’ve started projects, pioneered them, and failed / succeeded.

Things have only been good, and I am not afraid to make mistakes. Today we broke one of the records of our building for throughput per hour, which is a big thing for us. Not to mention, on top of all of this, my RA skills are coming to play as I work a night shift! My pattern is Wednesday – Saturday (basically Sunday morning), and the shift starts at 6:30pm and ends at 5am. However, as a manager, I usually go in around 5:45pm and leave at 7am on a decent day, like today! All my hard work has brought me on the verge of moving from MAN1 (the building I work at now) to a new Fulfillment Centre in the coming months, as my current manager is moving to that building, and wants me to be part of his team. I’d be part of the Launch Team and I’d be one of the members that sets up the processes for the department I run in MAN1, and also train new managers, assistant managers, and associates. Launch for any building is extremely hectic, but It’s an amazing opportunity and a great learning experience. After that, who knows? I’d love to try out other opportunities around the world within Amazon, but whatever the case is, I know I’ll be ready as Babson has prepared me to be a global citizen.

I miss Babson a ton and really want to come back! I always talk about my experiences with my co-workers and Babson will always be part of who I am. Please let all the international seniors know not to give up, and be open to other countries! Also direct them my way if any of them have any questions!