Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on his first job and career progression

Before he was CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy wanted to be a sportscaster.

“I liked sports a lot, I'm very passionate about sports, so I tried to find a way to be involved in sports,” Jassy said during a fireside chat at Amazon's “Bring Your Parents to Work Day” at the company's Seattle headquarters. During college, he landed a summer job at the local Fox affiliate in New York, working on a show called Good Day New York that was two months from its first broadcast. “It was like a startup. And I loved the experience.”

He worked there for three summers, getting to go out with camera crews to cover Mets batting practice and New York Rangers practices. He was really attracted to sports and television, but he later found that he was equally attracted to the entrepreneurship of being on this new show that was about to go on the air. At the time, he decided sportscasting was his future, so he sent his resume reel to 200 small TV markets across the country.

Sometimes younger people think that they should start at the very top. And if you work hard and do well, you'll get there, but it's useful to learn at the beginning.

Andy Jassy

Amazon CEO

“I got only two offers, in very remote places,” he said. “I couldn't really pull the trigger on going there.”

He took a job as a production assistant at ABC Sports instead, “which effectively ended my on-air hopes, because back then there weren't a lot of options, and not too many people went from production to on air.”

What followed was a period of wandering. Jassy worked at a product company, started a couple of businesses, did consulting, worked at a retail golf store, did sales for an ad specialty company, and completed a three-month internship at an investment bank.

Two women stand outside next to a colorful display during Parents Day at Amazon's headquarters.

Amazon employees and their parents gather outside at Amazon's Seattle headquarters during the annual "Bring Your Parents to Work Day" event.

“I said to my dad a year or two ago, ‘During that time, were you just saying, what happened to my son? Like, he's so lost?’” Jassy said. “He just never pressured me about it. And he said, ‘No, I always knew you were motivated, and that you would figure it out.’”

Jassy decided to go to business school, and it was there that he discovered he wanted to do something entrepreneurial that he was passionate about. He thought about starting a music management/label idea, because he managed a band and wrote a field study about it, but decided against it. He then turned to looking for jobs on the West Coast, where his wife is from.

And it was after a trip to the Bay Area in early 1997 that he got a voicemail that changed everything.

“On my answering machine there was this message from this woman. She said, ‘My name’s Jennifer Cast. I work at Amazon. I found your resume in the resume book. I have a cancellation at 9 a.m. I'm not going to fill it. Either show up or don't,’” Jassy said. “And I was like, ‘Well, I don’t really have anything to do, so I guess I’ll go to this interview.’”

Jassy said he really liked the interview but didn’t know much about Amazon. When he visited Amazon in Seattle, he loved everything about it.

“I loved the mission, I loved the people, I loved the ambition, I loved the possibilities,” Jassy said. “My wife and I agreed that two to three years in Seattle, and then back to New York. That was 29 years ago.”

Jassy said his years of wandering, and his experience at Amazon, taught him that you don’t need to land the perfect job right out of the gate.

“It's great if you know what you want to do when you're really young, but there are very few people I know like that,” he said. “Especially today, young people feel like they have to know, and you don't. The reality is, when you're younger, figuring out what you don't like doing is almost as important as figuring out what you do like doing, because there are so many things you could do.”

He said you’ll want to be humble, learn as much as you can, work hard, and be a team player. “Sometimes younger people think that they should start at the very top. And if you work hard and do well, you'll get there, but it's useful to learn at the beginning.”

Even working at a golf store three times a week for a year, he said, was worth it.

“I learned a ton doing it,” Jassy said. “I met interesting people. I encountered all sorts of customer situations that stick with me today. Every single opportunity is one to learn, and you put that in your toolkit, and it helps you later on.”

Next, check out Jassy’s three tips for anyone transitioning into a leadership role.