Amazon is trying to rehire workers it laid off, emails show

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Isaac Brekken/AP Amazon is recruiting former workers, including eligible laid-off employees.

Recruiters are using shorter interview loops to bring back alumni.

One recruiter asked whether RTO drove a former employee to leave.

Amazon wants former employees back, including some it laid off .

The company is reaching out to eligible former employees about open roles across Amazon, including in its cloud-computing and AI businesses, according to recruiter emails obtained by Business Insider and a company spokesperson.

In one outreach last month, Amazon's AI agent organization, led by AWS VP Swami Sivasubramanian , invited former employees in AI and machine learning fields to discuss new roles through what a recruiter called "Swami's Boomerang Reengagement Initiative." In another case, an AWS Finance recruiter offered a former employee a shortened path back to an offer and asked whether Amazon's return-to-office policy had driven the employee away.

"A lot has changed since you were here, and there's some really compelling work happening across AI/ML right now," one of the emails stated.

The emails show Amazon tapping its alumni network in the fight for AI talent against the likes of Google , OpenAI , Meta, and Anthropic .

It is reaching out to former workers whose experience it already knows, offering some a faster route back, and, in one case, asking whether its in-office mandate drove someone away.

Amazon has cut more than 30,000 jobs in multiple rounds of layoffs over the past year, among the largest workforce reductions in its history.

Haley Silva, an Amazon spokesperson, told Business Insider that boomerang hiring is a normal, longstanding companywide practice, not a new program limited to AI or cloud computing.

Silva said eligible former workers can include people Amazon laid off, but that the company is recruiting for open roles and is not specifically targeting employees who left because of RTO.

Amazon's in-office expectations remain unchanged, she added.

"We're always interested in connecting with talented people — both new candidates and former Amazonians — for open roles," Silva said.