Amazon is reaching out to former employees and encouraging some of them to return, including workers who were previously laid off.
According to recruiter emails obtained by Business Insider, the company is contacting eligible former employees about open roles across Amazon, including positions in AWS, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
In one recent outreach, Amazon’s AI agent organisation, led by AWS Vice President Swami Sivasubramanian, invited former employees with AI and ML experience to discuss new opportunities under what a recruiter called “Swami’s Boomerang Reengagement Initiative.”
In another case, an AWS Finance recruiter offered a former employee a shortened interview process and a faster path towards a new offer.
The recruiter also asked whether Amazon’s return-to-office policy had been one of the main reasons the employee left.
One email told a former worker that “a lot has changed” at Amazon and highlighted the company’s growing work in AI and machine learning.
The outreach comes as Amazon competes with Google, OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic and other technology companies for experienced AI talent.
Instead of relying only on outside hiring, Amazon appears to be tapping into its alumni network, where the company already knows the candidate’s background, performance and experience.
Amazon has cut more than 30,000 jobs in several rounds of layoffs over the past year, making the renewed outreach to some former workers particularly notable.
However, Amazon spokesperson Haley Silva told Business Insider that rehiring former employees is a normal and longstanding companywide practice rather than a new initiative limited to AI or cloud roles.
She said eligible former workers can include employees who were laid off, but added that Amazon is hiring for open roles rather than specifically targeting people who left because of its return-to-office policy.
Amazon’s current office attendance requirements remain unchanged.
Boomerang hiring has also been increasing across corporate America. Returning employees accounted for 35% of new US hires in March 2025, up from 31% a year earlier, according to ADP data.
The trend is even stronger in technology, where former employees represented a large share of new hires.
For employers, rehiring former workers can be attractive because they already understand the company’s systems and culture and can often become productive faster than completely new hires.
For Amazon, the strategy could also help fill specialised roles at a time when competition for AI talent remains intense.
