An apprentice from Dunfermline who works at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in the city is encouraging others to become an apprentice and pursue their dream career during Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2026 (2-6 March 2026).
Laura Doyle from Dunfermline is taking part in the Amazon Apprenticeship programme and is sharing her story to encourage others to consider an apprenticeship.
Laura lives in Dunfermline and works as a Training Coordinator at the local Amazon fulfilment centre. Laura is completing a CIPD Level 5 in Learning and Development Consultancy apprenticeship with Amazon, and is due to finish in the coming months after starting the programme 18 months ago.
Laura’s journey to Amazon was far from conventional. After leaving university, where she’d wanted to be a history teacher but found it wasn’t for her, she went into nightclubs and hospitality. She loved it and had no plans to change her career path until COVID happened and clubs closed. She took a Monday to Friday office job, thinking she’d “be a grownup now,” but lasted only three months.
She joined Amazon in 2020 with no expectations. As she puts it: “To be honest, I had no plans of being at Amazon for long. I said I would last two weeks until I found a new job and then those two weeks became a month.
“And then I thought I’d see out Christmas as I was on a temporary contract. Then I thought I’d stay a little longer, so it looked good on my CV. And that was five years ago.”
Laura started off quiet and shy, not wanting to make friends because it was “just a job.” But when Amazon asked her to become an instructor, she fell in love with training. She found a lot of similarities between managing teams in a nightclub and training new people.
When a Learning and Development position came up, she went for it despite feeling unqualified, taking her nightclub experience and running with it.
She said: “When you look at education in a workplace, we’re dealing with effectively six generations of people now, because as the retirement age increases and you have 18-year-olds coming into work, their learning requirements are totally different.
“Attention spans and engagement styles also vary across age groups. My job is to keep all those people engaged.”
“At Amazon, you deal with so many different people,” Laura continued. “After a few months with Amazon, I thought I could do better than just ticking career boxes here. I really love people. People are great.
“And I think doing the apprenticeship and being a trainer, you get to meet so many people and then see them do a very similar journey to me and get to watch them take those steps. I want to make sure that if they want to, they can take those steps.”
The apprenticeship is delivered online with seven other Amazon employees, with three away days at different Amazon sites including locations in London and Manchester, plus monthly calls and upskill sessions. Laura particularly values meeting people from different sites and seeing other areas of the business.
What Laura loves most about working at Amazon is the people. “The people make this place so good. There’s a lot of good teamwork.”
The most important thing she’s learnt at Amazon is the ability to change and be adaptable to circumstances: “The ability to remain calm and focus on your goal is a lifelong skill that I’ll really take away from this.”
Laura’s advice to anyone considering an apprenticeship is straightforward: “Go for it. I say it’s hard work – don’t be delusional and think it’s going to be a walk in the park. But overall, it’s probably one of the best things that you can do at Amazon.”
She’s already convinced one person to start the apprenticeship journey, and it’s been rewarding to watch them progress.
Laura’s journey from nightclub manager to learning and development professional demonstrates that apprenticeships aren’t just about gaining qualifications. They’re about discovering your calling in unexpected places and developing the skills to help others find theirs.
The Amazon Apprenticeship programme is recognised as one of the UK’s top three apprenticeship schemes by the Government’s Department for Education.
Young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can also take advantage of the Amazon Supported Internship programme. Launched in 2021, the initiative combines classroom learning with practical work experience; helping interns develop essential skills in English, Maths, and CV writing, while gaining hands-on experience across three operational job functions.
Pay at Amazon starts from £13.95 or £14.96 per hour depending on location, equating to between £29,037 and £31,116 annually. Additionally, from day one, all employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, and an employee discount.
Together, these benefits are worth more than £700 annually, and employees can take advantage of a company pension plan.
Applications are now open for Amazon’s apprenticeship programme.
For more information, visit: www.amazonapprenticeships.co.uk
