After firing 30,000 employees, Amazon wants to hire some of them back for AI
The past year has been a difficult one for the job market, particularly for tech roles. Tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta have fired thousands of workers. But it appears that Amazon – which laid off over 30,000 employees – is now changing course, and asking some of its fired staff to consider coming back.
As per a report from Business Insider, Amazon is reaching out to former employees, including ones that were impacted by recent layoffs. The company is reportedly informing these employees about open roles in its AI and cloud divisions.
The report adds that one such outreach is being done by Amazon’s AI agent organisation, led by Amazon Web Services (AWS) vice-president Swami Sivasubramanian. This outreach, described as “Swami’s Boomerang Reengagement Initiative” by one recruiter, invites former employees in AI and machine learning to discuss new roles. “A lot has changed since you were here, and there’s some really compelling work happening across AI/ML right now,” the email reads.Amazon says rehiring staff is normal
This comes at a time amid growing competition in the AI race. It is possible that Amazon is tapping into its former staff. This process of bringing back former company staff is often called boomerang hiring.
According to Amazon spokesperson Haley Silva, rehiring former employees is a normal, longstanding companywide practice and not a new programme limited to AI or cloud computing. “We’re always interested in connecting with talented people — both new candidates and former Amazonians — for open roles,” Silva said. “Rehiring former employees is a normal, longstanding part of how we recruit, and our rehire and interview practices are consistent across the company.”
This comes after Amazon cut more than 30,000 jobs in multiple rounds over the past year, among the biggest reductions in its history. Those cuts included about 14,000 corporate roles in October 2025 and a further 16,000 in January 2026. The company had also laid off staff from its AGI, or artificial general intelligence, team.
Though the report adds that AI may not be the only field where it is hiring former staff. An AWS Finance recruiter reportedly contacted a former employee who had left in good standing. The recruiter offered the person a faster track back to the company too.Other cases of boomerang hirings
This is not the first time Amazon has considered rehiring workers. In 2023, AWS human resources VP Ian Wilson told employees that many workers affected by job cuts were eligible for rehire.
Apart from Amazon, other tech companies have also looked to bring former staff onboard in the past. After buying Twitter (now X) in 2022, Elon Musk fired nearly 50 per cent of its staff, or about 3,700 workers. The platform then began reaching out to many of the laid-off employees, asking them to come back.
Similarly, Salesforce opened up about 3,300 new roles in 2023, just weeks after it laid off about 8,000 employees. At the time, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff addressed “boomerang” employees, stating, “it’s okay, come back.”- EndsAlso Read | OpenAI is firing contract employees who are using AI to train its AI modelsAlso Read | Amazon lays off AI team staff, says it wants to focus on what matters most for consumersAlso Read | Google is sending TPU chips in space for AI, Elon Musk reacts
Armaan Agarwal is a tech journalist with India Today Tech. Apart from having a keen eye for the latest gadgets, Armaan has an avid interest in the world of automobiles and aviation.
