

Not receiving relocation at an internship. Advice?  - rp-

I'm interning at Amazon this summer. With my offer letter, I received information about relocation, which led me to believe I would get $3000 or corporate housing. It mentioned no limitations on housing.
I'm now being told that I will not receive relocation because I live within a 50 mile radius of the company. I'm not quite sure what to do. I'm almost certain that I'm supposed to receive that $3000, but I don't want to damage my career prospects in the process.
What should I do?
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paulhazen
I'm in the exact same situation. However Amazon's offer is very generous, and
affording housing should be no problem for you. I recommend finding somewhere
cheap near Amazon that you can rent for the summer. Don't pressure the HR team
to bend over backwards for you, that won't really help you in the long run. In
the future, when applying for an internship, you should be careful to fully
understand the conditions of the housing policy. After looking over the
documentation they sent me, I made a note that they make no promises of
providing relocation services, so they are not legally or otherwise obligated
to provide them.

As you become accustomed to working in the Greater Seattle area as a software
engineer, you'll need to get used to this anyways. It's not practical for
employers to provide relocation services to individuals who are already within
commutable distance.

An argument can be made that interns who are not given relocation housing are
being unequally compensated, but I think it is a poor one. It is reasonable to
assume that intern candidates who are hired from out of state have been
evaluated to be more valuable, valuable enough to provide relocation expenses
for. Whether or not this is the actual stance of Amazon on the matter is a
mystery to me, but it would certainly make sense, and would be well within
"fair" reason.

Btw since we're both local to Seattle and interning with Amazon, feel free to
get in touch with me: paulhazen.net/about

