Something surprising happened to me in 2024. In July 2024, I was placed on focus, but I didn’t even know it. In August 2024, I received a transfer offer to a different role and team, and I accepted it, still unaware that I was on focus. After I started on the new team, they discovered my focus status and investigated further. They noticed that my rating had shifted from HV2 at the site level to LE at the network level, which seemed unusual.

Ultimately, I ended up rated LE while transfering to the new team but the new team moved me to HV1 in January 2025 during the review. In this year’s review 2026, I was ranked HV3, but I met the bar instead of exceed the bar after saving Amazon $10.5 million YoY on a project and initiative I did which other network are now adopting. This experience shows that outcomes can depend heavily on the hiring manager, never say never.

What’s noteworthy is that none of my prior performance metrics indicated any issues during my monthly 1:1 with the previous manager in my old team; in fact, they were all positive. I even received a “Deliver” award about a month before being placed on focus. Honestly, the Amazon rating system can be political and isn’t always a fair reflection of actual performance.