‘Tis the season for temporary jobs

Amazon’s 50 fulfillments centers and 15 sortation centers are looking to hire 80,000 seasonal works to cope with an anticipated surge in U.S. holiday sales.



Amazon, like other retailers, touts the seasonal positions as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor with the company and establish a foundation for a career. Last year, Amazon said it converted thousands of seasonal employees into regular, full-time roles after the holidays, and expects to do the same this year.



“So far this year, we have converted more than 10,000 seasonal employees in the U.S. into regular, full-time roles and we’re looking forward to converting thousands more across our growing network of fulfillment and sortation centers after this holiday season,” said Mike Roth, Amazon’s vp of North America operations. “We’re excited to be creating 80,000 seasonal jobs, thousands of which will lead to regular, full-time roles with benefits starting on day one and innovative programs like Career Choice for employees to further pursue their education.”



The company’s Career Choice program will pre-pay up to 95% of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.



In addition to Amazon’s 50 fulfillment centers in the U.S., the company said its new network of 15 sortation centers is fueling a range of capabilities such as Sunday delivery, later cut-off ordering times for customers and the ability to control packages deeper into the delivery process.