The News: SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 9, 2020– Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Yesterday announced it will host its 2020 Career Day on Wednesday, September 16. As a part of the nationwide virtual event, Amazon – the largest job creator in the U.S. over the last decade – will give attendees the opportunity to learn about the 33,000 corporate and tech jobs currently available across the country, and the thousands of additional hourly positions in the company’s operations network to be announced soon. Amazon will also mobilize 1,000 of its recruiters to provide 20,000 career coaching sessions to attendees in a single day. Read the full release from Amazon.
Analyst Take: Over the past few years, Amazon hasn’t been shy about its strong ambitions to upskill the workforce. In fact, the company has announced a significant initiative in its Upskill 2025 program that seeks to help workers be better prepared to add value to the workforce even as technologies like automation and AI change work for a significant part of the workforce.
Today’s announcement of the company’s upcoming September 16 Career Day is another significant commitment from the e-commerce and cloud giant to provide a pathway for interested parties to become part of Amazon’s growing workforce. The company has been the largest job creator amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic and seems dialed in on adding talent internally as well as making significant recent commitments through its SMB programs to support entrepreneurs on its platform.
Beyond the 33,000 or so openings in corporate and tech that support everything from AWS to Alexa, the company is adding a large number of operations jobs in its fulfillment center and perhaps more interestingly, using the day to provide 20,000 career coaching sessions to workers either looking to get back in the job force following this year’s challenging economic climate or those that may be seeking to switch–which according the Amazon release, pertains to as many 61% of the workforce.
Amazon is also doing a solid job of setting the high-bar for employers as it pertains to benefits. While this bar is a challenge for many organizations due to size or other complexities, the company is able to tout that all of its jobs come with industry-leading pay and competitive benefits – including a minimum wage of $15/hour, health insurance, up to 20 weeks of parental leave, and company-funded upskilling opportunities. This certainly provides a solid foundation for employees looking for comprehensive benefits and work-life balance.
Amazon Career Day – Final Impressions
Overall, I have continually been impressed with the ESG, SMB and comprehensive workforce efforts of Amazon. The rapid growth of the company certainly creates the environment to expand so rapidly, but the ability to offer such a wide range of opportunities with significant benefits and very competitive earnings opportunities provides a promising perspective for the future. The ambitions to improve workers and their ability to contribute meaningfully to the workforce in the future is also something that shouldn’t be understated–This is critical as tech will continue to impact jobs and employability and we will need companies like Amazon to step up to keep our population participating in the workforce.
Futurum Research provides industry research and analysis. These columns are for educational purposes only and should not be considered in any way investment advice
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Image: Amazon
The original version of this article was first published on Futurum Research.
Daniel Newman is the Principal Analyst of Futurum Research and the CEO of Broadsuite Media Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise. From Big Data to IoT to Cloud Computing, Newman makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology projects, which leads to his ideas regularly being cited in CIO.Com, CIO Review and hundreds of other sites across the world. A 5x Best Selling Author including his most recent “Building Dragons: Digital Transformation in the Experience Economy,” Daniel is also a Forbes, Entrepreneur and Huffington Post Contributor. MBA and Graduate Adjunct Professor, Daniel Newman is a Chicago Native and his speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.