COLUMBUS – It’s being billed as the nation’s biggest job fair and who can dispute that claim when a company that has become an online retail behemoth says it will hire 50,000 people in one day.
Amazon Jobs Day: Wed., August 2, 8am-Noon, Amazon Fulfillment Center, 11999 National Road SW, Etna
Today’s hiring spree is a sign of Amazon’s growth at a time traditional retailers are closing stores and cutting jobs.
“Customer demand continues to increase and so we have this great opportunity to go around the country and open up fifty thousand jobs for people and we’re doing fifteen hundred in Ohio alone,” John Olson, vice president of Amazon’s worldwide human resources unit, said.
At its 12 fulfillment centers across the country, including the one in Etna, Amazon is planning to offer jobs to thousands of applicants who stop in at the centers between 8:00 a.m. and noon on Wednesday.
The online retailer is looking for people who will pick, pack and ship orders and appears to be getting a jump on what it expects to be a busy holiday season.
Of the 50,000 jobs up for grabs, 40,000 will be full-time, Olson said.
The jobs offer competitive pay, health insurance, disability insurance, retirement savings plans and company stock, as well as up to 20 weeks of paid leave and benefits such as Leave Share, which lets employees share their Amazon leave with a spouse or domestic partner whose employer doesn’t offer paid leave, and Ramp Back, which gives new mothers additional control over the pace at which they return to work.
Full-time and part-time workers are eligible for Amazon’s program that pre-pays 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields.