Amazon.com is hiring. A press release the company put out yesterday said it was looking to hire 5,000 new full-time workers in fulfillment centers across the U.S. Amazon claims to pay 30 percent more than traditional retail and offers benefits including healthcare, 401(k) and stock awards from the first day on the job. The stock grants, according to Amazon, have resulted in a nine percent boost to workers' pay annually over the past five years.
"We're hiring more than 5,000 people to join our team and help us continue to innovate and serve our customers," said Dave Clark, vice president of worldwide operations and customer service at Amazon, in a statement. "We're focused on sustained innovation across Amazon and want to help our employees succeed — whether at Amazon or elsewhere — so we offer programs like Career Choice, where we'll pay for up to 95% of eligible employees' tuition regardless of whether the skills they learn are relevant to a career at Amazon."
One of the advantages Amazon touts is that new employees are joining a company that is growing. In just the past year, the e-tailing giant has opened eight fulfillment centers across the U.S. Current job openings are in centers located in Arizona, California (2), Delaware, Indiana (2), Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina (2), Tennessee (2), Texas (3) and Virginia.