Amazon.com is an American multinational e-commerce company headquartered in Seattle, WA. It is the world’s largest online retailer. Here we will be looking at distribution center job opportunities offered by Amazon.
Company History –
Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994. The company began as an online bookstore before it became an online retailer selling things other than just books. The company actually began service in the year 1995, going online as amazon.com. The company issued public offering of stock in the year 1997 and traded under the NASDAQ stock exchange symbol AMZN at a price of $18 per share. Amazon.com was the company that survived the dot-com bubble burst at the beginning of 21st century. Today, it is a multinational company employing more than 69,000 people.
Jobs at Amazon Distribution Centers –
At Amazon distribution centers, you can work as:
Warehouse worker: As a warehouse worker, your duty is to pick, pack as well as ship customer orders. You will be required to process products using radio frequency scanners and also relocate products using industrial equipments. For this job, you will need to be available for day and night shifts including Saturdays and Sundays. Minimum age requirement is 18 years. You will undergo drug and background screenings and might have to work overtime shifts. You will be required to lift weights up to 50 lbs and work standing for 10 hours or longer.
Prior experience working in a fulfillment center is preferred. The candidate should be familiar with customer service deliverable. Other than the above mentioned requirements, the job requires you to be able to read as well as write English fluently.
You can also work as a Loss Prevention Specialist, which is a high profile hourly position at the Amazon fulfillment centers. As a Loss Prevention Specialist, your responsibility is to assist with investigations of internal and external theft and fraud. You will be required to ensure that the MDF room within the assigned Fulfillment Center is secured to prevent any possibility of data theft, serve as department’s liaison and security subject matter expert for facility management keeping them abreast of key issues, strategies and the department’s performance, to coordinate data collection, through database polling or data entry from multiple fulfillment centers. The basic requirements are at least a year or more of experience in retail loss prevention, a high school diploma, proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Word, and flexibility to work weekends as well as overnight shifts.
Amazon distribution centers are located in the following states:
Arizona
California
Delaware
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Nevada
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington
How to apply for a job at Amazon?
In order to apply online for a job at Amazon, go to www.amazon.com and scroll down on the page. You will see the ‘Careers’ link right under the ‘Get to know us’ section. Click on it and that will take you to the careers page of the website. Now, you will see a search field, where you can manually type in a keyword and find the job you are looking for and specify the location as well as job category. Or you can view all jobs under a particular category by leaving the search field blank and simply selecting the location and the job category. Once you have searched for a job, you should see the list displaying the results of the search performed. From the list, click on the position that you are interested in. Once you click on a position, it will take you to the page describing the job and its requirements in detail. On top of the page will be a button which says ‘Apply for this job’. Clicking on that will require you to enter login information. Assuming that you do not have an account, you can create one by following the instructions right below the login fields where it says ‘Create your new Profile’. You can even choose to build your profile with a Facebook or Google+ account if you have either of them. You can then use that account to apply for Amazon jobs.
Below are some additional useful pointers to help you know more about jobs at Amazon distribution centers:
- The average salary of a Warehouse worker is $12.88/hr with the highest reported salary being $15/hr and the lowest being $11/hr.
- Sample interview question – “Assuming that every job paid the same, and skills were not an issue, what career would you choose?”
- Sample interview question – “What would you do if you saw someone violating a safety rule?”
- Sample interview question – “What was the most stressful part about your last employment?”
- Sample interview question – “How do you deal with confrontation?”
- Sample interview question – “What shift is right for you?”
So that’s all the information on Amazon distribution center jobs. Working at Amazon distribution center can be challenging but rewarding. The benefits offered are health care benefits(including medical, dental and vision as well as disability), 401(k) savings plan with a company match, time off (salaried employees earn two weeks vacation time their first year, and three weeks in the second year of employment. Hourly employees earn 40 hours of vacation time their first year and 80 hours their second year.) There had been some controversy surrounding distribution centers of Amazon making their employees push physical limits, costing them their jobs in the year 2012 but reports and employees, both former as well as current are largely satisfied with the jobs. The overall employee satisfaction is great and a majority (87%) approve of the C.E.O Jeff Bezos.