Amazon’s human resources team will be busy in the next year-and-a-half.
The e-commerce giant announced on Thursday that it plans to hire 100,000 full-time employees in the U.S. Between now and mid-2018. The jobs will include full benefits and span engineering roles, logistics, and customer service, among other occupations, the company said. By the time the jobs initiative is over, Amazon will employ more than 280,000 people in the U.S., alone.
“These new job opportunities are for people all across the country and with all types of experience, education and skill levels—from engineers and software developers to those seeking entry-level positions and on-the-job training,” Amazon said in a statement. “Many of the roles will be in new fulfillment centers that have been announced over the past several months and are currently under construction in Texas, California, Florida, New Jersey and many other states across the country.”
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Amazon (AMZN) might have started as a bookseller and made its name as an e-commerce giant, but the company is rapidly expanding its business. The company is expanding its role in the logistics industry with drone technology that could ultimately see the unmanned aerial vehicles deliver products to customer homes. In addition, Amazon has been boosting investment in cloud computing and offers wildly popular smart home products, led by its Amazon Echo. Amazon’s Fire tablet is also popular, and the company’s virtual personal assistant Alexa is expanding its presence in more third-party products than ever before.
Meanwhile, Amazon is looking at other opportunities, including the possibility of opening more brick-and-mortar locations across the U.S. Amazon is also testing a home services business, among other initiatives.
In a statement, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos alluded to further investment beyond e-commerce, saying that the 100,000 new jobs will help the company “open new fulfillment centers, and continue to invent in areas like cloud technology, machine learning, and advanced logistics.”
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With more than 280,000 employees across the U.S., Amazon would become one of the biggest tech-focused employers in the country. However, it would still be far behind its chief retail competitor Walmart (WMT), which currently employs 1.5 million people across the U.S.
Amazon is kicking off its hiring frenzy now. And as one might expect, its jobs board is filled with positions.