Amazon opens door to hiring process with informational session

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

After the headline on a handout, five lines that followed could explain why a huge crowd turned out at BL Perry Library for Amazon’s first job information session.

The list read: Competitive pay, variety of roles to choose from, flexible shifts and schedules, locations near you, on-the-job instructor-led training and certification. Then, attendees were told about a $16-per-hour pay.

Those are just some of the benefits that potential Amazon employees were told they could look forward to last Tuesday morning. The informational session on the Southside of town was the first of three that Amazon plans to find employees who will work in its 600,000-square feet fulfillment center.

This fulfillment facility, which is located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Mahan Drive, is one of 14 that Amazon has in Florida. This one was scheduled to open last year but was pushed back by building supply shortage.

Amazon partnered with Tallahassee’s Office of Economic Vitality to put on last Tuesday’s event. The turnout was so huge that some prospects were moved to a holding area inside the library, as a long line waited outside. Amazon staffers informed groups of 30 in another room.

The sessions started with information about how to create an account that would put each person into an application tracking system. From that point, each applicant was told to expect alerts pertaining to updates and the next step in the hiring process.

Damien Jones, a recent TCC graduate who holds a computer science degree, came early. He currently works for a marketing company that has a clientele of non-profits, but said the Amazon opportunity was too appealing to miss.

The informational session was “a little run through,” he said, adding, “I’m very confident. Very, very confident. Amazon is a good company and I admire the founder Jeff Bezos.”

  Amazon is expected to begin hiring before the fall. Estimates had annual salaries being as high as $83 million.

“This represents a really good opportunity for our entire work force,” said Keith Bowers, Director of the Office of Economic Vitality. “It’s starts out with $16 an hour, with benefits on day one (and) pre-paid college tuition. This represents a higher caliber of employment opportunities. To work for one of the world’s largest companies, Amazon, is something that’s good on the resume.”

Bowers estimated that the trickle down affects could be life-changing for individuals who land jobs. 

“The more gainfully employed people you have in the community automatically lends itself to other positive impacts,” Bowers said. “People will be able to buy cars, buy clothing, buy food for their children and probably afford a better place to live. Overall it’s an economic opportunity for the community.”

Owen Torres, spokesperson for Amazon said that the e-commerce company has selected Tallahassee Community College as an education partner. The Amazon Career Choice program will provide hourly employees access to training programs in HVAC, machining, and welding, Owen said in an email to the Outlook.

City Commissioner Dianne Williams Cox also applauded the college tuition program, which she said could produce economic benefits.

“Amazon could be another economic driver to join the economic drivers that we have in place,” Williams Cox said. “This is a great time to be alive and be a part of this. This is something that is going to help us retain talent in our city.”

It was also announced during the sessions that at least 30 percent of the hires will be military veterans and disabled individuals. That left Amanda Willis rejuvenated about her job with Future Pathways, an organization that helps teens and adults with disabilities prepare for jobs.

“Our goal is to get our clients competitively employed with people with and without disabilities,” Willis said. “The fact that Amazon stated that they are interested in hiring this as a focus group, I’m going to go back to my clients and see who wants to make a profile.

“I’m very glad. It seems like a pretty easy process. The fact that I can go ahead and make some profiles is very efficient.”

More than a few who showed up indicated that they were unemployed. Khasean Williams was one of them.

Ironically, his last job was as a contract worker with the construction crew that completed finishing touches to the fulfillment center. As a Southside resident, he said he was glad that he didn’t have to travel far to get to the Amazon event.

“It has been a good experience,” he said of the information session. “They gave us the right information.

“I’m a great worker. Anything they have in there I will do. If they hire me and call me up I will be right there.”