Amazon Australia hiring 1400 seasonal workers to help pick, pack and ship packages at its warehouses across the country ahead of the mid-year sales season.
The e-commerce giant announced plans on Monday to on-board workers in its fulfilment centres and logistics sites ahead of its Prime Shopping day, widely expected to be held in July.
There are 700 jobs available in NSW, 350 in Victoria, 200 in Queensland and 130 in Western Australia.
No previous experience or formal qualifications are required for the roles, which are expected to run for “a couple of months”, said Michelle Theophilou, head of HR operations at Amazon Australia.
“They’re not office jobs, that’s for sure — they are physical roles,” Ms Theophilou told news.com.au.
“We’re looking for a range of experience and skill levels, all backgrounds. Essentially what we’re more interested in is that they’re motivated and enthusiastic to come to work because [we will provide the training]. They will be onboarded prior to the sales season to ensure they’re adequately trained up for the role and to get us through the season, and dependent on business demand would drive how long the roles would last.”
The job entails “picking an item off the shelf, or you could be packing it, or working with our teams to get it into transportation”.
“It’s not a desk job … [but they are] physical roles similar to what hundreds of thousands of people do every day,” Ms Theophilou said.
“I think the wonderful thing about Amazon is that we have people of all ages and all stages of life that work for us. We would welcome anyone of any age [to apply].”
Ms Theophilou would not specify how much the seasonal roles would pay.
“Everyone working within our business receives competitive rates which are above the award,” she said.
Amazon has previously come under fire for alleged poor working conditions in its warehouses and delivery operations.
In 2022, Motherboard published internal documents outlining what it described as Amazon’s “dystopian” system for tracking its workers every minute of their shifts.
Ms Theophilou said she had been with Amazon for three years and “that has not been my experience ever, certainly not within Australia”.
“It’s not the experience we want for our teams and that’s not the feedback we get, which is overwhelmingly positive,” she said.
“We work really hard to provide a safe and quality working environment for our people and we’re always working harder to do better.”
Seasonal roles may also serve as a stepping stone for permanent employment and start a long-term career at Amazon, accessing employee benefits including life insurance, income protection insurance, and highly subsidised private health insurance for the entire immediate family.
Samarpan Kapoor became a permanent Amazon employee after joining as a seasonal worker.
“I had a blast working during Prime Day last year — the atmosphere was buzzing on-site, and our team worked together well,” he said in a statement.
“I was thrilled to be offered a permanent position and have been here ever since. Our team is so diverse, with people from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences. I learn something new on the job every day. Plus, we get additional training and educational support to help us develop and grow.”
In addition to the seasonal roles, Amazon is seeking drivers looking to make extra cash in their own time to deliver packages with its Uber-style Amazon Flex program.
Prime Day is Amazon’s annual shopping event offering discounts exclusively for Prime members on products ranging from everyday essentials to electronics, appliances, books, clothing, toys and homewares.
In Australia, Prime membership costs $9.99 per month or $79 per year.
“As Australians continue to grapple with rising living costs and seek ways to stretch their budgets, we are working hard to secure huge savings for members this Prime Day,” Arno Lenior, Prime director for Amazon Australia, said in a statement.
“Members will be able to take advantage of deep discounts from popular brands and fantastic small and medium Aussie businesses, and enjoy the convenience of fast, free delivery on eligible items through Prime.”
Earlier this year Amazon announced free next day delivery as part of Prime membership in a number of Australian cities.
“We’re just really excited about the upcoming Prime Day sales,” Ms Theophilou told news.com.au.
“The shopping event provides discounts on a huge range of products for our members. For our people, [because] it’s such a busy time we make it really fun. We do lots of activities, we might do dress-ups, we might have other fun and engaging activities in that time.”
frank.chung@news.com.au