Starting in mid-September, 133,000 additional Amazon jobs were being offered all across the U.S. and Canada because people have converted to shopping online during this global pandemic. For many, including high school students, these job opportunities could be essential to earning a living and becoming an employee of a global network.

“It would be really interesting to learn more about the business world and what consumers choose to look up and buy,” says senior Jasmine Ahern.

Although these jobs are offered to ages 18 and older, Amazon could be a place for students or their family members to start a career. According to Amazon’s job website, hours tend to be very flexible at most locations whether working in the warehouse or as a driver. 

“I don’t think I would be worried about balancing a job and school because I think you would be able to, because like Dakota, we are only going [to school] half the time,” Dawson Spencer (12) said. 

Amazon job applications take little effort; the interviewing process may include an online application, assessment, phone interview, and/or an in-person interview. In order to apply for a job, you don’t even need a diploma.

With nationwide layoffs at an all-time high, a job with Amazon could provide supplemental income or help American workers get back on their feet.  Warehouse jobs pay anywhere from $15-$20 an hour.

“I would be fine with that as of now because you could do a lot of stuff without being with a lot of people, which helps with COVID, but at the same time, it would not be my first pick in a job,” Ahern said.

Some students hesitate to work for Amazon.

“I know workers have to wear masks and gloves and most of the time they are apart from each other, but they have never talked about their sanitation process,” Spencer said.

Amazon’s COVID-19 blog provides updates to the community about their crisis response. Amazon claims they invested at least $4 billion on COVID related safety items in order to keep both customers and employees safe. They even launched a $20 million AWS Diagnostic Initiative to help better the research for COVID-19.  

According to the Amazon website, “Amazon is always looking to upskill its employees by offering training and development that will teach them new trades and place them in highly-skilled roles.” 

To many high school students, Amazon jobs probably don’t pop into their heads when asked about careers, but Amazon is undoubtedly one of the easiest ways to support yourself or family members in this economic climate.