Amazon job seekers see opportunities for advancement, paid time off, health benefits

For recent Southmoreland High School graduate Sophie Slater, the chance to work full time at e-commerce giant Amazon’s new warehouse is a chance she does not want to pass up.

“It’s all about growth,” Slater said, noting the opportunity for advancement at the recently opened site off Glen Fox Road in New Stanton.

Slater was among 107 people who came to Amazon’s five-hour hiring event Wednesday at the PA CareerLink office at Westmoreland County Community College near Youngwood. Participants could apply online for a job and attend an orientation session conducted by Amazon personnel. They also were able to select the schedule and shift for their 40-hour work week.

“We’re hoping the majority of them followed through with completing the necessary steps for a job,” said Janice Albright, site administrator for the PA CareerLink office. Workers who receive job offers also must complete pre-employment paperwork, Albright said.

Amazon declined to comment on how many people were offered jobs during the event, said Sam Fisher, an Amazon spokesman.

Slater, an East Huntingdon resident who recently quit a fast-food restaurant job, was one of those who was offered a warehouse job beginning next month. She would be joining workers who started earlier this month at the 1 million-square-foot facility, which Amazon anticipates will be fully operational by the end of the month.

With the money she can earn at Amazon, at a starting salary of $17.75 for entry-level jobs, she said she might have the chance to go to college, as well, without being burdened by significant debt. Amazon has a college tuition program.

At the other end of the spectrum, 64-year-old Dennis Hampton of Mt. Pleasant said he can’t wait to start his job at Amazon and quit working for a cleaning service.

“It’s a dead-end job,” Hampton said of his current job.

Hampton, who is to start at Amazon in early August, said he will be able to enjoy a paid vacation and have health insurance. At his current job, “if you don’t work, you are out” of a paycheck, he said.

As people streamed into the CareerLink offices over a five-hour period, Janet Ward, executive director of the Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Investment Board noted Amazon’s hiring goal of 600 is great for the economy.

“It’s all good for the Fayette-Westmoreland workforce area,” Ward said.

Malachi Thompson, 18, who just graduated from Albert Gallatin High School, said he walked out of the CareerLink office with an offer to start work early next month.

“They’ll give me a job with good pay and 40 hours a week and overtime if you want,” said Malachi, who has the opportunity to work more hours than he does now at the UPS warehouse in New Stanton.