Amazon Claims Its Career Choice Program Helped 7,000 Employees Pursue New Careers

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN disclosed milestones for its innovative Career Choice Program. According to the company, the key features of its peculiar Career Choice Program were that it pre-pays 95 percent of the cost of tuition to eliminate any financial barrier to make it easier for employees to participate in it.

As a result, over 7,000 employees have participated in it since inception from ten countries. Also over 1,300 associates have taken a college-level course or vocational program onsite at its fulfillment center.

The online retailer said its offering included dedicated Career Choice classrooms on-site, and exclusively supports coursework in respect of in-demand fields based on sources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That meant that the employees could pursue beyond the purview of the available jobs in the company.

Amazon said after the Career Choice program in July 2012, it made several enhancements, as well as, incremental investments in the program. That included increase in the amount of tuition pre-paid for courses to $12,000 in four years. The company also shortened the period of time that associates must be with the company to become eligible, i.e. just one year of employment.

The company's SVP of worldwide operations, Dave Clark, commented, "We're energized by the interest and enthusiasm in Career Choice that we've seen from our employees. Through Career Choice our employees are becoming nurses, pharmacy technicians, accountants, and commercial drivers – all high-demand fields and many that provide a great service to the community. We're very proud of our employees who are taking advantage of the opportunity and look forward to seeing many more step forward in the years to come."