How two Amazon workers took advantage of the Career Choice program to get their GEDs for free
Regarding employee perks, Amazon is always developing new ideas. The Career Choice program, an education and skills-training benefit created to aid qualified employees in developing their careers—at Amazon or elsewhere - was introduced in 2012 as part of their commitment to hourly workers.
More than 110,000 Amazon workers have taken part in Career Choice since then. Throughout the years, the program has continued to evolve and last year they extended their U.S. Career Choice services to include prepaid college tuition, English language classes, and GED prep and high school diploma programs. Almost 6,000 persons participated in the English language proficiency programs in their first year, and over 220 of them received GED certifications. Another 55 workers received high school degrees.
Beth Galetti, Amazon's SVP of People eXperience and Technology, said that it was crucial to her company that hourly workers had the chance to advance their careers. "We’ve seen how these offerings open new doors to better, higher paying jobs which empower us as a business, employees as individuals and also the communities we operate in, holistically," the company rep said.
Among those workers are Dana and Adam, who obtained their GEDs via Career Choice. Meet them both below, and see how they want to further their professions via schooling.
Fulfillment Associate Dana, from New York, New York
Dana lost her part-time work at a museum in 2020 as the COVID-19 outbreak reached its peak. She was concerned about getting a job in such a hazy period. Record numbers of people were jobless, and Dana didn't have any documentation proving she had completed high school since she had been home-schooled.
She began her career at Amazon as a sorter at a fulfillment facility without any prior relevant work experience. She said that although the position first proved to be taxing, it also showed her tenacity.
That really demonstrated to her what she was capable of. As she commented, comfort is the enemy of growth, thus you must do something unconventional if you really want to advance. You're going to exert more effort.
When Dana learned that Amazon provides GED prep via Career Choice, she had already begun studying toward her GED. She was happy.
"It expedited everything in my life. Within a couple of months, I got my GED with Amazon and they paid for the whole thing,” she said. “When I got that high school diploma in the mail, I was so relieved and happy. I started crying. It made me feel so good and proud."
In order to become a qualified environmental technician, she later enrolled in a Career Choice industry certification program. She currently intends to study environmental engineering.
As she stated, Amazon gives people the chance to try stuff out for free. And she felt like being capable of taking over the world after getting her GED.
Loss Prevention Expert Adam from San Antonio, Texas
Before joining Amazon in August 2020, Adam dropped out of school in the eighth grade and never gave further education a thought. Adam learned about Amazon's education initiatives via Career Choice after spending around five years working in the construction industry.
He never imagined he could complete his studies before Amazon, Adam stated. "When I first started the GED program, I expected it to be very long and hard, and it ended up being relatively easy and short. And Amazon provided the entire program to me for free."
Even his mother and roommate joined him at Amazon to improve their own educations via Career Choice after he urged them to do so.
Since joining Amazon, Adam has received two promotions, and he is now interviewing for a third one. According to Career Choice, he is now pursuing a bachelor's degree in information technology. Adam just submitted an application for the Amazon Technical Academy, one of Amazon's skill-development initiatives that provides software development engineers with training and job placement assistance. His ultimate goal is to one day own his own IT business.
When you have a degree, that's a bit simpler, he remarked. "In construction, I felt like there were only so many ways I could go. I never thought that I would be doing something like I am now."
The option to develop their talents for professional success is provided through Career Choice to qualified workers at Amazon or elsewhere.
