Amazon is freezing hiring in its retail business for the rest of the year, according to an internal notice obtained by The New York Times, making it the latest tech company to pull out. in an unstable economic environment.
Emails to recruiters informing that the company is suspending hiring for all corporate positions, including technology positions, globally in its Amazon store business, including operations. operations and retail, and account for the majority of Amazon’s revenue. About 20,000 openings had been posted in that department as of Monday night.
The company’s cloud computing division, which is far more profitable than its retail business, will not be affected by the freeze. Some roles, such as student recruitment and field positions, have been exempted from the pause, the email said.
The email said employers should tell job candidates that Amazon is not experiencing a hiring freeze, although it went on to say that all open job requests will be closed in the coming days. It said new openings will be available early next year.
Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesman, said in a statement: “Amazon continues to have a significant number of open roles across the company. “We have different businesses at different stages of development, and we hope to continue to refine our hiring strategies in each of these businesses at different times.”
Candidates with interviews scheduled before October 15 can still receive offers, but they won’t start at Amazon until next year. The email recommends canceling phone calls for candidate screening and other early recruiting activities.
Layoffs and slow hiring has greatly impacted the tech industry in recent months. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, told staff last week that it is freezing hiring for most positions, as it appears to be shrinking its workforce. And other retailers signaled a period of pain ahead, with costs and inventories soaring as consumers cut back on discretionary spending amid high inflation.
Under Andy Jassy, who took over as Amazon’s chief executive more than a year ago, the company has reduced spending to cut costs amid the weakest growth in two decades.
Mr. Jassy recently told investors that the company has focused on cost control and efficiency in its warehousing and logistics operations. It slowed its once rapid warehouse expansion, closing facilities, ending leases and freezing some new buildings. The company employed 1.52 million people in the second quarter, nearly 100,000 fewer than at the end of March, mainly due to cuts in the hourly workforce.
The company’s hiring freeze is the latest sign that cost controls are also affecting Amazon’s core technology and retail teams. In recent years, Amazon has held its annual “Job Day” in September, where it recruits tens of thousands of salaried positions. Last year, it received more than a million job applications. But it did not hold the event this year.
And last month, on the company’s annual device day, when it launched consumer products, the offerings were noticeably more limited than before. The event focused mainly on updates to existing product lines, such as Fire TV and Kindle.
Previously, the event included some quirky products with apparently limited consumer potential, like a Post-it note printer, an Alexa-enabled ring, and an indoor home security camera drone. .
This is an evolving story. Check for updates again.
