Make fast cash: Amazon hiring for mid-year sales

Australian retailers are preparing for a bumper mid-year sales season, and it won’t just be Aussies looking for a bargain who will benefit.

Major retailers are hiring extra casual workers to help meet the demand during what Australian Retailers Association chief executive officer Paul Zahra tipped would be a busy period.

“There’s no doubt at the moment there’s a cost of living crisis, so people are very conscious and price sensitive, and they’re looking for particular looking for deals,” he said.

“Retailers are expecting that mid-year sales will be large, and as a result, they’re staffing up accordingly.”

One retailer alone – Amazon Australia – is looking to hire more than 1000 workers in a bid to boost its workforce ahead of the mid-year sales season.

Mr Zahra said some sales had already started, with the official mid-year and end-offinancial-year sales due to run throughout June.

“There’ll be quite a lot of casual work available in the retail industry across the board as retailers will be scaling up to deal with the volume of sales during this period,” he said.

The seasonal roles at Amazon Australia are offered at its fulfilment and logistics sites across the country and could result in an income of more than $1000 a week, depending on the position and hours worked.

The pay starts from $28.80 an hour, ranging from a couple of shifts a week to almost fulltime hours. The majority of Amazon’s sites operate seven days a week, including night shifts at some centres.

Alternatively, job seekers might opt to sign up for Amazon Flex, which is a parcel delivery service similar to Uber, where drivers can earn a minimum of $114 for a four-hour window.

The seasonal roles, which could be for up to three months’ employment, have the potential to turn into more permanent positions.

The Aussie jobs boost comes despite the online retail giant’s plans to shed 9000 jobs, mostly in its cloud service, across its global business.

In January Amazon also revealed separate plans to shut three UK warehouses and seven delivery stations, affecting more than 1200 further jobs.

Sydney university student Bianca Tang started as a seasonal worker in the packing team in February last year.

Within six months she gained full-time employment and now works Wednesday to Saturday as a process assistant, which ties in well with her uni schedule.

“I really love the work that I’m doing here. The work environment made me stay and I’ve found a really good balance (with uni),” said Ms Tang, who is doing a bachelor of law and security studies.

“Amazon has taught me everything I needed to know about the job and any questions were easy to answer. Everyone is very understanding and inclusive.”

Amazon Australia director of operations Mindy EspidioGarcia said the company was looking for “motivated and enthusiastic” people to join the team.

“We provide on-the-job training, so no previous experience is required,” she said.

“People are at the heart of our operations, and our peak periods are an exciting time to be part of the team. We make the busy find. It is by prioritising out people, that we are then able to deliver a world class experience for our customers,” she said.

The company is looking for seasonal workers with a range of skill sets and experience to help pick, pack, sort and ship customer orders, with applications open now for roles at Amazon sites in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Mr Zahra said he expected winter products to be a standout in the mid-season sales, driven by cost of living squeezes and the recent cold snap.