Amazon isn't hiring anyone anytime soon until 2023 comes, at least for its retail business.
The popular e-commerce company has recently announced to its employees that it is freezing corporate hiring in its retail business for the remainder of 2022 to cut costs.
Amazon is one of many tech giants that have put their recruitment drive on hold lately due to the ongoing economic recession and "uncertainty."
Amazon Recruitment Freeze Details
Amazon mentioned in an internal announcement emailed to its recruiters that it is halting global hiring for all corporate and technology positions for Amazon's stores business, which covers the company's physical and online retail business and logistics operations, per The Verge and The New York Times.
As a result, 20,000 job openings that were listed for that division, which makes up the bulk of Amazon's sales, were axed on the evening of Oct. 4.
The email also mentioned that the recruitment freeze wouldn't affect Amazon's cloud computing division, as well as student hiring and field positions, with the former being one of the more profitable divisions in the company.
Bloomberg also added that Amazon's warehouse network wouldn't be affected by the recruitment freeze as well.
Fortunately, candidates who are already going through the hiring process and have interviews scheduled before Oct. 15 can still land a job at Amazon.
However, they would have to start working for the company sometime in 2023 should they be successfully hired.
This recruitment freeze seemed to be in the making even before it was announced. You may remember that Amazon didn't launch its annual "career day" this year, wherein it would recruit 10,000 aspiring candidates to work in the company.
However, the fact that Amazon is still giving a chance to the candidates who already have interviews scheduled is consistent with what the company's spokesman, Brad Glasser, said.
According to the spokesman, Amazon will continue to have a "significant number of open roles available across the country," and the company expects to adjust its hiring strategies in each of its businesses at "various junctures" if needed.
Amazon's recruitment freeze is one of the effects of the rising inflation and high-interest rates the Federal Reserve is sanctioning to reduce it.
ABC News reports that the company experienced one of its slowest revenue growth rates in nearly two decades.
As a result, the company is being forced to cut costs to keep itself afloat, as evidenced by its subletting its warehouses and canceling construction projects.
Not The Only One
Amazon is the latest tech giant to freeze its recruitment efforts due to concerns of an economic downturn, per CNBC. Other companies like Google, Twitter, GameStop, and even Meta have either laid off a handful of employees or have re-evaluated their recruitment drive for 2022.
However, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy assured the company's investors that he would work on returning Amazon to a "healthy level of profitability."
