When service members exit the military, acclimating to civilian life can be tricky — especially when it comes to employment.
Looking to ease their transition, Amazon has been looking to bolster its staff with veterans. The e-commerce giant, which has two fulfillment centers and a distribution center in North Las Vegas, hopes to add up to 25,000 vets to the payroll in the next five years.
Amazon employs about 10,000 veterans now, with 60 working locally as warehouse associates fulfilling customer orders.
“We feel they are a great fit for our organization with the leadership skills that they bring to the table and their problem-solving,” Amazon General Manager Chris Maas said. “So far it has been a great experience.”
Amazon works with the USO, to which the company donated $10,000 at a ceremony at the North Las Vegas distribution center Tuesday, to attract veterans to its workforce.
“We have a team of former military veterans working out of Seattle to bring veterans to our area,” Maas said.
Veterans interested working at Amazon can visit here to apply.
That is how Kurt Anderson, operations manager for Amazon's new fulfillment center, got his start with the company. Fresh out of his Army career with the 82nd Airborne Division, he worked as an area manager for Amazon’s fulfillment center in Reno. He moved to Southern Nevada when the company’s latest distribution center opened in July.
“To put so much faith and stock into what veterans can bring to a company, it shows the support they have for the veterans,” Anderson said.
When he left the military, Anderson said he was worried about obtaining a job because he saw others struggle to find employment.
“It was scary because I wasn't sure if I would have a job coming out of the military,” he said. “I was nervous about it because I worried, ‘Do my skills translate to a civilian company? Will my skill set be something the company will value?’”
Anderson said he wanted to work for a company that excelled in distribution and logistics because that’s what he did in the Army. With the first application he submitted and after a rigorous interview, Anderson got the job.
Others aren’t as lucky, said Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, who said some companies aren’t as eager to hire veterans.
“Sometimes employers may have some concerns that a veteran brings to the job some certain undesirable conditions,” Parks said. “As big as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is, media sometimes make it out to be a bigger issue than maybe what it should. I don’t mean to minimize the importance of PTSD, but when it comes to hiring and employment, there are a lot of other things to consider.”
Once a company such as Amazon brings in veterans, their skills speak for themselves, Parks said.
“They have a lot of training that they bring to the job. They have a great degree of discipline, and they’re motivated, Parks said. “Those are factors any employer would want to have.”