Amazon India rolls out initiative to hire former military personnel

Amazon India has rolled out a military veterans employment programme in partnership with the Office of the Director General of Resettlement (DGR) and the Army Welfare Placement Organisation (AWPO), to create work opportunities for military veterans and their spouses across the company’s fulfilment, sortation, and delivery centres. The initiative reiterates the company’s commitment to diverse and inclusive hiring. 

“Over the years, we have hired military veterans into various roles across the company – in transportation, customer fulfilment, facilities management and security operations, to name a few. This program formalises our efforts and will help create hundreds of career opportunities for military families who have served the country,” said Akhil Saxena, vice president – Asia operations, Amazon.

Amazon has a global commitment to the military community, with over 17,500 military veterans and spouses actively engaged in the programme worldwide. This programme in India will be part of the global objective to hire an additional 25,000 former veterans and spouses by 2021, Swati Rustagi, director of human resources, Amazon India Operations, told ET. 

Under the program, Amazon India will be hiring former defence personnel in supervisory and lead roles, will be rolling out training in cloud computing solutions, as well as hiring in roles of manager, senior manager, and director. There will also be opportunities to lead delivery stations and networks, and fulfilment centres. Those hired under the programme will be part of an affinity group ‘Amazon Warriors’, a global support network for military veterans joining the corporate world.

The company has participated in some job fairs organised by the army, and has already started receiving applications.

With the rollout of this program, Amazon India joins other companies like Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and RPG Enterprises that have introduced similar initiatives towards recruitment of former military personnel in the country over the last couple of years.