In a report by Business Insider, Amazon has announced that it is hiring 3 000 customer service and technical support personnel in South Africa.
“We are thrilled with the talent in South Africa, and we are excited to add 3,000 skilled jobs this year in customer service, and to help keep people working during this unprecedented time”
Andrew Raichlin, Director Amazon Customer Service in South Africa.
The jobs are full time and seasonal, serving Amazon customers in North America and Europe. An added benefit of this is that those recruited will work from home. Amazon is going to cover internet access however the candidate has to have an existing internet connection. There will be medical aid contributions, group life cover, and employee wellness programs.
The addition of these “virtual jobs”, as Amazon calls them, pushes their workforce to 7 000 in South Africa.
South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel said:
“Government has focused part of our incentive programme on the industry, and with our talent, strong ICT infrastructure and digital capabilities, we aim to secure thousands more jobs like these in years to come,”
According to Amazon, candidates need to meet the following requirements:
- Matric/Grade 12/NQF Level 4 qualification or higher
- Excellent command of English
- South African citizenship
- Have an existing and dedicated internet connection
- Have a private, quiet place to work
Additionally, the technical positions will support customer inquiries on devices, digital services, and Alexa. So this means that technical support candidates will need to understand these tools and be able to communicate support simply.
Africa’s growing influence on Amazon…
After this hiring round, Amazon will have 7 000 workers in South Africa making our Southern African neighbour an important piece of Amazon’s strategy.
Whilst in prior years, Amazon hasn’t looked particularly interested in the African market that seems to be changing. In April, they opened their first data centre in South Africa under Amazon Web Service (AWS). The move allows African organisations to “allow clients to store data locally and retain complete ownership of their content and data”.
Recently, Multichoice announced that Amazon Prime would come preinstalled on Xplora devices in the near future and that too is a shift in Amazon’s approach and is yet another service that will be easier to access on the continent.
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