Amazon Launches Search for a Second Headquarters City in North America... (Dallas: buy, salary)

[TheOverdog]

Obvious? A tech company would have a hard time getting top-5% talent in Dallas area

Amazon doesn't hire top 5% talent. They hire mostly short timers, and their benefits and pay reflects that.

[Laminate7]

[quote=TheOverdog;49504410]Amazon doesn't hire top 5% talent. They hire mostly short timers, and their benefits and pay reflects that.[/QUOTE

I second this. That is why they are constantly ranked as one of the worst companies to work for and there are plenty of articles about this. They care about cheap labor and sweet tax saving deals....

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

Amazon doesn't hire top 5% talent. They hire mostly short timers, and their benefits and pay reflects that.

Truth. I once interviewed someone who had worked for Amazon for 2-3 years (can't remember exacfly) and she told me she had been there longer than 80% of their employees. They apparently have some system where you can look yourself up and see how your tenure ranks amongst all Amazon employees. The average stint at Amazon is about 1 year. For contrast, 2-3 years is probably the 20-25% range at my company here and my guess is the average stint is in the 5 year range. .

Amazon's strategy is to work employees until they crash and burn. They don't care if the get 5 months or 5 years out of you. Little chance for upward mobility or career development. You're just hired to do a specific job as long as you can. The poor girl I interviewed was mid-management and had gotten a new boss about every 6 months.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Truth. I once interviewed someone who had worked for Amazon for 2-3 years (can't remember exacfly) and she told me she had been there longer than 80% of their employees. They apparently have some system where you can look yourself up and see how your tenure ranks amongst all Amazon employees. The average stint at Amazon is about 1 year. For contrast, 2-3 years is probably the 20-25% range at my company here and my guess is the average stint is in the 5 year range. .

Amazon's strategy is to work employees until they crash and burn. They don't care if the get 5 months or 5 years out of you. Little chance for upward mobility or career development. You're just hired to do a specific job as long as you can. The poor girl I interviewed was mid-management and had gotten a new boss about every 6 months.

I've been chuckling at some of the posts about Dallas not having enough tech talent for Amazon. What an out of phase concept...............historically Amazon hires a lot of B and C employees then works them to exhaustion. The ones who survive do well. Most don't. It does appear the company has tried to improve all of that over the last few years.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I've been chuckling at some of the posts about Dallas not having enough tech talent for Amazon. What an out of phase concept...............historically Amazon hires a lot of B and C employees then works them to exhaustion. The ones who survive do well. Most don't. It does appear the company has tried to improve all of that over the last few years.

I interviewed that girl last summer so my info is pretty current. I do hope they try to improve their culture. (And for the record, I'd say she was a solid C employee- we did not extend an offer, and if we had she would have come in at least one job band below her role at Amazon).

It's certainly a testament to how strong Amazon's IT infrastructure and data analysis is that they can churn through employees so rapidly. For most retailers, that much turnover would be an absolute disaster....dropped balls, incomplete projects/ committees, and ever changing direction from management churn.

[jgn2013]

It all depends on what Amazon values most (probably financial incentives).

No single city is going to check off all the boxes and most will probably only really check off about half to their satisfaction. My guess is that Toronto is definitely on the shortlist since they specifically mentioned North America. After that, it's anyone's guess.

[turf3]

But how does it compare to California?

(Discuss amongst yourselves)

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by Gravy Train

50,000 jobs means, what, 200,000 more people... in Plano?

What could go wrong?

Yea, no kidding. The tollway/121 area is already way too congested and is a disaster area as far as traffic. If amazon comes to DFW area I would see it somewhere between Dallas and Fort Worth, but still located within one of these cities boundaries. Close to the airport and downtown of both cities.

Even so, although it seems like a good thing, some city is going to shell out big money to get Amazon. I would rather have 10-15 companies that total around 50,000 employees then Amazon.

[justsomeguy]

Here's what the Dallas Morning News had to say about this:

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...ry-north-texas

[stephwin]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I've been chuckling at some of the posts about Dallas not having enough tech talent for Amazon. What an out of phase concept...............historically Amazon hires a lot of B and C employees then works them to exhaustion. The ones who survive do well. Most don't. It does appear the company has tried to improve all of that over the last few years.

Slightly off-topic, but is it safe to assume you used to work at EDS? I always wonder when I see your screen name.