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| Free education: How Amazon employees earn their GEDs with Career Choice |
| Amazon's Career Choice program, an education and skills-training benefit, has helped more than 110,000 Amazon employees since it began in 2012. The program now includes prepaid college tuition, English language courses, and help obtaining GED certificates and high school diplomas—giving hourly employees the opportunity to learn new skills and opening doors to better, higher-paying jobs. Adam, a loss prevention specialist in San Antonio, Texas, is among the Amazon employees who earned their GED certificates through Career Choice. Adam dropped out of school in eighth grade and never considered higher education until he joined Amazon in 2020. "Before Amazon, I never thought I could finish my education," he said, noting that obtaining his GED was relatively easy and quick. "And Amazon provided the entire program to me for free." Now Adam, who has been promoted twice in the past three years, is working on a bachelor's degree in information technology and recently applied for the Amazon Technical Academy, a skills-training program that offers job placement for software development engineers. He even persuaded his mother and roommate to join him at Amazon so they could further their own educations through Career Choice. |