Amazon to hire 10,000 seasonal workers in Illinois

Amazon plans to hire 10,000 seasonal workers in Illinois this year.

The seasonal hiring in Illinois is part of the online retailer’s overall goal of adding 120,000 temporary workers nationwide for its distribution centers, sorting centers and customer-service sites, the company announced Thursday. The hiring plan is unchanged from a year ago.

“We look forward to welcoming back holiday employees who return year-after-year to Amazon and welcome new faces to the team, many of whom will continue on with regular, full-time roles with the company after the holidays.” Dave Clark, an Amazon senior vice president, said in a news release.

Amazon employs over 125,000 regular, full-time employees at its more than 75 fulfillment centers nationwide.

Amazon hosted a jobs fair Aug. 2 in Romeoville and 11 other sites nationwide. Along with applying for jobs, candidates also got to tour the facility to see the jobs they applied for.

The online retail giant planned to hire 50,000 people from across the country and around 2,500 people at the Romeoville fulfillment center.

In May, Kathleen Carroll, Amazon’s chief recruiter, told the Chicago Sun-Times the company expects to employ 7,000 people full time statewide by July 2018. The hiring is to be spread across nine Amazon fulfillment centers, the company’s downtown corporate office at 227 W. Monroe, its Lake View bookstore, an AmazonFresh site and a University of Illinois-Chicago campus pickup service. The fulfillment centers in the Chicago area are on Goose Island and in Joliet and Romeoville, with two more in Aurora and one each in Monee and Waukegan.