Guilford Technical Community College selected by Amazon as an education partner for Career Choice program

JAMESTOWN, N.C. (October 26, 2022) — Today, Guilford Technical Community College announced its selection as an education partner for Amazon's Career Choice program, providing Amazon's hourly employees access to GTCC's more than 80 programs of study, including flexible options for earning associate degrees, diplomas and certificates.

"GTCC is proud to partner with Amazon and its Career Choice program to help expand higher education opportunities for Amazon's staff," said Anthony Clarke, Ph.D., GTCC president. "We hope this program removes cost as a barrier for Amazon employees to access quality higher education opportunities at GTCC to pursue their educational and career goals in Guilford County."

Guilford Technical Community College is the fourth largest of 58 institutions in the North Carolina Community College System. GTCC serves nearly 27,000 students annually from five campuses and a Small Business Center.

Amazon's Career Choice program is an education benefit that empowers employees to learn new skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere. The program meets individual learners where they are on their education journey through a variety of education and upskilling opportunities including prepaid college tuition, industry certifications designed to lead to in demand jobs, and foundational skills such as English language proficiency, high school diplomas, and GEDs. In the United States, the company is investing $1.2 billion to upskill more than 300,000 employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying, in demand jobs.

"In February of this year, I qualified for the Career Choice program and I am excited to be on this journey," said Christine Steller, an Amazon employee at a facility in Colfax, N.C. "I'm currently pursuing my bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering, and as a mother of five, flexible scheduling is important to me. Career Choice offered me 100% online classes, so now I have the time to attend classes and further my education while spending valuable time with my family."

Amazon's Career Choice program has a rigorous selection process for third-party partner educators, choosing partners that are focused on helping employees through their education programs, assisting them with job placements, and overall offering education that leads to career success.

"We're looking forward to Guilford Technical Community College coming on board as an education partner for Career Choice, adding to the hundreds of best-in-class offerings available to our employees," said Tammy Thieman, global program lead of Amazon's Career Choice program. "We're committed to empowering our employees by providing them access to the education and training they need to grow their careers, whether that's with us or elsewhere. We have intentionally created a partner network of third-party educators and employers committed to providing excellent education, job placement resources, and continuous improvements to the experience. Today, over 90,000 Amazon employees around the world have already participated in Career Choice and we've seen first-hand how it can transform their lives."

For more information on Amazon's Career Choice, visit: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/career-choice.

Media Contacts: Khim Aday, Amazon ([email protected]); Erin McCloskey, GTCC ([email protected])