亞馬遜為何青睞老兵

????說起啟用退伍老兵的熱情，幾乎沒有哪家財富500強企業能比肩亞馬遜公司。2011年，在這家網上零售商為其物流中心新招募的受薪雇員中，退伍軍人的比例占到了25%。對老兵如饑似渴的需求使得亞馬遜公司在《G.I. Jobs》雜志編撰的2012年100大擁軍雇主排行榜中榮登榜首位置。一家高科技公司大舉招募陸軍和海軍士兵似乎有違常識。但亞馬遜其實既是一家技術公司，也是一家物流公司。

????亞馬遜公司CEO杰夫?貝索斯表示：“我們一直在積極地網羅具備創新精神，思路開闊，勇于行動，能夠為客戶帶來成果的管理菁英。”他援引的是該公司經常提及的管理箴言。“曾經投身軍隊、報效國家的男人和婦女們非常熟悉這些原則。我們發現，在亞馬遜快節奏的工作環境中，這些退伍軍人的領導經驗堪稱無價之寶。”

????在亞馬遜公司，退伍軍人們已經形成了一個具有一定私密性的小圈子，至少在物流中心是如此。亞馬遜公司北美區招聘經理菲利普?達納曾經在海軍服役，既做過士兵，也當過軍官（當初就是他說服克蘭西加入了亞馬遜公司）。克蘭西的老板丹?費伊也是西點軍校的畢業生。亞馬遜公司在鳳凰城建造了兩個面積為100萬平方英尺的倉儲設施，前陸軍阿拉伯語翻譯喬希?滕特是其中一家的總經理。

????我們很容易理解招聘經理看中了退伍軍人、特別是年輕的下級軍官（除了接受過良好的教育之外，這些年輕人還親歷過槍林彈雨的洗禮）身上的哪些特質。“他們具備的領導才能完全不同于剛走出校門的大學畢業生，”37歲的滕特說。退役之后，他拒絕了一個在中央情報局（the Central Intelligence Agency）做承包商的機會，轉而選擇了亞馬遜公司提供的這份旨在促進電子商務智能化的工作。“亞馬遜明白電子商務服務商并非只有他們一家。他們擁有一個絕佳的開端。他們很聰明，但它的發展已經遇到了一個瓶頸。”

????那么，老兵們為什么如此青睞亞馬遜公司呢？因為他們在這家公司身上看到了一種更高、但同時卻更安全的召喚，正如他們當初入伍是的感受。滕特說：“兩者的使命感是類似的。”他指的是亞馬遜公司以服務為導向的文化。此外，他補充說：“每年的那個時候，我們都需要為人們帶來一個豐富多彩的圣誕節。”

????譯者：任文科

????Few, if any, Fortune 500 companies have embraced veterans more enthusiastically than Amazon. In 2011, 25% of new salaried employees hired by the online retailer at its fulfillment centers were ex-military. That appetite for vets landed Amazon in the No. 1 position for 2012 in the annual ranking of the top 100 military-friendly employers compiled by G.I. Jobs magazine. It's somewhat counterintuitive to think of the technology industry picking up the hiring slack for soldiers, sailors, and the like. But Amazon is really a logistics company as much as a tech company.

????"We actively seek leaders who can invent, think big, have a bias for action, and deliver results on behalf of our customers," says Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, alluding to some of the company's oft-repeated leadership precepts. "These principles look very familiar to men and women who have served our country in the armed forces, and we find that their experience leading people is invaluable in our fast-paced work environment."

????At Amazon (AMZN) the ex-military men and women have formed something of a clique, at least in the fulfillment-center operations. Philip Dana, the company's talent acquisition manager for North America, served in the Navy, both as an enlisted man and an officer. (He persuaded Clancey to join Amazon.) Clancey's boss, Dan Fay, is another West Point grad. Josh Teeter, general manager of one of Amazon's pair of 1-million-square-foot facilities in Phoenix, was an Arabic linguist in the Army before joining Amazon.

????It's easy to see what hiring managers see in veterans, particularly the young former junior officers who literally are battle-tested in addition to being well educated. "They have a standard of leadership that is different from someone right out of college," says Teeter, 37, who rejected a position as a contractor with the Central Intelligence Agency in favor of the Amazon assignment of boosting the intelligence of e-commerce. "They understand that it's not about them. They have a huge running start. They're smart. And they've already met a certain bar."

????As for what the vets see in Amazon, they profess a higher -- albeit safer -- calling, just as they did when they joined up to become warriors. "The sense of purpose is similar," says Teeter, referring to Amazon's service-oriented mentality. Plus, he adds, "once a year you get to deliver Christmas."