General Motors has been on a hiring spree for the past 24 months as the auto-talent war begins to heat up. GM’s rival Ford announced it will purchase the long-abandoned train station in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood, which gives the automaker a chance to steal some of GM’s latest talent.
According to a report from the Detroit Free Press, GM has brought on 9,000 new employees in the past 24 months and the automaker has done very well in attracting younger talent—employees that could very well head to Silicon Valley companies.
Michael Arena, GM’s chief talent officer, told the publication that applicants flooded the automaker after GM announced plans for 20 new electric cars by 2023.
“People were showing up at the gates of our social sites and tapping into storyboards. They started to inquire about jobs,” he said. “Whenever Mark (Reuss) or (CEO) Mary Barra get out there and talk about what GM wants to do in the world, my job becomes 10 times easier.”
Now, the challenge will be for GM to keep those employees as Ford moves closer to GM’s operations. The automaker has spent millions to renovate workspaces to provide a chic and hip image, and also open up spaces to create a “one team” environment—a personal ethos of Barra.
But, ultimately, Arena said employees choose GM because of the product and services coming out of the automaker. A lot of new employees like the idea of putting their work into a car, rather than just a piece of software.
“The reason people chose us over other companies is because of the products and services we provide,” said Arena. “So we have to keep providing that.”
Comments
Being over all the Holden guys. They made some great vehicles.
I’m surprise you were able to resist writing “How will the Ford station compete with the Corvette” or what ever “wash, rinse, repeat” drivel this site always manages to pump out…”Tata Sports car for 2750….watch out Corvette!!!”
Ford bought an abandoned building…..hooray….??? Who cares???
Plenty of vacant buildings still around.
“GM has brought on 9,000 new employees in the past 24 months and the automaker has done very well in attracting younger talent—employees that could very well head to Silicon Valley companies.”
I think GM should head to Silicon Valley. Or at least a spot in California with a lot of sun. And build a tall building saturated in solar panels. A building and factory run on sunlight and designing and building electric vehicles.
The way Cadillac in NYC says something GM’lectric in CA says something too.
That is a good assessment, Hart. GM could totally foster a highly educated workforce with all the graduating students from UCLA, Berkeley, Stanford, etc. They just need to tolerate California’s high cost of living and steep taxes! GM already has corporate offices in Thousand Oaks so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the corporation establish a research and development branch in one of the megacities.
Cruise is in SF
The story no one talks about is how many of those new college hires leave after 2 or 3 years after GM has lavished tons of time and money on them, especially in IT. Those folks do not find a lot of allure working for an automaker, they want to be at places like Google, Microsoft and Cisco.