Gm Hangs ‘help Wanted’ Sign to Hire 400 Tech Engineers
Amid the slashing of tens of thousands of jobs to shrink its workforce, General Motors Corp. is now hanging out by its gates a ‘Help Wanted’ sign. The largest automaker around the globe intends to hire 400 people for highly specialized engineering and technical positions. The move is aimed at improving fuel economy of their vehicles and at the same time creating energy alternatives to oil.
On May 5, the automaker will hold an invitation-only job fair with the intention of filling up to 400 new engineering and technical positions in different fields including powertrain engineering, product development and fuel cells. GM also is looking to fill openings in its OnStar and information technology divisions.
GM intends make the event public during next week’s Society of Automotive Engineers conference in Detroit. Prospective candidates must register for the fair and submit a resume online. There is no stepping on the EBC pads for the automaker is set for a big haul.
The competition among applicants is quite intense. This is because the jobs needed belong to the growing fields that require highly specialized skills. “We’re looking for people with the technical expertise to help us change the way the world drives,” said Troy Clarke, the GM North America president, in a released statement.
GM is looking for a handful of highly-skilled employees to help develop the battery technology to drive a vehicle such as the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid car which is equipped with an electric drivetrain and an internal combustion engine that recharges the vehicle’s batteries while on the road. The Volt is expected to go on sale by 2010 if GM can develop the battery technology required to operate it.
Other jobs would go to workers with expertise in a broad range of areas such as hybrid vehicles, hydrogen fuel cells, and diesel engines. While GM’s new jobs do not come close to restoring the 218,000 manufacturing jobs Michigan has lost since the year 2000, the additions are well received in a state whose unemployment rate has soared well above the national average for over five years.
“It’s that one step forward after the one-and-a-half steps backwards,” said Scott Watkins, a consultant with the Anderson Economic Group which is based in East Lansing. The new jobs are welcome, “but when you put it next to the jobs that have been cut, it’s a small drop in the bucket.”
Amid the thespian downsizing of the American automotive industry, Michigan has pinned its future on growing jobs in high technology fields like the advanced manufacturing and information technology.
The state has seen a steady decline in advanced automotive jobs like the ones GM looks to fill. The state had 127,800 of those jobs in 2004, down from 163,485 in 1998, according to data compiled by Automation Alley, a technology consortium based in Oakland County.
The jobs that remain in the field, however, are becoming increasingly lucrative, according to the data. Workers with an advanced automotive job earned an average salary of $62,500 in 2004, up from $53,500 in 1998. “The lower-wage, less-skilled jobs are the ones leaving,” Watkins said. “The more advanced ones that really involve the future of the industry and developing new products are the ones staying.”
In the previous years, GM has added about 1,000 employees a year in some of the most technologically advanced positions, said Brenda Rios, a GM spokeswoman. “We’re trying to tap the best people we can,” Rios said. “This is an expanding area.”
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January 30th, 2010 at 8:45 am
not much, they are all laid off
January 30th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Pretty cool..
January 30th, 2010 at 9:53 am
short, but cool.
January 30th, 2010 at 9:55 am
it will help but its a part of mechanical enginnering
January 30th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
You should join a technical college. Ranken is an excellent school for what you want. It is located in St. Louis. Google them and see what you get. It is pretty affordable too for the type of education your going to receive.
Good Luck with your career in life!
=)
January 31st, 2010 at 2:43 am
There is a difference between automotive mechanic and automotive engineer. An automotive mechanic is someone who fixes automotive systems. An automotive engineer designs automotive systems and directs technicians and machinists to build systems.
I don't know about Wyo Tech or UTI but automotive engineers is a subset of mechanical engineering. So an automotive engineer might study say engine-transmission compatibility or performance and fuel-economy trade-offs in design but might be an expert at collision repair. Any one: Mechanical engineer, mechanical engineer who as spent time studying automotive systems, and auto mechanic might all work for a car company in different jobs doing different things.
January 31st, 2010 at 5:40 pm
The average salary for automotive engineering jobs is $61,000. Average automotive engineering salaries can vary greatly due to company, location, industry, experience and benefits… The automotive engineering salary comparisons feature allows job seekers to get the information required to make important career decisions and negotiate salary ranges…. The salary which is very high while working in automotive engineering..
February 1st, 2010 at 4:02 pm
If your math and science skills are not that good, another option is automotive technology, which does not require an engineering degree but is also involved with cars. You can find trade schools online and their requirements are less than for an engineering college but you can find a job using the certificate from a good trade school. Many people who have problems with math and science, which is what engineering is about, find that they learn more by working on things than they would do in the engineering classroom.
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:02 am
an automotive engineer makes as much as he or she can beg from the government. dirty beggars. that is not a respectable career to aspire to. get a real job. even a trash collector or a door to door vacuum cleaner salesperson has to earn each dollar. auto engineers just make car ads showcasing their fantasies about what they think people want them to do, and then try to pretend that's what they are doing by playing fast and loose with words and images. then they get on their yachts and have a video conference call with bought politicians and beg for a few billion more.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:14 am
I want to work for BMW as an engineer and I am going to Berkley. It is here in California
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:02 pm
You should really look at what you find more interesting. If that is not a factor, then look at the automotive market right now. You are right that automotive engineering does constrain you and I would not like to be tied to the sinking automotive market right now. Its a gamble, if you make it in the automotive market, you make more money but finding a job in this market would be quite an feat.
Just remember, it is easier for a mechanical engineer to get an automotive job than it is for a automotive engineer to get a generic mechanical engineering job.