Hiring and Retaining Engineers - The Supplier Approach
On-the-job recruits
Cooperative programs between a university and company give engineering students on-the-job training, which helps jump-start careers to the benefit of all involved.
Kettering Univ. in Flint, MI, is a 2500-student, cooperative-focused institution. Bosch is among the school's more than 700 company partners. The automotive supplier of body electronics, safety and braking systems, gasoline and diesel injection, and engine management systems offers work assignments in Germany with a similar arrangement being developed in Mexico.
"In general, the more people in the business world who are experienced in international operations, the better off we all are," said Robert Oswald, Chairman, President, and CEO of the Robert Bosch Corp., the wholly owned subsidiary of Stuttgart, Germany-based Robert Bosch GmbH.
 Angela Hamady is a Kettering Univ. student who has been gaining work experience at GM since 1996. |
The Kettering Univ.-Bosch international work/study arrangement - also involving universities in Germany - represents an emerging trend in study and work abroad programs. "In Kettering's case, the companies are integral partners because our mission is so closely tied to developing technical and business leaders for the very companies that hire our co-op students. The curriculum and co-op work experience plans are developed together to meet those needs. I know of no other university that is this closely tied to companies," said Robert Nichols, Vice President for Enrollment Management at Kettering Univ.
Angela Hamady, a Kettering Univ. student, has been doing cooperative student work at GM since 1996. She has had assignments in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. "There is no amount of learning that can substitute for real experience," said the electrical engineering senior. "I sincerely believe that this company's commitment to student education and involvement will perpetuate its innovation in the automotive industry."
The upside to in-house recruiting
Filling vacancies in a high-flying economy means more bodies to handle the work orders. But many companies find the toughest order to fill is the hire order.
Textron Automotive had 85 job openings to fill two years ago. If nothing had changed, the company would continue to rely almost completely on recruitment agencies to find job candidates.
Things did change. Within six months of hiring a full-time, in-house recruiter, the number of remaining openings dropped to 14. "And that's not counting the hire (needs) that came up after I joined the company," said Scott Roy, Director of Human Resources Strategic Staffing and Global Deployment for Textron Automotive based in Troy, MI. In Roy's first six months with the company, whose product list includes interiors and plastic fuel tanks, Textron Automotive saved $700,000 in recruitment agency charges. "We were spending between $1 million and $1.5 million a year in agency fees," said Roy.
 Scott Roy, Textron Automotive's Director of HR/Staffing & Global Deployment, interviews a job candidate. |
Today, Textron Automotive has three full-time recruiters to scan for potential hires at such locales as college campuses and job fairs. Last February, the company conducted a two-and-a-half-day job fair that attracted more than 500 technical candidates. The job fair, conducted at a hotel accessible by a major expressway, netted more than 10 hires within one week of the event.
Promotions from within the company are heavily emphasized. The goal is that about 50% of all job openings be filled by in-house promotions. At present, 25 to 30% of the job openings are being filled internally. "And that's only because we're growing faster than the employees we have are able to grow," said Roy. The company offers more than 100 programs for employee development. An employee's individual development goals are tracked and evaluated.
"I can show job candidates actual career ladders where 'this is the next step, this is the next step, and this is the next step.' I can give them example after example of people going up through the ranks. We can show both a plan to accomplish individual goals as well as show examples of those who have advanced," said Roy, adding, "The objectives of an employee are linked to company goals."
New hires immediately experience an orientation program that includes employee introductions, an overview of the organizational makeup, and product offerings. Within 30 days of being hired, an employee and his or her supervisor address and outline a plan for meeting business objectives and individual goals. "In the automotive industry, everyone is so knowledgeable about each other's car allowances, stock options, wages, sign-on bonuses, benefits, and the like that that's no longer the differentiator for choosing a company. Wages are not that dissimilar, but the growth and development and value a company places on an employee and how that employee is treated is a differentiator," Roy said.
Textron Automotive had job requests this past fall for more than 60 engineers. "We need more engineers because of continued and new programs," said Roy. More than 65% of engineers employed by Textron Automotive have a mechanical degree. The rest of the engineering makeup includes electrical, chemical, plastic, and packaging engineers.
