Merc bosses carpool to tap new talent

It looks like one of the more promising and exciting new ideas undertaken in recruitment for the automobile sector.

The Daimler R&D team at its head office in Germany are now experimenting with hiring on a carpool mode i.e. taking the prospective candidates out on a drive with their reporting boss to help build a better relationship with the next generation of high tech engineers.

Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, in a statement on the company portal said, “I heard our colleagues in R&D were planning to do job interviews inside a Mercedes. Their goal: establishing friendly and enduring business-relationships with talented young engineers interested in autonomous driving. That’s why I stopped by the very first RD applicant day. The idea: HR and specialised departments selected about 40 of the most promising candidates out of a pool of almost a thousand applicants - who then had job interviews with their prospective future bosses while driving around Böblingen in a Mercedes.”

Zetsche is optimistic about the outcomes, as he believes, “I personally participated and had an interesting chat of my own with Molka Elleuch (a new hire), followed by an inspiring walk around the event area. Here are some impressions:

I think it’s a good way for applicants to get to know the company a bit – and vice versa. At a professional level, these car talks have certainly created some major connections: So far, 25 participants received new job offers - 14 of them right the very same day, nearly while still in the passenger seat. More interviews are still being held. And I am very pleased that Molka will also be joining Daimler shortly. So this recruiting day might well be the beginning of long-lasting relationships with our company.”

Future gazing, he says, “Today is one of the most exciting times ever to get into the automotive industry. And it’s not just mobility, our products and our culture are changing. In the same manner, the way in which we get in contact with new talent is also changing fast. Last year, for instance, I had messenger-chats with future apprentices. Above and beyond all that, we also do regular events such as our hackathons and many more.”