Stefanie Thornton is the Senior Manager-Talent Acquisition at FCA US LLC.
The automotive industry is also cool.
Where else can you see the product of your work sitting in front of you every day while waiting in line at the Starbucks drive-thru?
It’s just cool.
The really cool part of all those gorgeous Jeep®, Ram and Dodge vehicles out there is what these products really, truly represent … the thousands of talented people who each day bring their innovative ideas to design, build and market such an exciting product lineup.
So to a company like FCA US, talent is a vital currency and key to a successful future.
To support this insatiable need for talent, FCA US is actively engaged with scores of colleges and universities around the country. Our team often plays a role on campuses in the hope of identifying that next Jeep powertrain engineer, marketing guru or finance genius to strengthen an already world-class team with fresh ideas.
The key word is engagement.
It’s not enough anymore to get a booth at a career conference or to distribute brochures at a job fair.
Today’s talent market demands new and more creative ways to engage with, identify and recruit top talent that will keep our company and products relevant in the future.
An example of the types of projects our recruiting teams pursue to generate greater engagement with prospective talent is the recent Power Up Summit conducted by the business school at Florida International University (FIU).
This was a full-day session developed by women for women on International Women’s Day to share inspirational career stories for the benefit of students and early career professionals.
FIU is a great partner and source of talent for FCA US.
Our FIU recruiting team is very engaged in campus life. In this case, it made absolute sense that the Company was a key sponsor of the Power Up Summit, which was very similar to a Women’s Leadership Summit held for FCA US employees during the Company’s observance of Women’s History Month.
“The relationship between FCA and FIU is one built on trust with a priority of placing recent university graduates in challenging and fulfilling career roles at FCA,” said Matt Reynolds, executive leader of the FCA FIU recruiting team.
So the next time you see that hot-looking Jeep, Ram or Dodge at the drive thru, you now know how and where we found the talented people who created it.
It’s always a cool story.
