see. think. act.

2019

#ZFexperts

Attracting talented employees to ZF

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Tags: HumanRessources, Careers
April 17, 2019
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Christina Marpe is currently Manager for Global Recruiting Western Europe at ZF. Martin Frick has worked at ZF for 13 years, and transitioned from IT Innovation Management to Employer Branding six years ago.
Inboxes overflowing with applications – today, on the highly competitive market for experts on the latest trends in the world of automotive technology, this is something we have not seen in quite some time. Earlier, we were spoiled for choice and we primarily concentrated on the German market and on mechanical engineering. The entire automotive industry is facing the challenge of attracting new target groups that we previously did not have on our radar, both as an industry and as a company, for example computer scientists and electrical engineers. This phenomenon is not limited to component suppliers – OEMs are also struggling to attract talent on an extremely difficult market.

Our inboxes are empty – we need applicants. As a result, we need to try new approaches. From active sourcing, to recommendation systems, to emotional events all the way to tapping into new markets that offer excellent computer science training and highly qualified specialists such as India or Israel. Further development of employees is one important aspect. In the future, hybrid qualifications will be required to establish links between mechanics and electrical engineering or between the physical and virtual world in order to ensure seamless integration of see. think. act. Sufficient applicants with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a master’s degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in artificial intelligence would be the perfect symbiosis – and certainly every recruiter’s dream candidate.

Major challenges

Hiring IT specialists such as software developers, software architects, power electronics technicians, and functional safety engineers is both extremely important and extremely difficult. However, job profiles in the areas of cyber security and artificial intelligence are also crucial for ZF.
Moreover, we want to further expand our reputation as an attractive employer, especially in our growth markets of the US, China, Eastern Europe, India, and Japan. We see a great deal of potential in these areas that we are looking to explore.

Our solutions

We are currently working on introducing global recruiting processes and global recruiting hubs that will pool their resources to operate recruiting channels that will include active sourcing. Furthermore, we will shift our focus to using our employees as ambassadors for our company.
We will take a comprehensive approach at technical colleges and universities, introduce ZF to talented students early on, and
hold new, targeted events that will attract participants from the new target groups mentioned above and, more than anything, allow them to experience our technologies live and in person. Anyone who has seen an autonomous shuttle in action and then goes on to code the functional software for that shuttle knows exactly what they are working on. We will use storytelling to show potential applicants what it’s like to work at ZF: employees will offer an authentic behind-the-scenes look at ZF and offer more information about the company’s innovation fields and work environment.

Fascinating target groups with events ...

Will it work?

We are on the right path to achieve our goals, but we need to double down on our efforts.
Last fall, Universum, a market research company, named us the “Highest Climber” for IT professionals as part of their Young Professionals Ranking. We are always pleased to receive these kinds of confirmations that ZF is an attractive employer, and this is precisely what motivates us to work even harder.

Interesting links

Interesting links

What is it like to work at ZF? The best way to find out is to hear what our employees have to say: What's next
Are you ready to join us? You can find current vacancies in our Job portal