Chrysler Employees Work Weekends To Fulfil Hiring Demands

DETROIT (WWJ) - Monday through Friday isn't enough for one automaker. One group of Chrysler employees are working on the weekend. They've been doing it for the past six months and its all about creating jobs.

Mike Palese, Spokesperson for Chrysler Group LLC, said the company's Human Resources Department has been working six to seven days a week to meet a hiring demand.

"We're certainly looking for talented people to join our company. We've been hiring pretty aggressively since November, when we announced that we were going to hire about 1000 engineers and other technical staff through the first quarter of 2011," Palese said.

"Its been very positive. Certainly, our business is growing. We are achieving a lot of success in the marketplace, our products are very popular," he continued.

Speaking to WWJ's Kathryn Larson, Palese said Chrysler's HR recruiters are interviewing dozens of possible applicants each Saturday and Sunday, a smart move that he believes is needed to stay ahead of the competition.

"For folks that are looking for jobs that have a lot of things lined up during the week, weekends are a good time to schedule interviews. You get a little bit of clear air and their aren't a lot of demands on time so you can relax and get into what the demands of the interview are," Palese said. "This is something that the HR Department decided to do. It was a very intelligent idea, I believe. It certainly derives some advantages because they're definitely right on plan, in terms of hiring."

What exactly is the company looking for in these interviews?

"We are a company that values talent, first and foremost. So, we want to run into people who have the credentials that we believe can really add something valuable to our team," Palese said. "We want to meet with them and understand their technical ability, their skills and experience, and also behavioral types of things which are very important to understand about people to discern whether they will fit in with your culture."

Palese foresees the company's heightened hiring trend to continue as they are always looking for talented people to join their team.

Chrysler is looking for job candidates who are engineers or have a technical speciality. Anyone who believes they have the skills and wants to join the Chrysler team can inquire about available positions on the company's career website. Visit www.chryslercareers.com to look over the positions and skills requirements.