What’s it take to become one of the 4,000 workers at the new Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant? On Wednesday your WZDX News reporter put on a hard hat to find out.
The company’s expecting to get 40,000 applicants, but only a third of them will get to the assessment part of the hiring process. There’s four hours of testing as well as other assessments like an interview and it all takes six hours.
“It allows us to understand the potential candidate’s skills in regards to how they build a car,” said Tom Korona, the paint department general manager. “So based on their score that gives us and understanding of their capability.”
You’re timed and get a score on the activities. The assessment involves things like fitting metal pieces together, using a drill to put in screws, and lifting 25 pounds.
One station tests where you’d fit best in the company and another is more realistic (involving the frame of a car) and tests accuracy and speed.
“So we’re looking at fine motor skills, we’re looking at ‘are they performing the quality within the job pace, the work pace, is it accurate?'” said Project Manager Jamie Hall.
In one part of the assessment you have to squeeze a device.
“This is probably gonna simulate whenever they have a drill,” explained an assessor. “They start to develop carpel tunnel or something like this. If we can see that decrease in their hand strength that’s telling us okay well they’re loosing strength in their hands and why is that?”
They want the applications to keep coming and have a strategic plan to start recruiting within 25 miles and then eventually expand that range to 75 miles.
“It can be an opportunity where you come in, you learn from the ground up and you have a long, prosperous career,” Hall said. “We’ve had team members come in and over the years be able to grow their careers and advance. There’s even examples of those team members becoming presidents of our local companies.”
Hall says challenges the company faces are the number of jobs they need to fill and the low unemployment rate locally.
“Grow with the company because our intention is to be around for a very, very long time providing a stable place to work,” said Korona.
Production is set to start in 2021 and they’ll build 300,000 vehicles a year.
You can apply online to become a team member starting January 1st. Go to their website where you’ll apply here.
You have to be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or GED to apply.