VW launches campaign to recruit workers

Volkswagen AG is conducting a national search to fill the most specialised of 1,000 new jobs at its Chattanooga plant in the USA. The German car maker is looking to hire locally as much as possible, but it is using a vast advertising campaign to fill 100-plus specialist positions, including maintenance technicians, manufacturing engineers and logistics supervisors.

The adverts seek to make the Chatta-nooga location a selling point. For example: “Thanks to the fact that our plant is located in one of America’s most up-and-coming towns, our employees aren’t just building great cars, they're building great lives as well.” Volkswagen began building Passat sedans at the $1 billion plant a year ago. The company is adding a third team to boost weekly plant operations to 120hr, up 40hr from current levels.

It sold just under 23,000 Passats in the USA last year — an 83% increase over 2010 — and this year’s sales have already surpassed last year’s. VW sold 24,539 Passats in March, according to Autodata Corp.