Conti to Boost Junior Staff Numbers in 2010

Just days after announcing plans to use football as a means of highlighting its attractiveness as an employer, Continental has outlined plans to “put stock in fresh expertise, new ideas and, thus, increasing innovative prowess in the form of highly qualified junior staff” during 2010. “This year we plan to hire around 1,000 university graduates and young professionals worldwide,” reported Continental Executive Board member Heinz-Gerhard Wente. A quarter of these new recruits will be employed in Germany, he added. The automotive supplier says that while it will primarily focus upon hiring engineering and natural science majors, it is also looking for business and economics graduates.

“As an international automotive supplier, Continental puts great store in highly qualified employees, all the more so in the face of the present challenges,” Wente added. “Alongside attractive assignments with an international perspective and flat hierarchies, Continental also offers a wide range of technologies and possibilities for natural scientists, engineers, managers and lateral entrants with an atypical career of academic background.”

Continental employs roughly 30,000 engineers in the areas of production and research & development. Of the close to 1,000 new recruits the company plans to take on worldwide during the year, approximately 700 will be from engineering related areas and 300 from a commercial background.