Mercedes-Benz Hiring Hundreds In Search for “Next Generation” of Workers in West Alabama
Mercedes-Benz U.S. International is hiring hundreds of full-time employees as the automotive manufacturer continues to grow and invest in West Alabama.
In a Tuesday morning interview with the Tuscaloosa Thread, MBUSI's President and CEO Michael Goebel said the company's need for workers is multi-faceted and likely to continue for months and years to come.
"Really this is not just a one-time hiring event right now, it's a more long-term plan for the next two years," Goebel said. "The plant has a tremendous demand to build more cars, the electric cars are coming up now and of course we are wrapping up the battery plant next year as well which will mark the first time for us building batteries here in Alabama."
Goebel was referring to the massive new facility under construction now in neighboring Bibb County, where around 600 employees will eventually build battery packs to power electric vehicles built at the main campus in Tuscaloosa.
The CEO also said some senior team members at MBUSI have been around since the plant first opened in 1997 and will likely leave the workforce sooner rather than later.
"On the other side, after 25 years of being here in Tuscaloosa, you see more and more guys getting ready now for their retirement," Goebel said. "We really need to balance that out and look at getting our next generation of team members into the facility and preparing ourselves for the next 25 years."
Goebel said AIDT is processing applications now and helping MBUSI fill hundreds of jobs -- if not more than 1,000 -- in the next year.
So what does it take to land a job at the second-largest employer in Tuscaloosa County behind only the University of Alabama? Goebel said the answer is twofold.
"First, do you have the skills to build cars, which is a more hands-on job than people realize? Second, what is your attitude? Because building cars, specifically in the luxury sector, it requires discipline," he said. "It starts with getting up and getting to work on time. There really is a one-team mindset over there and it's about your skills, your personality, your work ethic -- that is really what we are looking for to keep this momentum and to keep the one-team system we have over here."
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