In the 20-plus years Tiffiney Woznak has been working in the recruitment space, she has never seen a labor market quite like this. For the past couple decades, the director of talent management for MAHLE鈥檚 North America operations has typically observed managers navigating through dozens, or even hundreds, of applications from qualified candidates when a job is posted. Today, it鈥檚 the candidates who have the upper hand. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a tight labor market. The individuals we are most interested in are getting four, five, six offers at a time,鈥 Woznak says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no doubt candidates are setting the parameters. You simply can鈥檛 just post a job and expect to get hundreds of applicants. Instead, we鈥檙e having to source and dig and network and build relationships. That鈥檚 how you鈥檙e finding the best talent these days.鈥
The Germany-based global automotive manufacturer searches out talent in a variety of ways. Woznak says the company maintains talent pools of promising individuals and makes an effort to stay in contact with those folks regularly. And they work hard to make MAHLE a satisfying place to work so they can retain great people. Interestingly, they also see philanthropy as a key part of their workforce development strategy. Through the , the company makes charitable investments in all kinds of areas, from drinking water projects and biodynamic agriculture to education. It鈥檚 a demonstration of their desire to be a socially responsible company. But Woznak says making the world a more just, more educated place is also essential to their business. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 devote the time and resources and, yes, money to provide opportunities for young people, then in the future we won鈥檛 have anybody who can do what we need to do.鈥
MAHLE鈥檚 relationship with UM-Dearborn is a great case study. The company recently donated $200,000 to the Engineering Lab Building (ELB) construction in support of two labs: the MAHLE impact processes lab and the MAHLE advanced powertrain lab. According to Woznak, investing in these spaces was a great fit for the company for several reasons. For starters, MAHLE does a ton of work in the powertrain area, so having a tight relationship with researchers directly helps them innovate. They can also collaborate with faculty on curriculum, so what students are learning has direct connections to their future jobs 鈥 which is one of the fundamental missions behind the new ELB. Most importantly perhaps, it gives MAHLE the opportunity to really get to know, and work alongside, talented students. 鈥淭he hope, of course, is in building that kind of relationship, they鈥檒l want to come invest in us someday by bringing their talent to MAHLE,鈥 says Woznak.
Investing in UM-Dearborn also makes sense because its engineering grads have a track record of being great employees, Woznak says. A couple things we like to brag about 鈥 that our graduates stay local, and our engineering students get a super hands-on education 鈥 are things MAHLE notices too. 鈥淪tudents at UM-Dearborn don鈥檛 just know the theory, they know how to get their hands dirty,鈥 Woznak says. 鈥淎nd when they have that practical experience, there鈥檚 no question they integrate quicker, which is great for them and for us. The dynos in the new combustion lab 鈥 those are the same dynos we have at MAHLE. So as students move from the ELB into the workforce, they鈥檒l feel right at home.鈥
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This story was originally published in the Fall 2022 issue of Legacy magazine. Story by Lou Blouin.
