Chrysler takes resumes for jobs just 36 hours
8/16/2012It took Chrysler Group LLC less than 36 hours to collect enough online applications for the 1,105 new jobs it plans to bring to the Toledo Assembly Complex next year.
The automaker opened its online application process at 5 a.m. Tuesday and closed the window by midday Wednesday.
A company spokesman said the number of applicants won't be disclosed. Union officials previously said they expected Chrysler would gather 8,000 to 10,000 applicants for the 1,105 jobs.
Chrysler officials expected heavy interest and warned the window to apply wasn't likely to remain open long.
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That isn't exactly unprecedented. After an early glitch to a listing for hourly employees in Detroit, it only took four hours for Chrysler to meet its applicant quota earlier this year. Also earlier this year, Hyundai made news when it said it quickly collected 22,000 applications for about 900 jobs at a plant in Alabama.
Chrysler officials say it will take them some time to sort through the applications and move to the next step in their hiring process. Hourly hires eventually will be represented by the United Auto Workers, but Chrysler spokesman Jodi Tinson said the hiring decisions are made by the automaker.
"When these folks are hired, they're hired as Chrysler employees," she said. "Therefore, it is a Chrysler decision on who is hired."
The new jobs are being created as part of a $500 million investment to expand and modernize part of the Toledo Assembly Complex that builds the Jeep Liberty. Most of the new hires will work on a second shift expected to begin in the third quarter of 2013. They will be building a new vehicle, details of which have not been announced.