Question

Read the PROBLEM SOLVING Case “Wanted by Honda: Engineers Who Love Small-Town Living”

Although the U.S.-based Big Three automakers General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have announced cutbacks and layoffs recently, some auto companies are still hiring. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and other companies have set up opera- tions in the United States. While they employ far fewer in the United States than the Big Three, their ranks are growing. Nearly one out of four jobs with auto companies in the United States are with companies other than the Big Three. Honda R&D Americas recently told a reporter that it was adding about 100 employees a year and had 50 positions it was trying to fill with engineers.
To staff those positions, Honda faces a chal- lenge: its location. The Honda research and development facility is located in an out-of-the- way spot in Ohio, the town of Raymond, located about 60 miles northwest of Columbus. Most automotive research facilities in the United States are located near Detroit, because so much of the industry talent lives and works in that area. The Honda plant sits on an 8,000- acre plot of land along with the company’s Transportation Research Center, and Honda operates two assembly plants in nearby Marysville and East Liberty. Surrounding this complex are cornfields.
Because of its location, Honda does not seek most of its recruits from other auto companies. It hires local residents to fill manufacturing jobs, and for engineers, it turns to schools in the region to find recent graduates. Carol Hadden, who
manages human resources, says one good source of engineering recruits has been Ohio State University.
Knowing that small-town life does not appeal to many recent grads, Honda requires applicants to visit the Raymond site for their first interview. Allen explains, “We make them come here to make sure they know where we are.” Those who look around and like the location have a better chance of being enthusiastic about a career at Honda R&D.

Questions –

Suggest three ways Honda R&D Americas could recruit engineers to fill jobs at its research and development facility in Raymond, Ohio.

If you were interviewing a candidate for a job at this facility, what would you ask to determine whether the candidate would be satisfied to stay at Honda?

How would Honda R&D’s emphasis on recruiting recent graduates, rather than experienced automotive engineers, affect your job if you were the supervisor of these employees? Would you want Honda to change its recruiting strategy? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Honda R&D center which is based at a remote location thereby limiting candidates to apply for the position of engineer can look into the below ways to hire good talent:

a. Build facilities for the employees as they would be comfortable working in the remote location with proper facilities. The facilities could include proper accomodation or a society that can be built with minimum amenities to ensure the employees refrain from looking for other opportunities.

b. Develop the local engineering graduates through training. By doing this, they would increase their chances of building up sufficient talent and they would not have to depend upon other external sources to fulfill their employment requirement.

c. The Honda R&D facility can promote good work life culture where they can showcase the learnings that employees would get while working for Honda and how Honda can contribute to their growth in the future.

2. If I would be interviewing a candidate for a job at this facility, then I would be asking the below questions:

a. What made you apply for this job knowing that our facility is located in a very far off place?

b. How did you find the location where we are setup and what rating would you give to our facility?

3. With the recruitment of recent graduates, it does have a lot of benefits, but there would be a challenge to train them and also guide them on the intricacies of the job. As R&D is a critical phase for any organisation, the recent graduates would not be able to understand the different terminologies that would be used to define a certain point or thing which inturn may lead to miscommunication. To improve this, thorough on the job training needs to be provided which inturn might end up taking more time to prepare the graduates in comparison with those who would already have experience in the same field. As a supervisor, my priority would be quality of work and time management. I would be worried on the time management as there would be delays expected and due to which the projects cannot be completed within the stipulated time.