Software engineers from some of the world’s biggest tech companies are being laid off in their thousands, and one car-maker wants to put that talent to work.
Jaguar-Land Rover is on a recruitment blitz, and the British car-maker hopes to attract former employees from the social media platform Twitter.
Twitter was purchased by Tesla CEO Elon Musk for $US44 billion ($AU70 billion) in October 2022, slashing the company’s workforce by half within a matter of weeks – including many from the company’s Australian office, as first reported by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
“Following the news of large-scale job losses from technology firms, Jaguar Land Rover is opening a new jobs portal for displaced workers from the tech industry to explore career opportunities, offering hybrid working patterns,” the company said in a statement.
“Available roles span Autonomous Driving, Artificial Intelligence, Electrification, Cloud Software, Data Science, Machine Learning and many more, as the company becomes a digital-first and data-driven organisation.”
Meta, the parent company of social media platform Facebook, also announced it was laying off some 11,000 workers in November 2022 – or approximately 13 per cent of its workforce, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are further strengthening our data and digital skills base so we … become an electric-first business from 2025 and achieve carbon net zero by 2039,” Jaguar Land Rover’s Chief Information Officer Anthony Battle said in a media statement.
“Our digital transformation journey is well underway but being able to recruit highly skilled digital workers is an important next step.”
Less than a fortnight after the bombshell announcement by Twitter, some sacked workers were being asked to return to the company to help implement changes commissioned by Mr Musk.
Jaguar Land Rover appears to be one of the few car companies to be benefitting from the changes at the social media company.
In October 2022, US car giant General Motors announced it had suspended advertising on Twitter for its brands, which include Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick, while its CEO Mary Barra conspicuously stopped tweeting at the same time.
