Good Day all,
My story begins in the middle of November of last year. About a week after announcing approval for the service center in Vienna Virginia I was contacted by a recruiting coordinator from HQ and asked if I had some time for a phone interview as my name was submitted my the manager from Rockville after a very positive interview a few months earlier in which I ended the process after weighing the travel requirements.
A brief background on me, I have been an L1 certified ASE master tech with a high line manufacturer for about a decade, Hybrid/EV certified in the first class with that manufacturer and a huge Tesla advocate since the earliest days of the Roadster. Since they opened the first store in downtown DC I have seen a technician position as my "dream" job. I have long thought they offered a cutting edge product that will dictate the future of my field, and to offer them through a non franchised service facility sounded like the ideal place to make history. Something I have really enjoyed doing is spending my day working with owners on very complex electrical systems and technology that stumps the best of us on many days, and I really wanted to open a new store with a new brand in a new location.
Within a week we had our short interview where they asked the same questions they have asked the three other times I have interviewed with them over the years. "What is the most challenging repair you have done?""List three repairs you are most proud of"etc. Nothing substantive, just very general questions.
Immediately following that I received an email requesting an on-site interview with the manager from Rockville. After nailing down a time I took a few hours off work to drive up there. The meeting went well, however it was much less of an interview and more of a chat with a fellow EV guy. We spent more time covering the minor fluctuations in the stock price than what the functions of the position I was interviewing for were. When pressed for hard details there was typically a bit of reluctance to answer as it was not his store, or even a store that exists at that point.
Immediately after that meeting I received an email for a meeting with the regional manager of the Toronto district. We set the appointment for an afternoon about a week out. That meeting went very well, by far the most outwardly competent person I came across during this process. He was encouraging, honest, and very candid about my career choices and about my candidacy for this position. I ended this call with a very good feeling about this brand and the team behind them. Still however not even a ballpark idea of what the compensation might look like, but I was OK with that.
A few days later the recruiting coordinator got back in touch with me about scheduling a follow up meeting with the regional manager for what would be my district. His region encompassed the majority of the east coast and part of Canada at that time. Doing a little homework on the guy I found out he was a line tech, then moved up to service manager, then to regional manager within a very short time frame. I was a little excited to see this, as my current position offers very little in the way of career growth potential, and we have many similar interests and experience. Our first meeting was scheduled for the afternoon of New Years Eve (his choice not mine). Our scheduled meeting time came and went without any contact. After waiting for the 30 minutes we had scheduled together I emailed my contact in recruiting and received an apology and a promise to reschedule. Having been in the business for all of my adult life I know how the end of the year can be, so I wrote it off and took the next appointment he set up.
Long story slightly shorter...he blew me off 3 times total. On the third time he did call, half an hour late.
During my interview it was clear he was in the middle of several other tasks, all of which required more attention than the phone call. We talked for about 5 minutes then he said that my name looked familiar and asked if we had spoken in the past. (Knowing we were supposed to during the interview 6 months earlier, but I withdrew from the process before we ever spoke) I said something to the effect of "I do not recall...It is possible, I have been through this process several times before". After a few seconds he comes back to me with "Here are your notes from last time, so we can leave it here and I will fill out my report with the notes from our last meeting" I was a little surprised but whatever let's see how this plays out. After bobbling a few pointed but simple questions I think anyone who has been through advanced HV battery diagnosis training should have been able to answer we ended the call.
Having been in the industry this long my impression of the internal managerial structure of this brand is....concerning to say the least. I work with enough car salesmen and middle managers to know when something does not smell right it is often much worse. The biggest red flag was the notion that this is what it is like to deal with management when they are trying to show me their best. Because it would seem that as much as I am trying to woo them they are also trying to sell their brand and corporate culture to me.
Following the meeting with the east coast manager, my contact sent me a request to fill out another application form to grant them permission to run my credit, investigate my background, and contract my direct superior. All of which are clean,good, and reasonably pleased with me (per a recent mortgage application interview he gave). Once this form was submitted that was the last time I heard from anyone at Tesla Motors. Follow up emails over the next few weeks went unacknowledged, calls to the direct number listed in every email exchange went to voicemail, and as far as I knew they dropped off the face of the world.
The tone of this may sound like I am bitter that I was not selected for employment, I assure you all it is not that way. I am annoyed that people who represent a brand and product I truly believe in are running it in such a way that makes me really question the long term sustainability of the brand. Reading the interview and employment reviews on Glassdoor really drive this message home. This is how they choose to run a business where they are actively seeking "top" talent to work in less than favorable conditions. If they really wanted top technicians and do not plan on paying fair market value for them they really need to sell themselves as a career investment that will pay out over time (and to most techs a tiny amount of stock option is not enough to provide the type of living required). If what you are trying to pitch to people, is long hours, poor home/work life balance, and dramatically less money than they will quickly burn through the small group of qualified individuals that drink the same Kool-Aid. Maybe I am alone in the feeling that if I give persmission to contact my boss, run my credit and check my background the very least I deserve is a quick form email saying they are going in another direction.
TL/DR- I want someone in charge at Teslas' recruiting department to know what is going on and try to fix it before it is too late. While I have already turned my back on this company, I still really do hope that they work this out and learn to take a much different approach to recruiting before trying to take on the big dogs in a realm other than small brand luxury. There are some of us out there who will be willing to play your games, but not one of the senior level techs I have spoken with would sit around for 4 months waiting on an offer. I know this forum is followed very closely and I hope this story is not in vain, please help save a brand I love from itself!
My story begins in the middle of November of last year. About a week after announcing approval for the service center in Vienna Virginia I was contacted by a recruiting coordinator from HQ and asked if I had some time for a phone interview as my name was submitted my the manager from Rockville after a very positive interview a few months earlier in which I ended the process after weighing the travel requirements.
A brief background on me, I have been an L1 certified ASE master tech with a high line manufacturer for about a decade, Hybrid/EV certified in the first class with that manufacturer and a huge Tesla advocate since the earliest days of the Roadster. Since they opened the first store in downtown DC I have seen a technician position as my "dream" job. I have long thought they offered a cutting edge product that will dictate the future of my field, and to offer them through a non franchised service facility sounded like the ideal place to make history. Something I have really enjoyed doing is spending my day working with owners on very complex electrical systems and technology that stumps the best of us on many days, and I really wanted to open a new store with a new brand in a new location.
Within a week we had our short interview where they asked the same questions they have asked the three other times I have interviewed with them over the years. "What is the most challenging repair you have done?""List three repairs you are most proud of"etc. Nothing substantive, just very general questions.
Immediately following that I received an email requesting an on-site interview with the manager from Rockville. After nailing down a time I took a few hours off work to drive up there. The meeting went well, however it was much less of an interview and more of a chat with a fellow EV guy. We spent more time covering the minor fluctuations in the stock price than what the functions of the position I was interviewing for were. When pressed for hard details there was typically a bit of reluctance to answer as it was not his store, or even a store that exists at that point.
Immediately after that meeting I received an email for a meeting with the regional manager of the Toronto district. We set the appointment for an afternoon about a week out. That meeting went very well, by far the most outwardly competent person I came across during this process. He was encouraging, honest, and very candid about my career choices and about my candidacy for this position. I ended this call with a very good feeling about this brand and the team behind them. Still however not even a ballpark idea of what the compensation might look like, but I was OK with that.
A few days later the recruiting coordinator got back in touch with me about scheduling a follow up meeting with the regional manager for what would be my district. His region encompassed the majority of the east coast and part of Canada at that time. Doing a little homework on the guy I found out he was a line tech, then moved up to service manager, then to regional manager within a very short time frame. I was a little excited to see this, as my current position offers very little in the way of career growth potential, and we have many similar interests and experience. Our first meeting was scheduled for the afternoon of New Years Eve (his choice not mine). Our scheduled meeting time came and went without any contact. After waiting for the 30 minutes we had scheduled together I emailed my contact in recruiting and received an apology and a promise to reschedule. Having been in the business for all of my adult life I know how the end of the year can be, so I wrote it off and took the next appointment he set up.
Long story slightly shorter...he blew me off 3 times total. On the third time he did call, half an hour late.
During my interview it was clear he was in the middle of several other tasks, all of which required more attention than the phone call. We talked for about 5 minutes then he said that my name looked familiar and asked if we had spoken in the past. (Knowing we were supposed to during the interview 6 months earlier, but I withdrew from the process before we ever spoke) I said something to the effect of "I do not recall...It is possible, I have been through this process several times before". After a few seconds he comes back to me with "Here are your notes from last time, so we can leave it here and I will fill out my report with the notes from our last meeting" I was a little surprised but whatever let's see how this plays out. After bobbling a few pointed but simple questions I think anyone who has been through advanced HV battery diagnosis training should have been able to answer we ended the call.
Having been in the industry this long my impression of the internal managerial structure of this brand is....concerning to say the least. I work with enough car salesmen and middle managers to know when something does not smell right it is often much worse. The biggest red flag was the notion that this is what it is like to deal with management when they are trying to show me their best. Because it would seem that as much as I am trying to woo them they are also trying to sell their brand and corporate culture to me.
Following the meeting with the east coast manager, my contact sent me a request to fill out another application form to grant them permission to run my credit, investigate my background, and contract my direct superior. All of which are clean,good, and reasonably pleased with me (per a recent mortgage application interview he gave). Once this form was submitted that was the last time I heard from anyone at Tesla Motors. Follow up emails over the next few weeks went unacknowledged, calls to the direct number listed in every email exchange went to voicemail, and as far as I knew they dropped off the face of the world.
The tone of this may sound like I am bitter that I was not selected for employment, I assure you all it is not that way. I am annoyed that people who represent a brand and product I truly believe in are running it in such a way that makes me really question the long term sustainability of the brand. Reading the interview and employment reviews on Glassdoor really drive this message home. This is how they choose to run a business where they are actively seeking "top" talent to work in less than favorable conditions. If they really wanted top technicians and do not plan on paying fair market value for them they really need to sell themselves as a career investment that will pay out over time (and to most techs a tiny amount of stock option is not enough to provide the type of living required). If what you are trying to pitch to people, is long hours, poor home/work life balance, and dramatically less money than they will quickly burn through the small group of qualified individuals that drink the same Kool-Aid. Maybe I am alone in the feeling that if I give persmission to contact my boss, run my credit and check my background the very least I deserve is a quick form email saying they are going in another direction.
TL/DR- I want someone in charge at Teslas' recruiting department to know what is going on and try to fix it before it is too late. While I have already turned my back on this company, I still really do hope that they work this out and learn to take a much different approach to recruiting before trying to take on the big dogs in a realm other than small brand luxury. There are some of us out there who will be willing to play your games, but not one of the senior level techs I have spoken with would sit around for 4 months waiting on an offer. I know this forum is followed very closely and I hope this story is not in vain, please help save a brand I love from itself!
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