Jaguar Land Rover adopts innovative approach to creating thousands of jobs
Vehicle manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled plans to create thousands of jobs across its various UK operations – by tapping into the brightest young brains.
The manufacturer has teamed up with virtual British band, Gorillaz to recruit the next generation of world-class electronics and software engineers by challenging them to break a special code contained within the band’s app.
The best performers will be fast-tracked through the company’s recruitment process, helping it to meet its aim of employing thousands of the brightest young talents over the next year.
It’s a major change in the way the business looks to attract candidates but reflects its approach to be as innovative and cutting edge as possible.
Certainly the company’s traditional employees never had a challenge such as this.
“Can you crack the code? Put your skills to the test!! Hey, maybe you might land yourself ‘the’ most BADASS job you can imagine. Dare to win,” says Noodle, the band’s guitarist and a Jaguar Land Rover ambassador.
The Gorillaz App contains a new JLR recruitment area in the form of a 360-environment situated in the garage of the band’s home, which also features all the iconic vehicles from Gorillaz’ past.
Here, applicants can explore and take a two-part challenge. The first part, designed to educate users about the benefits of electric vehicles, involves assembling the Jaguar I-PACE Concept, Jaguar’s first all-electric five-seater sports car. Users can learn about the vehicle’s performance, battery technology, space, charging and range.
The second and more demanding part of the game, developed to engage and recruit budding electronic wizards and coders, will focus on cracking code in Alternate Reality Game format (ARG). The challenge takes them on a series of code breaking puzzles, that will test their curiosity, persistence, lateral thinking and problem solving skills – all real world attributes of a new generation of software and engineering talent.
Alex Heslop, Head of Electrical Engineering, JLR, said: “As the automotive industry transforms over the next decade, fuelled by software innovation, we have to attract the best talent and that requires a radical rethink of how we recruit. Here we’ve found an engaging way to recruit a diverse talent pool in software systems, cyber systems, app development and graphics performance. It will be the first of its kind.”
Davor Krvavac, Executive Creative Director, B-Reel London, added: “This exciting collaboration between Gorillaz and Jaguar Land Rover adds an Alternative Reality Game layer to what is already a cutting edge mixed reality mobile experience combining AR, VR and 360.”
The project follows on from JLR’s STEM initiative with Gorillaz in 2016, where founder member and female guitarist, Noodle, became Jaguar’s Formula E Racing Ambassador.
