You’re probably correct about Ford cutting a few folks who aren’t older so they have something to point at when the law suits roll in. Those who were SRD’d were required to sign something saying they wouldn’t sue for age discrimination before receiving their severance payment. If they refused to sign they didn’t get severance. The contract didn’t reference any of the other reasons you could sue for discrimination (gender, race, religion, s-xual preference...). It was like Ford was admitting it was about age and wanted the victims to agree not to sue.
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"It happens - they need a few young tokens to go to minimize the lawsuits from the actual majority of older folks that are fired."-
And this latest and next round(s) will prove no different.
Two FCG were silently walked out in June 2019. LL5 said head cut reduction.
If your looking for an average career, FMC is a good spot. Expect to be treated like sh– after you get a couple of years in. If your looking for the ability to have a stellar career look elsewhere after a couple of years.
I saw 2 FCGs get walked out in 2008 - they probably had 6 months in.
It happens - they need a few young tokens to go to minimize the lawsuits from the actual majority of older folks that are fired.
I was an FCG and left the company in 2004. Best thing I ever did. Sold my company and am now retired. Ford is a great place to work if you want to stay in the Dearborn area and want to have a family. You could leave to work at other places, but in Michigan Ford is pretty darn good. If you go to Google or Waymo, the hours are crazy and most people leave after 18 months. You won’t get laid off as an FCG. The FCG’s are considered the “golden talent” and what you make of your career depends on what you want to do and your actions. If you are serious about wanting to do something grander, you can start your own company or go to Silicon Valley and get a job at one of the many startups there. However, Silicon Valley’s cost of living is very high and hours are insane. Overall, for Michigan and work life balance, you made the right choice with Ford.
Points to ponder: don't fall for the empty promise "we have plans for you" as they rarely pan out; if you decide to stay a few years to build your skills - ensure the skills you build are really usable in the marketplace and not exclusively at Ford. If it were me, I'd find another job elsewhere while I'm young enough to do so.
agree 100% with @yrk+16LDh9p7
in a 15 year FCG+ career, the first 3 years the FCG uses Ford, the next 12 years Ford uses/abuses the FCG and f—s you real bad in the a–.
unless you want the 12 years, my advice, stay the first 3 years, learn a lot and get the hell out....
The politics, the egos, the constant changes in direction, the tall tales about your career potential..... It all wears you down. If I knew at 5 years what i know after 27, I would be long gone.
What a Dumpster Fire. What kinda company is this??????????? They think their going to lure top talent from West coast?
Good luck with that.
I sponsored a dozen FCGs.
The best and brightest all left before 3 years at Ford.
The second tier FCGs (bright, but not that ambitious) all left before 5 years at Ford.
The remaining found a spot at Ford and settled in.
I keep in touch with all my FCGs. Those that stayed at Ford are content but not really challenged. They are phoning it in for a paycheck.
So if you are bright and ambitious, learn the technical skills that you can, keep out of the politics, and jump ship to greener pastures when an opportunity presents itself.
@yrk has good advice. Get your few years of experience then leave. From what I have seen, Most FCGs who are skilled and great employees end up doing that.
In 08/09 Ford laid off an entire FCG class of like 30 people that had hired on 6 weeks previously...take care of yourself
From one young person to the next, I would recommend:
- Give the appearance you drank the kool-aid, but don't actually drink the kool-aid.
- Always remain skeptical, management here wrote the definition of lip service
- Don't volunteer for everything, people will take advantage of you and give you all of their work
- Management here only looks out for management. Most have no quantifiable skills, that is why they are still at Ford in a management position. They usually have no other options.
- Most importantly: Continue to improve your skills. Who knows how long Ford can continue this incompetent trajectory before they get acquired or go bankrupt. Your goal should be improving your skills so a real company can hire you.
I wouldn't stay past 4 years as your skills might lag behind. Ford is a great training opportunity though, I spent 3 years there and it has greatly benefited the real companies I went to work for afterwards.
Good luck!
If you’re worried about your fate in the headcount reductions, don’t. I can’t say that it’s never happened but I don’t recall Ford ever tapping an FCG for involuntary reductions.
The advice given below is excellent and could apply to a career at any large company. The only advice I could add is to stay clear of positions that are Ford specific. There’s an army of people who work on metrics and processes that only Ford has. If you get trapped in one of those positions you won’t learn anything that will give you marketable skills.
Ford is legacy American corporation that is full of dysfunction. However its history and its marketing campaigns mask that truth. My honest advice would be to observe , do good work and build up your communication, software engineer and architect skills so that you can move on in 2 years time. Also beware of d—beat colleagues and overambitious execs who will try to make you do extra extra work (since you are probably young and single and cheap). You must learn to say No to such colleages and execs.
run
@gla+16LDh9p7 couldn't of penned it better. As for the original poster. Continue education, don't become complacent. If you don't have a master's get one; they can't take a degree away from you. Assess your work situation every year. Are you happy, or are people preventing you from doing good work? Don't be fooled by career advancement promises, just faux carrots to get the mule to pull the load harder. Just do good work, establish your own standards and you can be your own person.
Well young buck... We were like you once, asking the same questions as our first reorg drew near. Most of us probably thought these would be far and few between going forward, as we had faith that the C Suite would right the ship at the time with good decision making. After all, it's Ford and we were warriors. And then something funny happened on the way to the forum.
We came to realize a perpetually floundering stock price; endless reorganizations with one CEO after the other; a leadership team mired in bureaucracy; a company totally consumed by politics; a totally incompetent, controlling family consumed by not losing any control; a keep you guessing type atmosphere/culture; jobs in which you never know what you're going to walk into and or report to; jobs in which you have little say; grandstanding management/leadership teams whose sole purpose is to advance their own individual causes; grandstanding management/leadership teams who by and large couldn't care less about their people. It seems to me like it's now a binary camp- either you absolutely can't wait to retire or you're on cruise control having the time of your life.
Don't take my word for it. Watch it play out for yourself over the coming months. Competition and backstabbing Hunger Games style, endless rumors and speculation, continued financial performance deterioration, etc, etc. My advice to you is to get into the best marketable possible possible so that you can easily find a better, higher paying job elsewhere when the time comes. Remember though that others will view those jobs I speak of similar to you, so the competition may get stiff. Bottom line is to keep your skills fresh all of the time, and don't buy into the Ford cloak of deception around how you're our future; how we value you; how we want to develop you, etc, etc. You'll get old too and believe that the music will stop. Good night and good luck.