Reprinted with permission from Lake Living Magazine. Original article by Jackie Berg.

An innovator’s playground. That’s what General Electric hopes to create with the opening of its Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center (AMSTC) in Van Buren Township.

While the company is conducting an aggressive national talent search to fill a projected 1,200 positions by 2013, nearly 95 percent of its new hires to date are local candidates, according to Vic Bhagat, AMSTC’s site leader and Chief Information Officer for Corporate Information Services.

“The figures are a testament of the depth of the talent pool here in Michigan,” says Bhagat. “We are hiring a lot of mid-level professionals, many of whom we feel have untapped talent.”

Why?

“Often, even the best people can be stifled in a rigid environment,” notes Bhagat. “We try to create a limitless environment.”

There are few walls at AMSTC, according to GE executives who are accustomed to open work environments, next generation meeting technology, and communication tools which allow them to collaborate globally.

“Our goal is to provide our employees with the right environment and freedom necessary to truly be creative. We are not looking to alter our employees’ DNA,” Bhagat continues. “We encourage employees to imagine, innovate and explore. Our new hires hit the ground running, because of our ability to keep road blocks to a minimum and our ecosystem that enables themto perform outside of typical corporate boundaries. It’s a truly infectious culture.”

Challenging developmental assignments are a given at GE and, according to Fortune Magazine are one of the most important tools that great companies use build leaders – and that average ones rarely use at all.

“Our IT candidates are particularly attracted to the opportunity to work on advanced technologies, like smart grid and healthcare,” according to GE communication director Dia Campanelli.

Successful candidates are on the cutting edge of the newest technologies and offer expertise in areas such as application and enterprise architecture, data management, information security, computing operations, automation and robotics, and advanced machining.

GE is not just hiring IT professionals. It is also seeking scientists and engineers interested in developing next generation manufacturing technologies for renewable energy, aircraft engine, gas turbine and other high-technology products.

Apparently, applicants like what they see at GE, which reports hiring on average at least one new AMSTC professional daily since recruiting commenced.

Bhagat is confident that history is going to be made at the new ASTMC facility, because it is designed to foster breakthrough innovations.

Happily, GE does not want to be a stand-alone facility in Van Buren Township. Bhagat explains, “We are aggressively seeking opportunities to become an integral part of Van Buren Township, Wayne County, the Southeast Michigan region and the state.”

Already reaching out to area organizations to foster collaboration and growth efforts, GE has recently joined the Detroit Regional Chamber and will soon be hosting local supplier forums designed to contract awards with local suppliers.

“Leading innovations naturally attract complementary business development efforts,” Bhagat reports. As important, he reveals that a part of GE’s operating culture encourages immersion in the local communities in which it operates facilities, from charitable giving activities, to local business patronage. That’s good news in a community that needs it. Welcome to the neighborhood.

Editor’s note: GE is actively looking for information technologists, scientists, and engineers to join its team. To learn more about GE’s AMSTC and job opportunities, visit www.ge.com/amstc.