Pros
If you are interested in working for Tesla I would recommend it as stepping stone. Tesla breads a very toxic work environment and it starts with the leadership. When I was a recruiter on the skilled trades team in Austin, the senior manager created a hostile work environment between the hiring managers and recruiters. At a career fair early on, I saw a hiring manager actually yell at my colleague in front of everyone, including the candidates. I thought it might be a one-off incident, but it turned out to be part of a larger issue.
There were several occasions where I ran into the recruiting interns crying in the bathroom. We were even blocked from hiring interns from several universities.
She rarely had her team’s back and struggled to set up a steady process. Every week the hiring process seemed to change, often with little explanation. When we’d ask for clarity, she’d tell us her manager was behind the changes and warn us not to reach out to him.
We relied on an Excel spreadsheet to track our progress and metrics, but it became apparent that she wasn’t comfortable interpreting the data accurately. As a result, her instructions were all over the place—one week, she’d tell us we had to hire 100 people, only to inform us the following week that we were now overstaffed. If we asked for additional clarification, she’d simply refer us to one of her team leads, which unfortunately didn’t help much, as they were often just as uncertain. It felt like “the blind leading the blind,” and it made it challenging to feel confident in our roles or even achieve our goals as a team.
Overall, the lack of consistent direction, support, and professionalism created an environment that was not only challenging to navigate but also one that impacted our effectiveness and morale.
Cons
Pros:
• Tesla’s name carries weight and can open doors for future opportunities.
• Exposure to high-volume recruiting processes in a fast-paced environment.
Cons:
• The skilled trades recruiting team was plagued by a deeply toxic culture, driven largely by the senior manager.
• Leadership regularly created conflict between recruiters and hiring managers rather than encouraging collaboration.
• During one of my first career fairs, I witnessed a hiring manager publicly yelling at a recruiter—an incident I initially thought was isolated but later realized was the norm.
• Interns were regularly overwhelmed and demoralized; it was not uncommon to find them crying in the bathroom.
• The manager failed to provide clear direction or protect her team—hiring processes changed frequently with little context, and questions were met with deflection or vague answers.
• The result was a chaotic, high-pressure environment where people were set up to fail and morale steadily eroded.
