What Volvo does: Volvo is a premier manufacturer and designer of safe, efficient, and luxurious cars, buses, trucks, equipment, and industrial machines.
Mission: From designing to manufacturing, Volvo aims to foster prosperity across a plethora of transport options.
Size and Presence: Volvo currently functions with a workforce of around 95,000 employees in 19 operational facilities around the world.
Best Known For: Volvo through technological innovation offers several next-level operational features including incredible safety features and excellent turbocharged power complimented by a sleek design.
The good bits: Volvo matches its exceptional approach to technological designs with a strong work culture that rewards employees for growth and helps everyone get the best out of their roles.
The not-so-good bits: Decision-making across the organization may take some time and requires committees.
Founded in 1927 by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson, Volvo started as a tight-knit local manufacturer producing around 280 cars that year. From January 1928 - 1930, Volvo started its truck series and started its truck exportation to European nations increasing its sale to around 639 cars.
In 1935, Volvo acquired its engine manufacturer Pentaverken to ensure a steady engine supply and improve its production of marine engines. A year before this, Volvo produced its first bus.
In the early 1940s, Volvo extended its product line to aircraft engines, and in 1963, the company created its first assembly plant outside Sweden in Halifax, Canada. From 2001 - 2008, Volvo entered the Asian market and completed its production facility in Shanghai.
To improve its profit and loss accountability, Volvo introduced another segment within its group to manage its line of trucks. The company also introduced Volvo Autonomous Solutions in 2019 to oversee the transformation of its autonomous transport solutions.
Currently, in 2022, Volvo operates with more than 18 facilities, employing almost 100,000 employees, and is a key part of the electric car movement.
Growing from a small close-knit team to a production line of various transport technologies, Volvo maintains five core values that make its manner of operation in every part of the world identical. The values that have provided the unique Volvo principle include; customer success, trust, passion, change, and performance. These principles create a culture of care, inclusiveness, and empowerment.
This culture has led Volvo to century-long success and provides a blueprint for employees to retain their culture of success. Joining the iconic Volvo brand breeds a lifestyle of consistency among workers and offers them opportunities to partner with the best in the business.
These core principles have fostered a satisfying vibe at Volvo where everyone respects each other and looks forward to developing working relationships with each other. New employees in the company feel at home and easily adapt to the model with which Volvo operates.
The recruitment process for graduates and interns into the Volvo family is quite straightforward and is completed in a few easy steps.
The first step requires interested graduates and interns to explore available opportunities that suit their career goals and qualifications. Applicants can explore job openings all around the world at any location they choose.
After graduates and interns find roles that suit them, they are required to apply for such roles. They can submit tailored resumes and cover letters that conveniently reflect their skill set and qualification.
Next, interested applicants are invited for interviews where they get to express themselves and identify how they fit into the Volvo culture. Graduates and internship applicants who successfully conclude this interview are tasked with; a second interview, assessments, and references.
The final aspect of the recruitment process involves selecting applicants who fit the brand’s culture. The selected graduate and internship applicants enjoy onboarding programs that integrate them seamlessly into the company practice.
A career with Volvo promises more than a job but an opportunity to innovate and enjoy profitable collaboration. From a thorough onboarding process to collaborations with the sharpest minds, Volvo has its employees for growth from the start.
Volvo looks to invest in the growth of its employees and provides loads of career development opportunities. They center their career development opportunities around what paths graduate and interns choose.
They open next-level training opportunities in their Volvo Group University that offer a plethora of learning tools. This university allows graduates and interns to conveniently choose courses that fit their career paths.
They also claim to offer mentorship, coaching, and networking opportunities to connect graduates and interns to industry-leading projects.
Entry-level remuneration at Volvo is around $45,000 per year while interns earn around $33,000 annually.
Volvo claims to make substantial contributions towards Responsible Corporate Behavior”. They also contribute to environmental and social sustainability by supporting employees that engage in social activities.
Volvo employees deliver social engagements in aspects of traffic safety, environmental care, and improving education. Volvo also delivers vocational training that helps communities develop skills that’ll see them become work-ready even without formal education.
A subsidiary of the Volvo Group, Volvo Trucks had to endure a series of complaints in 2019 about a faulty emission-control component that hasn’t lasted as long as users expected.
These emissions aren’t in line with the role in environmental responsibility Volvo claims to hold so dearly. The company had set apart close to$700 million to fix these emission problems.