Latitude, a French aerospace company based an hour outside of Paris, is getting more requests from American engineers after Elon Musk said he would move SpaceX’s headquarters from California to Texas.
Last week, a Latitude spokesperson said it had received the equivalent of one month’s worth of applications to its recruitment system, and 89% of those were from US candidates. Job seekers are working at SpaceX, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Tesla and other companies related to the aerospace industry, a spokesperson tells CNBC Do.
The wave comes after Musk wrote in X on July 16 that he plans to move his company’s headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas. The founder and CEO of SpaceX said his decision follows the passage of a new state law that prohibits school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents of changes in a student’s sexual behavior and gender identity.
While it’s unclear if, or when, SpaceX will leave California entirely, aerospace industry leaders quickly used Musk’s message to vent to the company’s roughly 13,000 employees who may be worried about their future plans and migration.
Stanislas Maximin, CEO of Latitude, wrote in a LinkedIn post that Space X employees “who want to join an inclusive rocket company” should contact him – and they did.
“It was amazing,” Maximin tells CNBC Make It. In a few days after his messages, he said he received about 200 interesting messages, and his LinkedIn network increased from 6,000 to 9,000.
He says the message was not to put down Musk or SpaceX, it was Maximin refers to one of the “best engineering companies in the world.” Instead, he says, “if you are not happy where you are, if you want different things, you can come to Europe, and we will help you.”
A growing share of Americans may be willing to accept opportunities to move abroad. The number of American workers employed by international companies increased by 62% last year, according to at Deel, the global HR platform for recruiting.
Interest in the US search for “how to move” to a new country increased after the first 2024 presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in June, when companies that helps Americans immigrate are seeing increasing interest.
Latitude, which has about 140 employees and a dozen job openings, has previously hired a handful of people from the US and says it will help new employees get visas for themselves and members. family, find new jobs and school options for relatives, pay relocation expenses, and handle other necessary resources.
“We’ve done it many times,” says Maximin, adding that his company has “the full support of the French authorities” to make the relocation happen quickly.
United States engineers bring technical expertise as well as a fresh cultural perspective, both of which help Latitude’s development, Maximin says.
He says world leaders are eager to take advantage of the American workforce’s ability to work “faster, more reliably and more economically.”
World leaders often tout America’s fast-paced culture as an advantage when hiring US talent, especially technology and other highly skilled workers.
Regarding how to evaluate the best candidates, Maximin says that it is 50% having experience in the field, and 50% having the personality that will help the company succeed: people who are builders, problem solvers, players of the group and their interlocutors.
Seeing as international employers also need the candidate to go through a major life change by moving, Maximin says it’s important applicants show that they have patience and perseverance. In addition, he is looking for people who can demonstrate that they are good leaders, even if they have never directly managed anyone.
Maximin says: “All our engineers have projects to manage, even if they are alone. He looks for “people who have good organizational skills and who can be leaders, and help each other, even if it’s outside their field of expertise.”
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