How to Apply to General Motors

Key Takeaways

Apply directly through GM's Workday portal at generalmotors.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/Careers_GM and create a thorough, accurate candidate profile that you can reuse across multiple GM applications
Tailor your resume to mirror the exact technical language in each GM job posting — terms like 'structured perception,' 'trajectory generation,' and 'human interface design' should appear verbatim if they match your experience
For PhD and Masters intern roles, lead with your research: place education, thesis topic, and publications at the top of your resume and be ready to present your work in a technical interview
Format your resume as a single-column .docx or PDF without tables, graphics, or header/footer content to ensure clean parsing through GM's Workday ATS
Prepare for behavioral interviews using the STAR method and anchor your stories in GM's cultural values: innovation, customer focus, teamwork, and integrity
Connect your experience to GM's strategic transformation — electrification, autonomous vehicles, and software-defined mobility — in both your resume summary and interview responses
Act quickly when openings appear: with only approximately 1,030+ open positions at a given time, GM's postings are highly targeted and may close fast once candidate pipelines are filled

About General Motors

General Motors is one of the world's largest automakers, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, with a legacy spanning over a century and a workforce of approximately 163,000 employees across the globe. But GM today is not the GM of decades past. Under its ambitious vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion, the company is aggressively transforming itself into a technology-forward mobility company. GM's Ultium EV platform, its investments in autonomous vehicle technology, and its rapidly expanding software-defined vehicle architecture position it at the intersection of traditional manufacturing excellence and cutting-edge innovation. The company operates iconic brands including Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick, while simultaneously building out capabilities in AI/ML, robotics, battery technology, and advanced driver-assistance systems. GM's culture blends Midwestern work ethic with Silicon Valley ambition — you'll find PhD researchers working on perception algorithms alongside production engineers optimizing assembly lines. The company has made deliberate moves to attract top tech talent, offering competitive compensation, flexible work arrangements through its 'Work Appropriately' philosophy, and the rare opportunity to apply cutting-edge software engineering to physical products at massive scale. For job seekers, GM represents a chance to work on problems that matter — electrification, sustainability, and safety — within an organization large enough to actually move the needle on global transportation. Whether you're a machine learning engineer, a designer, or a production worker, GM's breadth of roles means there's a genuine career ecosystem, not just a single job.

Application Process

1
Identify Your Role on GM's Workday Careers Portal
Navigate to GM's dedicated Workday careers page at generalmotors.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/Careers_GM and use the search filters to narrow by job family, location, and experience level. With only around 20 active postings at any given time during selective hiring windows, GM's openings are highly targeted — read each job description thoroughly, as roles like 'Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Mapping' and 'Senior System Configurator - EDI Analyst' require very different qualification profiles despite both being technical positions. Pay close attention to whether a role specifies PhD, Masters, or Bachelor's level requirements, as GM's intern and early-career pipeline is degree-specific.
2
Create or Log Into Your Workday Candidate Profile
GM uses Workday as its applicant tracking system, so you'll need to create a candidate profile that persists across all GM applications. Upload your resume — Workday will attempt to auto-parse it into structured fields — but you must manually review every parsed field for accuracy, especially technical skills, job titles, and education credentials. Complete your profile thoroughly, including diversity and veteran status questions, which are kept separate from hiring decisions but are part of GM's compliance process.
3
Tailor Your Application Materials to GM's Strategic Priorities
Before submitting, align your resume and any supplementary materials to GM's current strategic pillars: electrification, autonomous driving, software-defined vehicles, and advanced manufacturing. For technical roles, GM's job descriptions frequently reference specific frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, ROS), programming languages (C++, Python), and domain expertise (perception, trajectory planning, ADAS), so mirror this language precisely. For non-technical roles, emphasize experience with enterprise systems, cross-functional collaboration, and global operations at scale.
4
Complete Any Role-Specific Assessments or Questionnaires
Depending on the role, GM's Workday application may include screening questionnaires that function as initial qualification gates — these commonly ask about years of experience with specific technologies, willingness to relocate, security clearance status, or visa sponsorship needs. Answer these honestly and precisely, as many serve as automatic disqualifiers. For PhD intern positions, you may also be asked about your research focus area, expected graduation date, and publication history.
5
Initial Recruiter Screening
If your application advances past the automated and manual resume review, a GM talent acquisition partner will typically reach out via email or phone for an initial screening lasting 20-30 minutes. This conversation commonly covers your interest in GM's mission, high-level technical qualifications, salary expectations, and logistics like start dates and location preferences. For intern roles, this screening may also assess your understanding of GM's autonomous vehicle or EV programs specifically.
6
Technical and Behavioral Interview Rounds
GM's interview process for engineering and technical roles typically involves two to four rounds, often including a technical deep-dive with the hiring team, a coding or system design challenge (for software and ML roles), and a behavioral interview assessing cultural alignment. Production and operational roles may involve a shorter process focused on relevant certifications, shift availability, and hands-on experience. Many interviews are conducted virtually through GM's standard video conferencing tools, though some roles require on-site visits to facilities in Warren, MI, Austin, TX, or Mountain View, CA.
7
Offer, Background Check, and Onboarding
Successful candidates typically receive a verbal offer followed by a formal written offer through Workday. GM conducts thorough background checks including employment verification, education verification, and for certain roles, additional screenings related to work with sensitive vehicle systems. Onboarding at GM is structured and often includes orientation at one of the company's major campuses, integration into your team's sprint or project cycle, and enrollment in GM's extensive internal learning platforms.

Resume Tips for General Motors

critical

Mirror GM's Technical Vocabulary Exactly

GM's job descriptions use precise terminology — 'structured perception,' 'trajectory generation,' 'human interface design,' 'EDI analysis' — and your resume should reflect this language verbatim where your experience matches. Workday's parsing engine and GM's recruiters both search for these exact phrases. If you've worked on autonomous vehicle perception pipelines, don't generalize it as 'computer vision work' — call it what GM calls it. This specificity signals domain fluency and dramatically improves your visibility in keyword-based candidate searches.

critical

Quantify Impact at Automotive or Manufacturing Scale

GM operates at a scale where small improvements have massive downstream effects — a 2% improvement in defect detection, a 15ms reduction in inference latency, or a $500K annual savings from process optimization. Frame your achievements in similar terms. Instead of 'improved model accuracy,' write 'improved object detection accuracy by 4.2%, reducing false positive rate in edge cases by 30% across 50K test scenarios.' GM's hiring teams, especially in engineering and ML, are accustomed to evaluating candidates who think in terms of real-world, production-scale impact.

critical

Highlight Your Degree Level and Research Focus Prominently

A striking number of GM's current openings specify PhD or Masters requirements — particularly in AI/ML, autonomous driving, and controls engineering. Place your education section near the top of your resume if you hold an advanced degree, and include your dissertation or thesis topic, key publications, and research lab affiliation. For roles like '2026 Summer Intern – AI/ML Intern – Structured Perception (PhD),' your research specialization is arguably more important than your work history. Include links to published papers or preprints if available.

recommended

Use a Clean, Workday-Friendly Resume Format

Workday's resume parser handles standard formats well but struggles with multi-column layouts, embedded tables, graphics, headers/footers with critical information, and unusual file types. Submit a single-column PDF or .docx file with clear section headers (Experience, Education, Skills, Publications). Avoid placing your name or contact information inside a header or text box, as Workday may skip it during parsing. Test your resume by uploading it and checking every auto-populated field before finalizing your application.

recommended

Showcase Cross-Functional and Global Collaboration Experience

GM is a sprawling global organization where engineers collaborate with designers, supply chain specialists work with manufacturing plants across continents, and software teams integrate with hardware and systems teams. If you've worked in cross-functional or internationally distributed teams, call this out explicitly. Phrases like 'collaborated with a 12-person cross-functional team spanning three time zones' or 'partnered with manufacturing and quality teams to deploy model updates' resonate strongly with GM's collaborative culture.

recommended

Include Relevant Tools, Platforms, and Certifications

For technical roles, list specific tools and platforms that appear in GM's job descriptions: Python, C++, PyTorch, TensorFlow, ROS/ROS2, MATLAB/Simulink, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS/GCP, Git, and JIRA. For operational and analyst roles, highlight experience with SAP, EDI systems (AS2, SFTP protocols), Workday itself, or lean manufacturing methodologies. GM values candidates who can hit the ground running with their existing technology stack, so a well-curated skills section functions as a keyword-rich signal of immediate readiness.

nice_to_have

Connect Your Work to GM's Zero-Zero-Zero Vision

GM's corporate mission centers on zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion. If any of your past work connects to safety-critical systems, sustainability, clean energy, electrification, or urban mobility — make that connection explicit. Even tangential experience matters: work on battery management systems, emissions modeling, traffic optimization, sensor fusion for safety, or sustainable supply chains all demonstrate philosophical alignment with GM's stated direction. This connection matters especially in cover letters and summary statements.

nice_to_have

Keep Your Resume Length Appropriate to Your Career Stage

For GM's PhD intern positions, a two-page resume or even a CV-style document listing publications and research is appropriate and expected. For mid-career professionals applying to staff or senior roles, two pages maximum. For production or early-career roles, one page is standard. GM's recruiters review high volumes of applications — particularly for popular intern cohorts — so conciseness and scanability are valued. Lead each bullet point with a strong action verb and the most impressive metric.

ATS System: Workday

General Motors uses Workday Recruiting (hosted at generalmotors.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com) to manage its entire talent acquisition pipeline. Workday parses uploaded resumes into structured data fields, enables keyword-based candidate searches by recruiters, and tracks applicants through each stage from submission to offer. Your candidate profile in Workday persists across all GM applications, so maintaining an accurate and complete profile benefits you for every future role you apply to at the company.

Upload your resume as a .docx or standard PDF — avoid scanned image PDFs, as Workday cannot parse text from images
After Workday auto-parses your resume, manually review and correct every field, especially job titles, dates, education details, and skills — parsing errors are common with non-standard formatting
Use standard section headers like 'Work Experience,' 'Education,' 'Skills,' and 'Publications' so Workday maps content to the correct profile fields
Avoid tables, multi-column layouts, text boxes, and graphics — Workday's parser reads linearly from top to bottom and can scramble or skip non-standard layouts
Include exact keywords from the GM job description in your resume — Workday enables recruiters to run Boolean keyword searches, and precise matches rank higher
Complete all optional fields in your Workday profile, including skills tags and additional certifications, as these feed into GM's internal talent matching algorithms
Do not place critical contact information in headers or footers — Workday frequently ignores these document regions during parsing

Complete Workday Resume Guide →

Interview Culture

General Motors' interview process reflects its dual identity as a legacy automaker and an emerging tech company.

For highly technical roles — particularly in AI/ML, autonomous driving, and software engineering — expect a rigorous, multi-round process that shares more DNA with a Silicon Valley tech interview than a traditional manufacturing company. A typical loop for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer role, for example, might include an initial recruiter phone screen, followed by a technical phone interview involving coding or algorithm design questions in Python or C++, then a virtual or on-site panel of three to four interviews covering system design, domain-specific knowledge (perception, mapping, trajectory planning), and behavioral competencies. For intern positions, especially the PhD-level summer internships that dominate GM's current openings, the process is commonly more focused: a recruiter screen, a deep technical conversation with the hiring manager or research lead about your thesis work and its applicability to GM's autonomous vehicle stack, and often a presentation of your research. Be prepared to explain your work to people outside your exact subfield — GM values engineers who can bridge disciplines. Behavioral interviews at GM commonly use the STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and focus on collaboration, adaptability, inclusion, and customer-centric thinking. GM has articulated cultural 'Behaviors' that include acting with integrity, thinking about the customer, innovating boldly, and winning with teamwork. Demonstrating these in your interview stories matters. For production and operational roles, interviews tend to be shorter — often a single in-person or phone interview covering relevant experience, shift flexibility, and basic qualification verification. Regardless of role, GM interviewers often assess whether candidates genuinely care about the company's mission of transforming transportation. Showing authentic enthusiasm for EVs, autonomous vehicles, or sustainable manufacturing is a meaningful differentiator. Dress code for interviews is typically business casual for corporate and technical roles, reflecting GM's pragmatic Midwestern culture.

What General Motors Looks For

Deep technical expertise aligned with GM's current priorities — autonomous driving perception, trajectory planning, ML model deployment at scale, controls engineering, or advanced manufacturing
Advanced degrees (Masters or PhD) with relevant research for technical and intern roles, particularly in AI, ML, robotics, or automotive systems engineering
Demonstrated ability to take research from concept to production-grade implementation, bridging the gap between academic innovation and real-world automotive constraints
Cross-functional collaboration skills and experience working across disciplines — GM's teams span software, hardware, design, manufacturing, and supply chain
Alignment with GM's 'zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion' mission and genuine enthusiasm for the future of mobility and electrification
Experience with GM's core technology stack including Python, C++, PyTorch/TensorFlow, ROS, MATLAB/Simulink, and cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP)
Strong communication skills — the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, critical in a 163,000-person organization
Adaptability and comfort with ambiguity, as GM is actively transforming its business model and organizational structure

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does GM's hiring process typically take from application to offer?

GM's hiring timeline varies significantly by role type. For PhD and Masters-level intern positions, the process commonly takes 4-8 weeks from application to offer, as these roles follow structured recruiting cycles aligned with academic calendars. For experienced engineering hires (Staff, Senior), expect 3-6 weeks including recruiter screen, technical interviews, and panel discussions. Production and hourly roles may move faster, sometimes within 1-3 weeks. Throughout the process, you can track your application status through your Workday candidate portal, though status updates may lag behind actual decisions by several days.

Does GM require a cover letter with applications?

GM's Workday application typically does not require a cover letter for most roles, but many positions include an optional field where you can upload one. For competitive technical roles — especially staff-level engineering and design positions — a targeted cover letter can meaningfully differentiate your application. Focus your letter on why you're specifically drawn to GM's mission (EV transformation, autonomous vehicles, zero-emission future) and how your unique background addresses the exact requirements in the job posting. Keep it to one page and avoid generic language that could apply to any automaker.

What is GM's 'Work Appropriately' policy, and are remote roles available?

GM's 'Work Appropriately' philosophy gives employees and their managers flexibility to determine the best work arrangement for their role — whether that's on-site, hybrid, or remote. In practice, roles that require physical presence (production workers, lab-based engineers, designers working with physical prototypes) are primarily on-site at GM facilities in locations like Warren, MI, Austin, TX, or Mountain View, CA. Software engineering and data science roles often have more hybrid flexibility. Each job posting on Workday typically specifies the expected work arrangement, so check the location and work type fields carefully before applying.

I'm a PhD student — should I apply to intern roles or full-time positions at GM?

If you're currently pursuing your PhD, GM's structured summer internship program is the ideal entry point. The company posts specific PhD-level intern roles — like '2026 Summer Intern – AI/ML Intern – Structured Perception (PhD)' — that are designed to leverage your research expertise on real GM projects during a 12-week summer engagement. These internships frequently serve as a pipeline to full-time offers upon graduation. Apply to the intern role that most closely matches your research area, and be prepared to discuss how your thesis work applies to GM's autonomous vehicle or AI/ML challenges. If you're within a few months of defending, you may also be eligible for full-time roles — check with the recruiter during your screening call.

How can I optimize my resume for GM's Workday ATS?

Workday processes your resume by parsing text into structured fields, so formatting matters enormously. Use a clean, single-column layout with standard section headers. Avoid tables, graphics, multi-column designs, and placing important information in headers or footers. Submit as .docx or a text-based PDF (not a scanned image). After uploading, carefully review every field Workday auto-populates — especially job titles, dates, skills, and education — because parsing errors are common and can cause your profile to misrepresent your qualifications. Finally, embed keywords from the job description naturally throughout your resume, as GM's recruiters use Workday's search functionality to find candidates by specific skill terms.

What technical skills are most in demand at GM right now?

Based on GM's current active postings, the company is heavily investing in AI/ML, autonomous driving, and software engineering talent. The most sought-after technical skills include Python and C++ programming, deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow), perception and sensor fusion (LiDAR, camera, radar), motion planning and trajectory generation, ROS/ROS2, and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes). For non-software roles, MATLAB/Simulink, CAD tools, EDI systems, and SAP experience appear frequently. GM is clearly positioning itself as a technology company that happens to build cars, so demonstrating software and data fluency — even for traditionally hardware-adjacent roles — gives you a competitive edge.

Should I follow up after submitting my application to GM?

GM's Workday system provides application status tracking, so you can monitor where you stand without needing to follow up directly. That said, if you have a contact at GM — through networking, a career fair, or LinkedIn — a polite note letting them know you've applied and expressing genuine enthusiasm for the specific role can help surface your application. Avoid contacting the recruiting team repeatedly or through generic channels. For intern roles, GM often recruits at university career fairs and tech conferences, and making a personal connection with a recruiter at these events before or after applying is one of the most effective strategies for getting noticed.

What experience level do I need to apply to GM?

GM hires across the full experience spectrum, from part-time production workers and summer interns to senior and staff-level engineers and designers. Their current openings reflect this range: PhD intern positions for current graduate students, senior and staff roles requiring 8+ years of specialized experience, and production roles with minimal formal experience requirements. Read the 'Basic Qualifications' section of each Workday posting carefully — GM typically distinguishes between required and preferred qualifications, and meeting the basic requirements is essential for passing initial screening. If you meet 80% or more of the basic qualifications and have strong alignment with the preferred ones, it's worth applying.

Does GM sponsor work visas for international applicants?

GM does hire international candidates for many roles, and visa sponsorship availability is typically addressed in the job posting or during the initial recruiter screening. For PhD-level intern and full-time technical positions, GM has historically been open to sponsoring H-1B and other work visas for highly qualified candidates, particularly in specialized fields like AI/ML and autonomous driving where domestic talent supply is limited. However, sponsorship policies can vary by role, location, and business unit. Be transparent about your visa status in your Workday application — there's usually a screening question about work authorization — and be prepared to discuss timelines during your recruiter call.

Sample Open Positions

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 1030 open positions at General Motors

Sources

General Motors Careers Portal — General Motors
General Motors - About GM: Our Company — General Motors
General Motors Reviews and Company Culture — Glassdoor
Workday Recruiting: How Applicant Tracking Works — Workday